Talk:Nepali phrasebook

Ambiguous sounds

ञ (ñā)

like 'na' in "nausea"

There is functionally no "na" in "nausea", because the "a" is part of an "aw" sound. So what sound does this syllable actually stand for? If it's a "naw" sound, why not 'like the word "gnaw"' Or if you want to keep nausea, 'like "nau" in "nausea"'?

Similarly:

ट (ṭa)

like 'ta' in "talk"

Again, is that a "taw" sound? That would stand for "tal", not "ta", but we could find a clearer example. How about 'like "taw" in "tawny"'?

I'd have the same comment about any other syllable that stands for a consonant plus "aw" - we need to use words with syllables that clearly and unambiguously illustrate that. So, to take another example:

like 'sha' in "shawl"

should be

like 'shaw' in "shawl"

Also, be careful about this:

ड (ḍa)

like 'do' in 'dog'

In some heavily-spoken dialects of American English like mine, that word is pronounced "dawg". If an "oh" sound is desired, there are many better words to choose, such as 'like "ough" in "dough"'.

I do not know Nepali, so I am only making logical deductions of what sounds are intended. 110.70.56.247, please comment on this post, and thank you for doing so much work on phrasebooks!

Ikan Kekek (talk) 14:32, 27 January 2020 (UTC)

How are these two different?

ग (ga)

like 'go' in "gone"

घ (gha)

like 'gha' in "Ghana"

I don't use a different consonant for the Gh in Ghana. Do you mean "like 'ggh' in "egghead"? I suppose so, but of course it's a guess on my part. Ikan Kekek (talk) 13:22, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

ल (la)

like 'lo' in "love"

Is that a "luh" sound? If so, it might be clearer to use like 'lu' in "lush". Ikan Kekek (talk) 13:27, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

What sound is intended by ; व (wa) : like 'wo' in "work"? A w with a schwa, perhaps? The difficulty with using a word with an R after a vowel is that some of us pronounce the R and others don't, and that affects the sound of the vowel. Ikan Kekek (talk) 13:30, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

I just realized, "gha" is a syllable with "ah" in it, so "egghead" is wrong. Ikan Kekek (talk) 13:31, 28 January 2020 (UTC)