I am Vietnamese & If I see "Le" & "Bo" I will pronounce them as /le/
& /bo/
.
But seem English doesn't have any /e/
or /o/
as a phoneme. A phoneme /ˈfoʊniːm/ is one of the units of sound that distinguish one word from another in a particular language. The difference in meaning between the English words kill and kiss is a result of the exchange of the phoneme /l/ for the phoneme /s/. Two words that differ in meaning through a contrast of a single phoneme form a minimal pair. (Wiki)
See this Vowel chart picture
(Source)
See the vowel "o
" I couldn't find any word in English dictionary that has vowel "o" stands alone without any other vowel standing next to it.
Let say, I can see /ɡoʊ/
(go), the /ʊ/
stands right after /o/
.
There are no words that can pronounced as /ɡo/
, /ko/
where the /o/
stands alone.
The chart doesn't have /e/
but /ɛ/
. But /eɪ/
is popular in English.
To sum up, I think we don't have /e/
& /o/
as a phoneme in English but diphthong /eɪ/
& /oʊ/
.
So, I think the Native English speakers will say /leɪ/
& /boʊ/
when seeing 2 Vietnamese words "Le" & "Bo".
If they speak like Vietnamese, they should say /lɛ/
& /bɔ/
but most of time I think they will say /leɪ/
& /boʊ/
.
In standard IPA vowel chart (audio version), they tend to pronounce /e/
& /o/
as /eɪ/
& /oʊ/
, although not 100% sound like /eɪ/
& /oʊ/
but 80% sound like /eɪ/
& /oʊ/
(see IPA audio chart).
Am I right?