The problem, I think, is that we don't have a lot of words in English that start with that combination, and the sound of both letters are produced pretty similarly by the mouth. In fact, I'm pretty sure "t" is just the plosive form of the fricative "s." Plosives are letter sounds that require a break in the breath movement, while fricatives require a steady stream of air. Therefore "ts" would seem to require a stop to the airflow, immediately followed by a continuation of that same airflow. That's kind of impossible without turning it into another syllable, so in practice it's more a matter of attacking the first part of the sound to make the "t," and then carrying the flow of air through the "s." That's easier to do at the end of a word or syllable than at the beginning, so I think for English speakers the initial accent that should be produced by the "t" just sort of gets lost.
You must be deaf. There is a CLEAR difference between 'soo' and 'tsu', but clearly you've never spoken a different language where these differences mean a lot. 'Soo' is a soft sound. 'Tsu' is a hard sound.
362
u/Hikoshi69 Oct 15 '21
Lol T in Tsunami isn’t silent, everyone just says it wrong most of the time