Why the Latin ABC is a LIE!!

Yes, the Latin ABC a lie, as the title states. 

Why?

Because you have a boat load, if not more, languages which use this ABC to form a written language, BUT these innocent-looking letters all form different sounds in different languages! The 'a' in Hungarian is NOT the same as the 'a' in English, and neither has anything to do with the 'a' in German, etc. 

Hence the problem.

The rules of pronunciation are different and those who do not know this and learn a new language in this manner open themselves up to rather embarrassing situations. 

Let me give you some examples.

And older gentleman comes in for an English lesson a while back. He started to learn English as a hobby in his retirement and that's all cool, but no one had bothered to teach him how to pronounce the sounds of English. He began reading and I heard:

"I eez shitting tuu de dinner table."

It took all my self-control not to choke to death laughing and delicately told him what he had actually said and that we ought to restart with the basic sounds of the letters. 

Many people think that in order to learn a new language you have to start with the words. 

Sorry to bust the bubbles of such people, but any and all languages are made up of sounds that have to be learnt before anything else can be done. Not doing so will end in tears...of laughter...from me.

Another example was from a boy student of mine who was 13 at the time when I asked him what he did on his summer vacation. The answer was as follows:

"I went to the bitch."

The poor thing did not really understand why I had started to giggle uncontrolably and told him not to tell his mother, if it was true, until his study buddy explained it to him, at which time he went rather red. We all laughed a good one over that one. At school his teachers had not bothered to explain that the 'ea' in 'beach' is pronounced as a LONG 'ee' and not as an 'i', hence the hilarity. 

This all stems from the very natural habit of a person to project one's one native tongue onto the new one being learnt. This is something everyone does and is in no way a bad thing, however a good teacher ought to be able to hear when this becomes detrimental to the understanding of the student and always correct it. 

So this is why the Latin ABC is a lie and is causing so much grief to those trying to learn a new language that uses it, just like their own, native language. 

So keep an eye out for this pitfall!