If you are lost and looking for information, do not follow signs that say "Salle Informatique" -- or information room. I had only a few minutes to spare until the commencement of a thesis presentation in some odd corner of the campus, and so I followed these signs up a deserted flight of stairs, down a dark hallway, and into the room labeled "Salle Informatique" to learn that I had discovered the school computer lab. Students were busy typing emails, papers, burning music, but not dispersing information.
I evntually found the information booth, labeled "Accuiel." This is pronounced with an "a" as in "faster", "koo" as in "kool-aid", and the last part I think sounds like "way-el" with the "el" pronounced only in thought -- as are most letters at the end of French word(s).
Do not confuse "accuiel" with "ecureuil". To me they sound very similar, but the latter is a tree-climbing nut-eating squirrel.
My BFF laughed when I tried to pronounce "ecureuil." I laughed harder when he tried to pronounce "squirrel." It's a two-way street mon ami.
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Ecureuil is the only word I know that is difficult to say for English speaking folks while Squirrel is equally difficult for french speaking people to pronounce. It's the only "two-ways street" I know of.
ReplyDeleteIgor.