Education: Can't read, can't speak?

"Fail"? There is no fail. Parents will come watch their kids play the recorder badly no matter how they do it.

It's sad that you don't know how ignorant you look in all this. Ignorant, petty and small. But keep going
 
It's sad that you don't know how ignorant you look in all this. Ignorant, petty and small. But keep going
My wife and I (and my parents) eagerly attended a performance of my oldest playing the violin when he was younger. We all laugh about it now. We're hoping the youngest will start the piano soon.
 
My wife and I (and my parents) eagerly attended a performance of my oldest playing the violin when he was younger. We all laugh about it now. We're hoping the youngest will start the piano soon.
Why would you laugh about having gone to see your offspring perform? Was it that bad?

In my perverse view, radio and television suppressed the longstanding tradition in America of having at least one child play a musical instrument, often the piano, to lead in singing at family celebrations. It was a big loss, in my opinion.
 
Why would you laugh about having gone to see your offspring perform? ...

Because it was bad and he hated it. He only stuck with it for a while to make his mom happy. Tremendous waste of money, as I'm fairly sure the piano will be for his little brother. They are natural born wrestlers.
 
Because it was bad and he hated it. He only stuck with it for a while to make his mom happy. Tremendous waste of money, as I'm fairly sure the piano will be for his little brother. They are natural born wrestlers.

Yes, "teacher", mastering an instrument is a years-long endeavor. Maybe a lifetime. Educated people understand that you're not going to sound, in elementary school, like you do later on, or as a professional.

But your family laughed at it. I have so much to say about that, but will refrain until you dare to take a swipe at my profession again.
 
I remember when I was in early schooling. A lot of effort went into teaching us that the "T" in "often" was silent. Why do so many people now pronounce the word often as off-ten? We know a lot of people cannot read nowadays, but does this mean they have forgotten how to speak as well?

Returning to your interesting OP, I think we shouldn't get too fanatical about most cultural changes in dialect, pronunciations, etc. in our English language and allow for regional differences.

The T in often indeed once was said to be silent.

". . .Similarly, the medial t in words like soften, hasten, and fasten was originally pronounced, as the -en was added to base words that were recognizable (soft, haste, fast). Listen is a bit different; although the archaic verb list exists, listen comes from the Middle English listnen, and the t, in the peculiar position after s and before n, was not pronounced. . ."

But teaching reading phonetically has returned some silent letter to the language and it generally is not considered incorrect to pronounce the T in often these days though I myself may or may not pronounce it myself. For instance if you ask me how frequently I pronounce that 't' I might respond 'off - ten.' But I could also say I 'off - en' do not just as well.

These words of wisdom come to you via Foxfyre, double major in Journalism and English, who doesn't get her panties in a bunch over dialects except when Texans insist on pronouncing our "Ruidosa" "rue - ee - doh' - sa" as "Rio-do-sa.'

And tomato pronounced Toe - mah' - to or Toe - may - to? Or is greasy pronounced gree -zee? Or greece - ee.?

I'm huked on fawnicks. :)
 
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I remember when I was in early schooling. A lot of effort went into teaching us that the "T" in "often" was silent. Why do so many people now pronounce the word often as off-ten? We know a lot of people cannot read nowadays, but does this mean they have forgotten how to speak as well?

You have to remember that regardless of what word in English you say, you're dealing with various dialects of English, whether it's actual British English, Northeast United States English pronunciation, Southern United States pronunciation and Midwest and Western United States pronunciation. Wherever you are in the United States, you are influenced by that English teacher's dialect when they teach you words. Where I grew up as a kid, when it came to the word "often," the "t" was pronounced. In British Cockney, you for sure wouldn't hear the "t" in the word.
 
I remember when I was in early schooling. A lot of effort went into teaching us that the "T" in "often" was silent. Why do so many people now pronounce the word often as off-ten? We know a lot of people cannot read nowadays, but does this mean they have forgotten how to speak as well?

Ironically it’s because people can read that a word like often is pronounced with the T.
Kinda like how silly names like Markwees come from a phonetic pronunciation of marquis.
 
I pronounce the T in often. if you say often fast, the T would be silent.
English is weird because everyone I know says 'Mornin'. I had an ex-boss who always said 'Morning', emphasis on -ing. Always sounded odd.

It's like Interesting. We say Intresting, Americans say Inner-resting.

As long as as we all know what each other is saying and meaning......
 

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