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English as a second language learners: what words were really hard for you to pronounce?
(discuss.tchncs.de)
this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2025
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"Subtle". I can not pronounce it in a way that it sounds different to "saddle".
According to the Macmillan they are [ˈsʌt(ə)l] vs [ˈsæd(ə)l], so the vowel changes slightly, but it depends on the speaker; I'm not native but I say saddle with a more open "a". But they're otherwise almost identical to me (in the British pronunciation included in the dictionary I hear a "t" both times, in the American one a "d" both times - which is how I say it too)
So you could say the difference...
Is subtle.
I'll see myself out.