Homonyms

[Dualnames]

Wish I knew the translation of the word ομόηχα in english, and I'm not trusting any translating service anyway. Not even Babel Fish yes. Anyway, anyone knows a good site/way where I can like put a word and have a list of words of any language that sound the same and/or similar.

Perhaps this is not like possible yet via internet, so if anyone knows a program, I'd love to hear it.
Nikolas, if you bump into this, and know the word, please do say so.

[GarageGothic]

They're called homonyms, which turns out to be exactly what Google Translate translated your Greek word to (why not trust online translators?).

Edit: Well, technically when they only sound the same, they're called homophones. So, just to understand what you need - you want words that sound the same as one in a different language than that of the speaker?

[SSH]

Depends what you mean, really. I don't think that there's anywhere that matches the sounds of words other than rhyming dictionaries, but they are usually single language.

I'm guessing this is for a puzzle in a game, so you don't want to give more details...

However, there are usually various of these things:

Homonyms are words that are written and pronounced the same with different meanings "right" (not left) and "right" (nor wrong)
Homographs are ones that are written the same but prounced differently "bow" (bend over) and "bow" (fires arrows)
Homophones sound the same but are written differently "bow" and "bough"
Homophobes look reasonable but sound unreasonable

[Nikolas]

I think that Jim is looking for homophones, as described by SSH above!

[Gilbert]

A bit off-topic. This reminds me that Torin's Passage came in several languages. I wonder how they translated the sound crystal puzzle to other languages.  :

I hate that puzzle VERY, VERY much!1! I was stuck there like forever and the extensive in-game hint system didn't help...

Spoiler

...because of a trailing 'd' voice crystal fragment, that had to be used in forming a certain word. Maybe this wasn't a problem in the other language versions.

[close]

[Andail]

This is an interesting topic. Incidentally, I just taught homophones/nyms/graphs in school, although, of course, only in Swedish.

I googled for inter-lingual homophones and found this rather interesting thesis on the subject, however I couldn't find anything that offers the kind of service you're looking for.

The problem is that unless you're every liberal in how you regard sounds, the differences in individual phonems exclude many language-combinations.

I'm fairly fluently bilingual between English and Swedish, but I have troubles coming up with just a handful of proper (exact phonetic resemblence) homophones.

[Babar]

You´re probably looking for homonyms, I guess.

As far as words sounding the same in different languages, there are a couple I know of in urdu, at least. For example, "Cheese" means "thing" in urdu.

[Ali]

I guess regional accents make it difficult to create a homophones-are-us website. For instance, I pronounce 'fort' and 'fought' the same. If I was Irish, American or a pirate they'd sound similar, but not necessarily identical.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I pronounce 'fort' and 'fought' the same.

They shouldn't be pronounced the same at all. lol

[Ali]

Is that a Canadian starting an argument about weird pronunciation?

Many English accents (with the notable exception of the west country) have a very weak 'r' sound in contrast with Scots and the Irish. An English RP accent would pronounce them 'fought' and 'fort' the same.

[Stupot]

I pronounce 'fort' and 'fought' the same.

They shouldn't be pronounced the same at all. lol

Shouldn't they?

[Atelier]

fought = |fôt|
fort = |fôrt|

So fort just barely has a stronger 'r' sound.

Plus do I detect sarcasm in Ryan Timothy's earlier post? Hopefully

Edit: Hmm, the clips below demonstrate this perfectly, but baring in mind my examples are from an American dictionary it's expected anyway.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I don't know if these will work without you visiting the site, I stole the link from dictionary.com.  It's the audio clip pronunciation of how to say the two words.  It's exactly how I pronounce them, and how tv and everyone else around here does as well.

Fought (or the direct link).

Fort (or the direct link).

I also have no idea why people say that Canadians pronounce things weird.  Like 'a boot' instead of 'about' for instance.  I personally don't believe I am saying 'a boot', nor do I hear it.  Perhaps it's those eastern provinces like New Foundland who we get confused with, they have a horrible accent.

[IndieBoy]

I don't know if this is just due to my accent, but when I say "Steak ham" it sounds the same as "Stay calm".

[Ryan Timothy B]

I don't know if this is just due to my accent, but when I say "Steak ham" it sounds the same as "Stay calm".

Yep, it's your accent.

[Dualnames]

We just guess things when you speak Indieboy. If you smile you're talking about Grundislav and how he changed your life, if you laugh a lot, you talk about various movies and/or food. If you're like moving dizzy you're drunk so it's better that we don't hear the details..

[Andail]

Ryan Timothy, are you absolutely serious when you say you didn't know some Brits don't pronounce R's except right before vowels?

At first I thought you were just fooling around when you said "they shouldn't etc", as if there are shoulds and shouldn'ts when it comes to accents

[Misj']

Tom Wilson: The Homonym Song

[Ryan Timothy B]

Ryan Timothy, are you absolutely serious when you say you didn't know some Brits don't pronounce R's except right before vowels?

At first I thought you were just fooling around when you said "they shouldn't etc", as if there are shoulds and shouldn'ts when it comes to accents

Well, I realize every accent is a little different, so no Andail I'm not an idiot.  Some acknowledge each letter, and some completely void them.
When I say 'should' be pronounced a certain way, is mostly because this is how the most common and widely known english accent (hollywood) is pronounced.  You technically can't say we say it wrong, and neither can I say it about you... but I try anyway.


Edit: Actually one thing that I am curious about, is this how they're taught in school?  Are they actually taught to pronounce the R only when it's before a vowel?  Or is it just a losing battle between teachers and accents?

When I was 5 or 6 years old I had to attend a special class once a week for a month or two just so I could pronounce my R's, TH's, and a few others.  I was saying 'cah' instead of 'car', or 'fee-ater' instead of 'theater'.

An R is supposed to have a rolling of the tongue sound, are you guys even taught this?  Do you even get taught basic rules on how to pronounce letters as a whole?  Or are there literally different english rules for each country/area?

[Questionable]

I don't know if this is just due to my accent, but when I say "Steak ham" it sounds the same as "Stay calm".

Quick question from me: When the f*** have you ever found yourself saying "Steak Ham?" =P


@Ryan Timothy:

It's at least as East as Ottawa, all my friends their say about like that. It's no so much "A boot" as it is like "a boat" or "a bough it." More troublesome is this "Zed" nonsense; what's the first letter of the pronunciation of "Zed?" is it "Zed?" Or is it "Zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."