I often hear the French pronunciation of visage as vih-SAHZH', instead of vee-ZAHZH'. The 'ih' is equivalent to the short 'i' sound in the word 'igloo.' The 'ah' is equivalent to the sound in the second syllable of the word 'massage'—with the phonetic stress placed on the second syllable SAHZH'. Is the vih-SAHZH' pronunciation acceptable? Have you ever heard it pronounced like this (with the short 'i' sound)? Thank you.
Americans do a horrible job with French words all the time. So I guess it's acceptable, but if you want to be proper about it, use the proper pronunciation.
vizzidge... Actually, I'm not joking. The English pronunciation given in Webster's is [viz-ij]. How the French say it is another issue! I got a bollocking here in Scotland for employing my Michigander pronunciation of garage. I said gur-adge when I first arrived on these shores. I now have amended my pronunciation to the more common (and nearer the original French) gair-azh. (Which, back in Michigan, would have sounded way too posh to push!) However, lots of Scots in this part of the country say gair-idge. I've never quite stooped to that! It's a minefield, I tell you! I guess once a word has been formally adopted into another language, it's fair enough if that language amends the pronunciation.
When I got a word pronunciation issue, I got a trick: I go on Google translate, type the word and press the little sound button. It changed my life. https://translate.google.com/#fr/en/visage Oh, and also, I am french and the 's' of 'visage' should be pronounce like a 'z'. Is the rule when you got just one 's' and vowel behind it.
I think it was this word that I got a minus point for in my pronunciation test. The American professor said that's how the Brits talk. Hmmm... Whatever the case, I still refuse to say 'vizzidge'. And gur-adge. It's really pretty useful sometimes. I recommended it to my students as it helps to get the pronunciation close enough that you'll be understood. They have to deal with super long words (medical terms), and Finns are notoriously terrible at pronouncing any language that is spelled differently than it is pronounced (don't get me started on how we butcher French!).
Ha ha! Would you be happier with grodge? Only one syllable. That's actually how we say it, out here in the long grass...
the soft 's' sound, rather than the correct hard 'z' sound is NOT acceptable to me... nor to most [all?] native french speakers, i'm sure... it's simply not how the word is pronounced correctly in french...
happy to see you 'came out,' mike!... that suits you better than 'dillseed' imo... unless, of course, you happen to be white around the outside and greyish/brown and white on the inside!
You crack me up! Long week. Getting ready to go to my best friend's house tonight to partake in some 'John Barleycorn,' if ya know what I mean.
yes, sadly i do... ol' jb's been causing all kinds of damage ever since he was 'born'... and i speak as one who used to partake, but finally 'saw the light'... but that's a subject for another time... just don't drink and drive... hugs, m
