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I'm a non-native English speaker and I'm not sure whether it should be pronounced as "second language" or "L2" itself?

The question is which article should be used, depending on the pronunciation of "L2"?

Now I know it is pronounced as "el 2" and I should write "an L2 learner" in my dissertation, is that correct?

Glorfindel
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Hanabi
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6 Answers6

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You should say "an L2 learner". Here's the explanation:

Most students think they should only use "an" before the words that begin with the letters "a, e, i, o, u"; however, that is not always the case. The choice between "a" and "an" really depends on the sound with which a word begins and not on the actual letter.

In the case of "L2", you pronounce it as "el 2", so you see, the word begins with the "e" sound (e as in bed). So you use "an".

For a similar reason, you don't use "an" before the word "university", because although the word begins with the letter "u", the word "university" in fact begins with the sound "y", and we don't use "an" before the sound "y".

Hope that helps.

Community
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Mohsen Sadi
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    @user253751 To me (someone who grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA), the vowels in "el" (the name of the letter L), "bed," and "help" all sound identical, whereas the vowels at the beginning of "owl," the beginning of "Africa," and the middle of "help" all sound very different from each other. I can't think of any accent that pronounces "owl," "Africa," and "help" with the same or similar vowels. – Tanner Swett Mar 31 '22 at 13:48
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    aaahhhhhfrica. oowwwwwwl. Not even the same, not even really close. – CGCampbell Mar 31 '22 at 14:47
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    This is where knowledge of IPA comes in handy, an alphabet where every letter represents a different sound. In General American English, the vowel in "owl" is /a/, "Africa" is /æ/, and "help" is /ɛ/ – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Mar 31 '22 at 18:06
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    @CGCampbell Depends entirely on the region. In many parts of NZ, SA, Aus, "Africa"(ˈafrɪkə) and "owl"(aʊl) do share nearly identical leading vowels. English has many different pronunciations around the world. – J... Mar 31 '22 at 19:59
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    @user253751 You're very likely not "wrong", just "regionally correct"... but I REALLY want to know what region it is! :D – Dewi Morgan Mar 31 '22 at 23:15
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    Midwest USA speaker here, I wouldn't personally raise the initial vowel of owl all the way to /æ/, but it wouldn't sound out of place to me. – the-baby-is-you Apr 01 '22 at 02:19
  • I think in African English it is common to pronounce "Africa" with an /a/ at the start. – hkBst Apr 03 '22 at 07:54
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You should consider the sound when it comes to these issues. Take a look at these examples:

  • A European. Here we use "a" because of the reason that the word "European" starts with a consonant sound. It starts with a vowel letter however.
  • An honest man. The word "honest" starts with a consonant. But the letter "h" is not pronounced. And it's pronounced like "onest". So we deal with it as a word that starts with a vowel.
  • An hour. It's the same as "an honest man".
  • An MP3 player. The word "MP3" starts with "M" which is consonant. But the word is pronounced "Em Pee Three" which starts with a vowel.
  • A university. It's the same as "A European".
Mohd Sala
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    Further complicating this is that some words are pronounced differently in UK vs. US English. For example: "herb". Brits are more likely to pronounce the 'h', while Americans typically don't, so you might see "a herb" in the UK, Ireland, Australia, etc. and "an herb" in the US or Canada. – Darrel Hoffman Mar 31 '22 at 13:06
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    The letter "h" in "honest" is pronounced, in many dialects. I think the "h" in "hour" is more universally silent. – user253751 Mar 31 '22 at 13:31
  • I'll add that a "vowel" can refer to a sound rather than a letter, and many dictionaries list this as the first definition (e.g. a speech sound which is produced by comparatively open configuration of the vocal tract, ...). So it really is correct to say "use an if the word starts with a vowel". It's also worth pointing out many native speakers will hypercorrect and get this wrong, I have heard things like "an historian" many times. – Andrew Chinery Mar 31 '22 at 13:39
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    It is noticeable that many people, in trying to discuss matters like this, appear to think that sound and letter are interchangeable. – Colin Fine Mar 31 '22 at 15:44
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    Just to concretely point it out since you bring up "an h..." twice: a hotel, because the "h" is clearly aspirated in that case. – Flater Apr 01 '22 at 09:05
  • I like "uninformed" vs. "uniformed" where a single letter totally changes the word and how it is spoken. – gnasher729 Apr 01 '22 at 09:17
  • I'm not a native english speaker. So no idea about European and university. But: I'm 100% sure I always wrote an European and an university, and - never got corrected for it, and at the moment of this typing, the spell checker is not complaining. More important: your explanation makes no sense at all. Both words are imho clearly aticulated with an "u" sound at the beginning. Like the "oo" in "look". But thanx for the info, I will keep my eyes open :D – Angel O'Sphere Apr 01 '22 at 17:47
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    @AngelO'Sphere It depends on how you pronounce them; if you really do pronounce it "ooniversity" then yes, it would be "an ooniversity." But I've never heard a native speaker pronounce it like that (it's normally like the word "you"). – Showsni Apr 02 '22 at 01:42
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Expanding on what @Kate Bunting commented: generally, when a text contains acronyms (like "L2"), these are read/pronounced letter for letter, and since the "L" is pronounced "el", you use "an" (see answer from @Mohd Sala).

On the other hand, abbreviations like "Dr." or "Mr." are read as "doctor" and "mister" – in other words, they are expanded to their original unabbreviated word. The same "a/an" rules apply.

I agree with @Kate Bunting: Whether you should use or avoid abbreviations depends on whether you can expect the listener/reader to understand these.

fbitterlich
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    strictly speaking it is initialisms which are read letter by letter, whilst acronyms are read as words. Sensu stricto, L2 is an initialism not an acronym, whilst LASER is an acronym and not an initialism. In casual use both are commonly referred to as acronyms of course, but I think it is worth noting that there is inconsistency in how abbreviations are read, and some are read letter by letter rather than suggesting all acronyms are (which is definitey incorrect) – Tristan Mar 31 '22 at 14:20
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    @Tristan Some consider initialisms to be a special kind of acronym. In this case, the OP expands "L2" to "second language", so it's an even more general code. – Lawrence Apr 01 '22 at 05:37
  • @Tristan not to mention that whether some words are pronounced letter by letter or as words can vary wildly by region, profession, and even person to person... To take an example from my profession: SQL (structured query language) is often pronounced letter by letter, but I, and plenty of my colleagues, pronounce it "sequel" – ScottishTapWater Apr 01 '22 at 12:56
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    ... and the spoken form of "e.g." starts with the letter between "e" and "g", namely /f/ ;) – Hagen von Eitzen Apr 01 '22 at 20:33
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Your body is asking a separate question from your title. To answer the body, you'd either say "an L2 learner" (as in "an el two learner") or "a second language learner" depending on whether your audience would know what "L2" means.

Drake P
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Whether to use “a” or “an” depends entirely on how you would pronounce the following word, regardless of how it is written.

  • an ell two learner
  • a second language learner
StephenS
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This is written text, but a/an depends on how it is spoken, and you can't know that. If people say "an ell-two learner" then it's "an". If people say "a level-two learner" then it is "a". Actually, a vs an in the written text tells me how I am supposed to speak it.

An example was given in a comment about "HTML". Problem there is that for some people it is "aitch-tea-emm-ell" and for others it is "haitch-tea-emm-ell". So different people would speak it differently.

gnasher729
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