andyb@dartvax.UUCP (Andy Behrens) (11/15/84)
> French *is* spelled phonetically. The rules may be odd for > most Americans, but do not seem that strange to most Italians. > > Marco When you say that French is spelled phonetically, I assume you mean that a person who knows the pronunciation rules of the language can correctly pronounce words that he has not heard before. Would a person who knew the pronunciation of "mille" vs. "ville" be able to guess the pronunciation of "fille"? [mil / vil / fij] What about "nier" vs. "hier"? [nie / jer] "Les hommes" vs. "Les homards"? [lezom / leomar] "Chirurgie" vs. "chiromancie"? [shirurzhi / kiroma~si] Andy Behrens andyb@dartmouth.csnet {astrovax,dalcs,decvax,cornell,linus}!dartvax!andyb