Rrrrrrrrr...

For some reason I found myself thinking of the R sound. The French R sound that I never manage to make.

Anyway, it has been some time since I have come to the conclusion that the English R (the same one the Malaysians use) is too light for the French to perceive. That is why sometimes they hear it as an L instead. There was even one of my teachers in Angoulême who rolled his R's so much, his L sounded like our R. (he was a Romanian, by the way)

But the Spanish have both R's, ours and the French one. So when there is a single R in a word, I'm fine...but when there's a double R...oops, I'm not gonna get it right. :/

Then there is also the N at the end of my name that they don't seem to hear when I pronounce it normally. When I give my name, nine times out of ten they will repeat it without the N at the end. And it sounds so awful I don't even want to write it here. Fortunately they usually come around and pronounce it correctly after they see it written down (or after I stress it several times...though sometimes my "stress" on the N doesn't seem to be enough and I give up after repeating my names a few times -_- )

But it isn't just the French...when I was doing my summer class during my first year in INSA, I was in a class with a lot of foreigners...and once an Estonian was telling a Spanish guy that he wasn't pronouncing my name correctly. At first I didn't know they were talking about that...I remember we were walking somewhere and those two were in front of me...then suddenly the Spanish guy turned around and said my name. So I responded "yes?" ("oui", actually), and then those two started arguing, with the Estonian girl telling him that it was "Wee Pin" (stressing the N), and him saying "She replied 'yes'!" It was then that I realised what those two were talking about. lol (oh, by the way, I assure you that the Spanish guy said my name correctly)

I guess that's why Geneviève in Angoulême used to say my name with the N sticking in the air for a good second... :P

So, in conclusion: you French have awful ears!! The Spanish are better. lol
(just kidding...generalisations are always a joke anyway. And as I've said in this post, there are several nationalities involved ;) )