Diphthongs are an essential part of most modern languages, including the English language, which is why professionals pay close attention to the translation of diphthongs. Get the translation right, and you have a coherent and readable document; get it wrong, and you’ll end up with a badly translated document that makes little or no sense.
What are diphthongs?
Diphthong is deeply rooted in the Greek alphabet, and it means a word with two sounds. Diphthongs are related to vowel alphabets; every vowel has long and short sounds. However, when it comes to diphthongs, in particular, they become active if the vowel changes from one sound to the other. Suffice it to say that the sound changes in connection to another vowel.
A common example of the diphthong is the word “oil.” This word has two vowel sounds side by side: “O” and “I,” but when pronounced together in the world, they sound entirely different from their original sounds when pronounced separately.Â
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Professional translators understand the importance of translating diphthongs, which is why they pay close attention to them during document translation.
Gliding Vowels
In the example above, “oil,” the two vowels are “O” and “I.” One vowel is called a monophthong, while the two combined are called a diphthong. For the word “hop,” there is only one vowel sound, “o”; since it is just once, it is a monophthong and not a diphthong. This is why diphthongs are called gliding vowels because they are two vowels that merge to form one sound.
For the average word user, monophthong and diphthong may not be a big deal, but in the field of professional translation, they can make a world of difference. Furthermore, diphthong sounds differently depending on the speaker. A word may sound different if two speakers pronounce it.
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Common diphthongs professional translators should be mindful of
We pointed out in the previous paragraph that a word may sound different depending on the speaker. This is quite true when translating a text into British or American English.
Here are common examples of diphthongs that may sound different to the ears when pronounced by different speakers.
Town
The diphthong in this word is pronounced as “ow” or “ou” by different English speakers. This is the case with similar words like mouth, frown, pound, or brown. The “ou” and “ow” differ when a British, American, or Canadian pronounces the word.
Light
Another one is on the word “Light.” The “igh” will sound like “I” or “y” when the word is pronounced. If written as a single letter and pronounced, the sound changes completely. So, for instance, common examples of such changes are found in words like “might,” “bite,” “cry,” “bike,” etc. For certain English dialects, this diphthong will develop a completely different sound.
Play
Play sounds differently, even though the vowel alphabet is only one. This word can transform into “ay”, “ey, “ei”, or “ea. Sometimes, it may even sound like “a,” depending on the speaker.
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Deer
- Another good example is” Deer.” This sound occurs before some established consonants. The sound may occur before a consonant like “r” or “L.” But when the same “ee” appears, in other words, the sound may or may not change. Common examples are words like “peel,”
Hiring the right translator for your documents
Hiring the right translator for your documents is the only way you can give clear and professional translated work. This is why Circle Translations is a top choice for organizations and brands that translate their work from other languages into English to gain a wider audience.
We have professional linguists who have an in-depth knowledge of the English language. Besides their deep knowledge of the language, they are also professionals in their field, so they know where and how to use technical terms and jargon to qualify sentences. Working with the experts at Circle Translations guarantees that your documents will look professional and perfectly worded.
Our rates are cost-efficient, and we don’t double charge for projects we handle. Our pricing policy is transparent, so you know how much a project will cost before you give us the go ahead to start working on it. There are no delays, excuses, and defaults with our translation of diphthongs services. You can contact Circle Translations at any time for your translation related needs and our team will be happy to assist you right away. Just give us a message, and let’s start working on your documents so we can finish in record time.
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