But as I delve further into the language in my current classes with Loli and Lolita, I'm more aware of the pitfalls of mispronunciation. Saying a word wrong can bring about reactions from mild amusement to hilarity to disdain to outrage — although outrage is rare since Mexicans are a lot more patient with the Spanish of gringos than North Americans are with the English of latinos.
Two of my favorite sources which present me with a new word each day are Dictionary.com and SpanishDict.com (which I mentioned in a previous post). I like the fact that they both give sample sentences and the roots of the words, which help me remember them. SpanishDict also offers idioms or common Spanish sayings too. (Collecting choice idioms is even more fun than collecting words!)
Today's Spanish word is noctorno, easy because it's a cognate, similar enough to the English word to be recognizable. But yesterday's was a challenge, not because it's long but because it's not easy to pronounce: otorgar which means to grant, to award or bestow. I had a hard time wrapping my tongue around the "r" so I had to exaggerate rolling it and I still can't say it fast (not to speak of three times!) But it's a word I want for my collection because the idiom is one we should all keep in mind: Quien calla otorga, which means "Silence gives consent."
My English word-for-the-day was orthoepy, the study of pronunciation, which is precisely what I'm trying to do. If I were to study Spanish without a teacher, using only a book as I used to do
How's that for an insult?