Deinonysus wrote:And in General American English there is no vowel length distinction so it only makes sense for British Received Pronunciation. Since you speak Italian, a better contrast would be the short a in «mamma» vs the long a in «fare».
In the Italian example you gave, I don't hear any difference between the "a" in
mamma vs.
fare, so I'll just trust that you're not screwing with me!
I often can't perceive very slight auditory differences, which can cause problems sometimes with Italian. I still don't hear a difference between single and double consonants, even though I know it supposedly exists. I've tried minimal pair training for this and it didn't make a difference. I also have this issue with music. I can't hear a difference between piano keys that are next to each other, I can only detect a difference when the notes are farther apart.
Perhaps it seems to me that the Cambridge book is using those macrons totally randomly because whatever small difference in pronunciation there is I'm just not capable of perceiving - or maybe there really is no difference for me since I speak American English.
In any event, I appreciate the help.