[General] Pronouce 'last year'

[jiaruchan]

It is very popular among the Chinese youth to pronounce 'last year' as 'last cheer'. Is that British way? I have never heard Americans pronounce it like that. Thank you.

 

[Linguist__]

It is very popular among the Chinese youth to pronounce 'last year' as 'last cheer'. Is that British way? I have never heard Americans pronounce it like that. Thank you.

I would say it is more like 'lass jeer' than 'last cheer', but yes, it's very common to blend these sounds together and most native speakers of English will do it - perhaps not this example specifically, but they will blend sounds together definately.

I have heard plenty of American English speakers say it like that, especially in songs. Things like 'what you' said as 'whatchew', 'with you' said as 'witchu' (which I've never heard outside the US). Indeed, I believe there is a song by The Pussycat Dolls entitled 'I must stick witchu'

 

[jiaruchan]

I would say it is more like 'lass jeer' than 'last cheer', but yes, it's very common to blend these sounds together and most native speakers of English will do it - perhaps not this example specifically, but they will blend sounds together definately.

I have heard plenty of American English speakers say it like that, especially in songs. Things like 'what you' said as 'whatchew', 'with you' said as 'witchu' (which I've never heard outside the US). Indeed, I believe there is a song by The Pussycat Dolls entitled 'I must stick witchu'

Thank you. I have definitely learned soemthing new. I thought it was lass cheer and most Chinese learners are taught to blend as that. Um, lass jeer, cool.

BTW, how about the word 'opportunity'? tyuniti, or chjuniti? Americans prefer tyuniti, right?

 

[billmcd]

In the U.S., "whatchew" (90%); "witchu" (10%); "opportunity" (op-er-tune-ih-tee)

 

[Linguist__]

Thank you. I have definitely learned soemthing new. I thought it was lass cheer and most Chinese learners are taught to blend as that. Um, lass jeer, cool.

BTW, how about the word 'opportunity'? tyuniti, or chjuniti? Americans prefer tyuniti, right?

The reason I said 'lass jeer' is because it is more like a voiced affricate (the 'j' in 'jeer') rather than a voiceless affricate ('ch' in 'cheer'). The actualy difference between the two is little in connected speech, which is when this blending would occur.

I can't comment accurately on US pronounciation of the '-tun-' in 'opportunity', but I think you're right that they commonly say 'ty-' as well as 'chy-', whereas British English speakers almost exclusively say 'chy-'.

 

[julianna]

about "with you" I think it is proununced like " wich ya" ,by the way, i am interessted by this American prounounciation !!if you have other words ,please tell 'em to me ..

 

[Dacre]

Americans almost always pronounce "opportunity" as op-por-toon-i-ty. The "toon" sounds like "moon," not like chew. It's not like the British pronunciation. It's the same with words like "tuna," "tune," "Tuesday," etc. The pronunciation is like too-na, toon, Toos-day.

You hear things like "whatchu," "witchu," and others in hip-hop and pop music from the United States but in fact in regular conversation (unless you're in a lower class setting) you're much better off saying "with you." "Whatchu" is a very urban slangy way of saying "what do you." For most American speakers you'll hear "wa-da-yoo." So, "What do you want?" would come out as "Wuh-duh-you want" or "wa-uh-you want?"

edit: For "last year" Americans will usually say something like "lass year."

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Williamyh]

It is very popular among the Chinese youth to pronounce 'last year' as 'last cheer'. Is that British way? I have never heard Americans pronounce it like that. Thank you.

Not only 'Last Year', when you hear CNN or BBC, they always say 'Next Year', would pronounce as 'Next Cheer', this is a connected speech....

 

[Amigos4]

If the correspondents can't speak proper English they have no business being on TV or radio!

 

[blue_eyes_blue_sky]

last year includes last and year .

Last ends with /t/

year starts with /j/

So i think those sounds 're combined together and make a linking sound : laschear /ts/ ( ex: chin ) :d

 

[sundance]

It is very popular among the Chinese youth to pronounce 'last year' as 'last cheer'. Is that British way? I have never heard Americans pronounce it like that. Thank you.

dear sir
emm,yeah! most if not all ,of the american pronounce th T as (sh) sepcially when it is followed by vowel.So u will find such way of pronouncing withe phrases like"i got you" = " i gochu" and etc.