Kekel  +  378860 Wed, 13 Jun 07 05:50 AM Is a pattern in American English to pronounce "how to" as /hauru/ ?? sorry for my transcription... Kekel Joined on Sun, Dec 17 2006 Brazil Full Member 377 “Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.” - Sarah Caldwell American English

	CalifJim  +  378943 Wed, 13 Jun 07 09:57 AM If you have a flapped r in your native language, and you are using r to indicate that sound, then that's correct -- or very close to correct.  The tapped t of American English is similar to the r of many Romance languages, but not exactly the same. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,385 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche American English

	Kooyeen  +  379179 Wed, 13 Jun 07 07:09 PM  CalifJim wrote: The tapped t of American English is similar to the r of many Romance languages, but not exactly the same. I've read that many times... I even read that the American tapped t is like Italian r. I just wanted to say that tapped t's have absolutely nothing to do with Italian r's! I say /hæʊ tə/ and the t is tapped. Kooyeen Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005 Italy Senior Member 4,969 Parental Advisory / Explicit Posts American English

	CalifJim  +  379365 Thu, 14 Jun 07 07:26 AM I just wanted to say that tapped t's have absolutely nothing to do with Italian r's! What?  What do you know about it?  You speak Italian or something?!  CJ CalifJim

	Kooyeen  +  379544 Thu, 14 Jun 07 05:44 PM  CalifJim wrote: What?  What do you know about it?  You speak Italian or something?!  LOL, let's say I understand it... (<--- weird doubt: is it ok to say "let's say" instead of "let's just say", leaving out "just"?) For those who know IPA, American English R is /ɹ/ Italian R is /r/ Alveolar flap is /ɾ/ There's no alveolar flap in Italian, but I saw on Wikipedia that there is that feature in Spanish and Portuguese. Kooyeen American English

	Kekel  +  379573 Thu, 14 Jun 07 06:31 PM Yeah, Kooyeen! If I got what a flap R is, in my native language, Portuguese, we have this kind of sound. Just as a matter of curiosity for you, that's the way we can distinguish these two words: Caro (a flat R ) - expensive Carro (a strong R ) - car See ya. Kekel

	CalifJim  +  379709 Thu, 14 Jun 07 11:35 PM is it ok to say "let's say" instead of "let's just say", leaving out "just"? Yes.  We do that all the time.  Either way is fine. CJ CalifJim