Pronunciation Quotes

• Demosthenes overcame and rendered more distinct his inarticulate and stammering pronunciation by speaking with pebbles in his mouth.

  Plutarch

  Mouths, Speech, Pebbles

  "Parallel Lives". "Life of Demosthenes" by Plutarch,

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• If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud!

  William Strunk, Jr.

  Loud, Know How, Knows

  William Strunk Jr., E.B. White (1962). “the Elements of Style”

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• FINANCE, n. The art or science of managing revenues and resources for the best advantage of the manager. The pronunciation of this word with the i long and the accent on the first syllable is one of America's most precious discoveries and possessions.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Art, Discovery, America

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.67, 谷月社

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• Language is more fashion than science, and matters of usage, spelling and pronunciation tend to wander around like hemlines.

  Bill Bryson

  Fashion, Writing, Matter

  Bill Bryson (1990). “The Mother Tongue”, William Morrow Paperbacks

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• Pronunciation has made many an innocent word sound like a doctor's orders for a stomach pump.

  Zelda Fitzgerald

  Doctors, Order, Sound

  Zelda Fitzgerald (1992). “The Collected Writings”, New York : Collier Books ; Toronto : Maxwell Macmillan Canada ; New York : Maxwell Macmillan International

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• Command of English, spoken or written, ranks at the top in business. Our main product is words, so a knowledge of their meaning and spelling and pronunciation is imperative. If a man knows the language well, he can find out about all else.

  William Feather

  Men, Language, Spelling

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• I have good pronunciation no matter what language I speak. Maybe it’s because my specialties are rapping and imitating others

  G-Dragon

  Rap, Imitating Others, Matter

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• Punctuation is the art of dividing a written composition into sentences, or parts of sentences, by points or stops, for the purpose of marking the different pauses which the sense, and an accurate pronunciation require.

  Lindley Murray

  Art, Writing, Different

  Lindley Murray (1841). “English Grammar Adapted to the Different Classes of Learners with an Appendix by Lindley Murray”, p.176

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• Many words are in a state of mutation, the pronunciation being unsettled even in the best society, a result that must often arise where language is as variable and undetermined as the English.

  James F. Cooper

  Variables, Mutation, Language

  "The American Democrat: Or, Hints on the Social and Civic Relations of the United States of America". Book by James F. Cooper, 1838.

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• The mere pronunciation of the word luxurious feels lush, luxuriant.

  Lady G

  Luxury, Feels, Mere

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• Art is the body's pronunciation of the soul.

  Michael Gungor

  Art, Soul, Body

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• Company names without clear pronunciation or spelling won't last.

  David Rusenko

  Names, Lasts, Spelling

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• Truly fine poetry must be read aloud. A good poem does not allow itself to be read in a low voice or silently. If we can read it silently, it is not a valid poem: a poem demands pronunciation. Poetry always remembers that it was an oral art before it was a written art. It remembers that it was first song.

  Jorge Luis Borges

  Song, Art, Voice

  Jorge Luis Borges, Eliot Weinberger (2009). “Seven Nights”, p.9, New Directions Publishing

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• They have a lot of trouble with pronunciation, because they can't move their jaw muscles, because of malnutrition caused by wisely refusing to eat English food, much of which was designed and manufactured in medieval times during the reign of King Walter the Mildly Disturbed.

  Dave Barry

  Funny, Kings, Humorous

  Dave Barry (1994). “The World According to Dave Barry”, Outlet

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• There's always an added element of a poem when it's read aloud because then you can really hear the rhythm, and the cadence, and even the pronunciation sometimes adds another layer to the poem.

  Masiela Lusha

  Add, Elements, Layers

  Source: thecelebritycafe.com

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• I have to admit that I don't even try to speak Russian, though I understand it perfectly. I wouldn't want to insult the language by testing out my pronunciations

  Lana Wood

  Trying, Want, Insult

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• I think my style as far as vocal delivery and even down to the pronunciation of certain words is so deliberate.

  Miguel

  Thinking, Style, Certain

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• Growing up on the border there, we were always frustrated with people's pronunciations of towns in Michigan, and people mispronouncing Illinois. There are all these Native American words that no one really knows how to pronounce.

  Sufjan Stevens

  Growing Up, Native American, Illinois

  Interview with Noel Murray, www.avclub.com. July 13, 2005.

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• I also think pronunciation of a foreign tongue could be better taught than by demanding from the pupil those internal acrobatic feats that are generally impossible and always useless. This is the sort of instruction one receives : “Press your tonsils against the underside of your larynx. Then with the convex part of the septum curved upwards so as almost — but not quite — to touch the uvula, try with the tip of your tongue to reach your thyroid. Take a deep breath, and compress your glottis. Now without opening your lips say "Garoo".' And when you have done it they are not satisfied.

  Jerome K. Jerome

  Thinking, Trying, Done

  "The Selected Work of Jerome K. Jerome".

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• Once, BBC television had echoed BBC radio in being a haven for standard English pronunciation. Then regional accents came in: a democratic plus. Then slipshod usage came in: an egalitarian minus. By now slovenly grammar is even more rife on the BBC channels than on ITV. In this regard a decline can be clearly charted... If the BBC, once the guardian of the English language, has now become its most implacable enemy, let us at least be grateful when the massacre is carried out with style.

  Clive James

  Grateful, Style, Enemy

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• At acting school people didn't speak like me. It was all received pronunciation - 'ow now brown cow.'

  Ray Winstone

  School, People, Acting

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• My uncle is from Argentina, so I grew up hearing Spanish. My Spanish isn't very good, but my pronunciation isn't terrible.

  Moby

  Uncles, Argentina, Hearing

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• Keanu Reeves learned a lot, respecting the culture. I was surprised when I first met him. He knew a lot already and he learned a lot. And also he learned Japanese. It's incredible. On the set, switching between the Japanese and English, even for us, is very hard. It's complicated. But the first time Keanu spoke in Japanese it was a very important scene between us, and more than the dialogue's meaning, I was moved. His energy for the film, completely perfect Japanese pronunciation. It was moving, surprising, respecting.

  Hiroyuki Sanada

  Moving, Perfect, Important

  Source: collider.com

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• Just as a poet often has license from the rules of grammar and pronunciation, we should like to ask for 'physicists' license from the rules of mathematics in order to express what we wish to say in as simple a manner as possible.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Simple, Order, Wish

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• There is an old Italian proverb about the nature of translation: "Traddutore, traditore!" This means simply, "Translators-traitors!" Of course, as you can see, something is lost in the translation of this pithy expression: there is great similarity in both the spelling and the pronunciation of the original saying, but these get diluted once they are put in English dress. Even the translation of this proverb illustrates its truth!

  Daniel Wallace

  Mean, Biblical, Italian

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