You Say Potato and I Say Chips

Hearing loss and pronouncing words

…For example; you’re abroad and speak a carefully practiced phrase in the language of that country to a local, only to be treated to an expression of puzzlement. A short pause ensues before you get a reply, in perfect English, ‘Ah, you mean … etc.’ and so your pronunciation is corrected.

Familiar?  If so ‘I’ll bet you either felt obliged for the help in speaking that language properly or had thoughts along the lines of ‘smug git, try to speak their lingo and get a condescending language lesson rather than thanks for making an effort – don’t know why I bother’

I worry about correcting – no, let’s make that helping, in case I’m guilty of condescension – Sue’s use of some words. Not every day English as she became deaf and so, obviously, has a full command of this language. But ‘new’ words that she hasn’t heard spoken and so has had to work out the pronunciation in her head. And, as we all know, words often sound different to how they are written.

For years I wasn’t sure what to do, I worried that if I told Sue she’d mispronounced a word she’d feel embarrassed or disappointed with her efforts which could discourage her trying in the first place. Negative response is a bad thing. But if I ignored the mispronunciation I risked someone telling her she was getting words wrong, perhaps making fun of the mistake, which would be much worse.

In the end I decided it was better coming from me. So I now put on a concerned and friendly face and say something like “you’ve never heard (the word) which is spoken completely differently to how it’s written”, and then I give a phonetic example. Sue is okay when I put it that way, but it tugs a bit at my heartstrings when she thanks me, as that reinforces the fact she can’t hear.

As I’ve said, she can receive some sounds, but once processed they don’t bear much relationship to what they actually are. One word we had problems with was ‘WiFi’. Sue felt it should rhyme with ‘whiff eee’, which makes sense. I said it rhymed with ‘why’ and then ‘fi’ as in the beginning of ‘fibre’. Last week Sue was telling me that her friends had started ‘pie lates’ which, when Pilates is finger spelt, is exactly what you’d imagine it sounded like. I won’t bore you with my interpretation of the sound.

Is it worth risking upsetting someone trying so hard to use their own language? All I’m thinking is that a hearing impaired person might be put off trying to make conversation when a word, or words, get’s a look of incomprehension from the listener. But you know your own circumstances best and I’m happy to be contradicted.