Cold vs. Called

This is about accent reduction, but more to the point, it is a question of pronunciation.  In English, as in other languages, there are subtleties in the pronunciation of certain words, but that subtlety makes all the difference in the meaning conveyed.  Sometimes the meaning is obvious; other times, it is not.  And that is where correct pronunciation comes into play.

For example, the word cold is pronounced with a rounded O, as in coal, more akin to C-O-U-L.  The word called is pronounced almost as C-A-L-D.

Both words have the "O" sound, but that "O" is different in each.  It is the same situation in French: words such as eau (water), or peau (skin), or ôtre (other), or notre (our) are pronounced with a rounded, closed "O" sound.  The word sport is pronounced with a short, clipped "O" sound.  Some people learning French tend to pronounce those words as though they had an "OW" sound (A-U-O).  That conveys either a totally different meaning, or renders the meaning incomprehensible.  Moreover, French vowels are not diphthongs, meaning they do not have two sounds to the vowel, as they do in English (where o is really ow and a is really aw).  The word olive has a short "O" sound.

Consider the "ay" sound.  There is no such sound in French, and yet when English speakers pronounce a French word, they invariably use the "ay" sound to convey its equivalent in French.  For example, the composer, Charpentier's name was recently overhead spoken by an announcer as "Char-pon-tee-ay."  That rendered the name almost impossible to understand, especially since she placed emphasis on the "tee" part of the word.  In fact, the ending of the word, "-ier," has a crisp "é" sound, which is almost akin to the English "i" as in the word "ignoble."  Very short, very crisp.  The accepted pronounciation provided for in English as "ay" might apply to words requiring the "è" or "ê" sound, such as "être" (to be), although, here, too, "ay" would not fit, as "ay" is a diphthong and the e in "être" is not.  Still, the sound is a more open form of e than in the previous example with Charpentier (the ending of which could be described as "t-y-i."

All this is to convey the idea that pronounciation can be the most important part of learning a new language, and indeed, of speaking and being understood.  I frequently teach my husband the subtleties of "cut" "cat" and "cot."  To his Japanese ear, where the language has no diphthongs, it is difficult to make such distinctions; but when he says that he is going to put "goss" in the car, I have difficulty understanding him - as do his colleagues.