Is Y a Vowel or not?

[Winner]

How about Katarr or Kataar ?
European languages don't need the Q. It kan always be repalced with a K, Kw, or KW.
"Can you eksplain kwantum mechanics to me ?"

It's Katar in Czech. And there's also Irák.

Q is pronounced as "Kv" in Czech and X as "Ks". The obvious uselessness of these letters prompts children and teenagers to use them mockingly in words where they're not supposed to be - so they will write "qěták" instead of "květák" (cauliflower) or "xindl" instead of "ksindl" (scum). It's part of how the Czech internet/SMS "slang" looks like these days, and I hate it just as passionately as I hate its English variant ("U" instead of "you", "2" instead of "to", etc.)

And the English spelling is just insane, let's admit that fact and go on. Or "ken ju iksplejn kuantum mekaniks tu mi?"

 

[Takhisis]

In Spanish it can be /ʝ j ʤ ʒ ʃ/ as well as /i/.

 

[Boundless]

I think Boundless is right. I was taught that "y" was the vowel in words which do not have a typical vowel, for instance "sky".

I'm always right

 

[Takhisis]

When you drive, I hope not.

 

[Lillefix]

It's Katar in Czech. And there's also Irák.

Q is pronounced as "Kv" in Czech and X as "Ks". The obvious uselessness of these letters prompts children and teenagers to use them mockingly in words where they're not supposed to be - so they will write "qěták" instead of "květák" (cauliflower) or "xindl" instead of "ksindl" (scum). It's part of how the Czech internet/SMS "slang" looks like these days, and I hate it just as passionately as I hate its English variant ("U" instead of "you", "2" instead of "to", etc.)

And the English spelling is just insane, let's admit that fact and go on. Or "ken ju iksplejn kuantum mekaniks tu mi?"

That reminds me of one of the dumbest street signs I've ever seen. When I was in America I saw X-ing or xing on the roads all the time. I had not a clue what a "ksing" was. It just made me think about the number "xvii" from Asterix in Britain, until it occurred to me one day it said crossing. The x is a cross!!!

And what's the deal with Xmas(because of futurama I actually pronounce it like that too )?

 

[warpus]

And what's the deal with Xmas(because of futurama I actually pronounce it like that too )?

What, you guys don't celebrate Crossmass?

 

[NovaKart]

I don't see why it matters if you use K for Qatar. We use S to transliterate ص and س
since they're both the letter S in English and the same for ط and ت which are both T and there are a few other letters like that. We also use I for Iraq when it starts with ع so perhaps it would be 'Iraq if you want to be really anal about it. Same thing with Oman. Of course this is kind of unavoidable since it's a bit much to create new letters to write foreign names.

 

[Dachs]

And what's the deal with Xmas(because of futurama I actually pronounce it like that too )?

X = Greek chi = monogram for "Christ"

 

[Flying Pig]

I read it as 'Crossmass', with a decent dose of secularisation.

 

[Marla_Singer]

Well, as a French, this thread intrigued me as "Y" is fully considered as a vowel over here. As a matter of fact, the French name for the letter "Y" litterally means "Greek I" (I grec).

But anyway, English orthography is a mess when we start thinking about it. The pronunciation of letters in English, especially vowels, differs greatly from a word to another. That's obviously the result of the different roots of the language of course.

 

[Winner]

Well, as a French, this thread intrigued me as "Y" is fully considered as a vowel over here. As a matter of fact, the French name for the letter "Y" litterally means "Greek I" (I grec).

But anyway, English orthography is a mess when we start thinking about it. The pronunciation of letters in English, especially vowels, differs greatly from a word to another. That's obviously the result of the different roots of the language of course.

It's a result of its evolution. The problem is that while pronunciation was still evolving, the spelling had already been largely fixed. As a result you have a language where pronunciation is only loosely related to spelling. Not that it doesn't occur in other languages, but English is pretty extreme.

Uáj kánt dej spík es dej rajt?

 

[Takhisis]

You Czechs are insane, in Spanish the letter 'j' is the phoneme /x/ and in Gaelic it doesn't even exist.

 

[azzaman333]

Not a vowel, but can be used as one in certain cases.

 

[Winner]

You Czechs are insane, in Spanish the letter 'j' is the phoneme /x/ and in Gaelic it doesn't even exist.

Actually, we're the ones who are sane. We pronounce it as it is supposed to be pronounced - /j/ as in "yellow" or "yet".

 

[Antilogic]

That reminds me of one of the dumbest street signs I've ever seen. When I was in America I saw X-ing or xing on the roads all the time. I had not a clue what a "ksing" was. It just made me think about the number "xvii" from Asterix in Britain, until it occurred to me one day it said crossing. The x is a cross!!!

And what's the deal with Xmas(because of futurama I actually pronounce it like that too )?

I assure you, every American kid, at one point or another, shares in this confusion with "X-ing" and "Xmas" until their parents tell them "it's a stupid sign, but everyone does it, just roll with it".

Kind of like the Imperial units of measure.

 

[Takhisis]

Actually, we're the ones who are sane. We pronounce it as it is supposed to be pronounced - /j/ as in "yellow" or "yet".

Clearly the Cezch Republic must be invaded to solve this problem.

And in Spanish, just like in French, it's called 'y Griega'.

 

[Winner]

Ekšuli, uen áj sink ebaut it, ic ryli fan rajtink ingliš daun júsink d ček spelink.

[Actually, when I think about it, it's really fun writing English down using the Czech spelling.]

And it's shorter!

 

[Takhisis]

Go to Skuonk's game thread then. He's Eastern European a.k.a. Polish and writes a lot like Czech.

 

[Winner]

Go to Skuonk's game thread then. He's Eastern European a.k.a. Polish and writes a lot like Czech.

Didn't notice the thread, thanks

 

[Akka]

Clearly the Cezch Republic must be invaded to solve this problem.

And in Spanish, just like in French, it's called 'y Griega'.

Makes sense, as (in French at least) the letter exists nearly only in words that actually comes from greek and had a "u" in them.