Is our "th" sound really so rare among the world's languages?

I don’t find it particularly challenging. Not compared to say the Icelandic Þ or Dutch ‘gr’ sounds.
In fact, I’m far better at pronouncing ‘th’ than my husband with his London accent, always coming out as ‘f’.

yes, here in holland (with a high idiocracy rating) a lot of people have trouble pronouncing it, that’s why i feel like a douche when i tell people im from holland, like im from an under developed country

i speak fluent dutch german and english by the way…

I only know a few of the world’s languages but try to describe the difference between making the “th” sound in “the” and in “this.” (Feel where your tongue hits your teeth – in two slightly different spots.)

It comes from Anglo-Saxon, from the sound of the ð (eth) as well the Þ (called the thorn), which is the same ancestor of the Icelandic Þ. It’s called a voiceless/voiced dental fricative, and most languages don’t have them. It didn’t exist in the early Indo-European languages that gave rise to most modern languages. It’s purely a Scandinavian concoction.

Sorry about that folks…
(and I guess what soundedfury said would/should explain why I don’t find it particularly challenging)

Since there was no th in Latin, I am thinking its origins may be Anglo Saxon. Gailcalled is right, there is a voiced th and a throat th. Personally, I have a lot of trouble with the rolled French r.

@marina
The French “r” was actually copied from the Germans during a period when the French were infatuated by things German (hard to imagine, I know). In many parts of France, that fashion never caught on and they continue to roll their r’s.

@Harp Something else to blame the Germans for :)

well, one other thing that bothers me, the microwave,
in german, microwelle, meaning, microwave
in belgian, microgolf, meaning, microwave
in dutch, magnetron, meaning, magnetron

ugh, why do we always have to screw up?

ich liebe dich
i love you
ik hou van jou

why do we have an extra word? ugh, this language should be banned!

Because in Dutch you love at that person….?
And speaking of magnet-something. What’s with the French calling video magnetoscope? They just always have to be different….then again, we call it sjónband….(which means vision tape)

well, in dutch you love “from” that person, ugh, idiotic language, there’s the old spelling, then came the new one, wich wasn’t completed, so now there’s like “is it pannekoek or pannenkoek” ? and it’s so illogical, it should be pannen, because there are multiple pans, but, there is only one sun according to the new spelling, seriously, what a friggin’ mess

Oh don’t get me started on the weird and wonderful Faroese words they invent in order to ‘preserve the language’. I almost can’t speak my native language any more…...

@ wildflower
French for “tape recorder” is “magnetophone”; gotta give it to them for consistency : )

hahaha….yea, consistently awkward :)

well, the tapes are magnetic, phone is…hearing, right? magnetic hearing, makes sense, in a way

But seriously, try reading a manual for a VCR. Every language will mention ‘video’ or some variation of the word – except French. Because they’re special :)

just like the dutch, that’s why so many dutch people go to france on vacation, and you can always spot dutch tourists, seriously, can’t i change my citizenship to “undecided” ?

Just say you’re Flemish. Most people will never know the difference…....Of course your lack of beer drinking might give you away.

i think if i tried i could be german citizen within 4 months, but it’s such a hassle, renewing stuff every few years, even my dad, who’s been in holland for 30 years, still has to renew his “strangers permit” every few years, and yes, it’s realy called that way

Why would he need that between two EU states? I’m going with Danish nationality (since Faroes aren’t EU) and that way I need no additional paperwork to live and work in Ireland.

well, maybe it has something to do with the war, idk, last time i checked, he and my brother stil need to do it

haha…..yea, I guess you gotta keep an eye on those Germans….

Anyone know how “th” fares in Asian languages?

it is used in Asian languages. I know about it being used in Chinese and Hindi which is why most Indians don’t have any trouble speaking English. (tech support, anyone?)

In Arabic there is a letter that’s English equivalent is written “tha.” It looks like a lower-case U with 3 dots over it.

It’s Germanic. Proto-Indo-European *t became Proto-Germanic *þ, becoming the voiced and voiceless interdental fricatives of English and Icelandic.

The sounds are also found in Greek and some kinds of Spanish, but they have different histories. They are also found in Arabic. They are not found in Hindi.

Native german speakers have difficulty with “th”, often substituting a simple “s” (or “z”) in its place. ==> I went to se store to buy somesing.

Is that a common replacement for other languages that find “th” difficult?

Oh. And what nationality has difficulty with the sound the letter V makes? In engineering school, I remember learning about the wector wee as a wariable.

@ robmandu – Indian nationality (at an extent you can generalize it to all south-east asians) have trouble with the “v” sound.

This [Zis] is very true….
And I think both German and Dutch struggle with V and W since W is pronounced as V and V as F in those languages.
Even though I’m neither of those nationalities, but in Faroese we don’t use W (at all), I do occasionally get them mixed up and end up saying “You’re Wery Velcome” (or something similar) – it’s really quite embarrassing since I otherwise don’t have much of an accent.

@wildflower, that’s just too cute. Do it again!

No!.....I’ll be over in the corner moping because you’re picking on me!

@wildflower, growing up in the Ole South with an accent that is universally reviled and portrayed as idiotic, I hope you know I’d never pick on you about that.

I guess…..
still think Texan accent just sounds relaxed, polite and friendly – which is why you get away with it :P

Dunno how I’ve allowed myself to go this far offtopic…

—

In the U.S., “southern” accent is indeed different than “Texan” accent. And like @wildflower, I also prefer it. ‘Course, I might be biased. ;-D

But, as it turns out, the “southern” accent thing is looked upon poorly when it comes to wages, along with other voice inflections.