Pronunciation

“Sorry” ain’t the hardest word

Most Difficult words to pronounce

Pronunciation. It’s not just a matter of stringing syllables together to utter a word. Sometimes different combinations of letters can lead to tongue-twisting pronunciation challenges, not just for foreign speakers, but also for native English speakers. Don’t believe us? Here’s five of the top most difficult words to pronounce. How many can you get right?

1) Otorhinolaryngologist

Pronunciation: Oto-rhino-laryng-ologist

An otorhinolaryngologist is an ear-nose-throat doctor, or more commonly referred to as an ENT specialist. Considering that most people would have trouble pronouncing the medical term for such doctors, it’s a good thing there’s a short abbreviation that we can all use. Imagine a emergency trip to the hospital without it!

2) Worcestershire

Pronunciation: Wuss-ter-sheer

Worcestershire sauce is a savoury cooking condiment that is often used for meat dishes (commonly known also as Lea & Perrins).  It seems that the ‘-cest-’ in the middle of the word creates a lot of confusion for most people.

3) Anemone

Pronunciation: Uh-nem-uh-nee

Anemone refers to a species of wild flowers, or it can be an abbreviation for sea anemone – those marine creatures with stinging tentacles. When you break it down into the four different segments, it does get easier to pronounce. 

4) Squirrel

Pronunciation: Sk-whirl

You may think this isn’t a hard word to pronounce. But apparently for foreign speakers, especially Germans, ‘squirrel’ is quite a linguistic challenge for them. In World War II, the word ‘squirrel’ was used by the English to detect Germans as it was almost impossible for them to say it correctly.

5) Isthmus

Pronunciation: Is-muss

With the “s” and “th” sounds together, it can be quite problematic to pronounce this word. Here’s a tip: Keep your tongue behind your front teeth as you vocalise this word.

 

How did you do? Want to see how other’s did. Well, check out the videos below and find out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_23ZSiAp0p4

 

You say Tomato I say Tomahto

You say Tomato I say Tomahto

English-is-confusing-2

(Source: writeshop.com/blog)

Have you ever wondered how confusing English pronunciation can be to someone who doesn’t speak the language? If you grew up learning and speaking English, it shouldn’t be a problem for you. But if you were asked to explain the rules of pronunciation, I guess most of us would have forgotten them from our school days, although we subconsciously apply them in our everyday conversation.

That’s the thing − while English does have pronunciation rules, there are exceptions to the rule. And sometimes there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it these rules. Why are there so many words that begin with a silent “K”, such as “knife”? Or even a silent “G”, such as “gnaw”? If it’s not pronounced, what’s the point of including that letter in the first place, if it only adds to the confusion of both native speakers and learners? Apparently, words like “knife”, “knee” and “gnat” are examples of Viking words with letters that used to be pronounced previously, so they are still spelt the same way, but the pronunciation has changed. So although these letters are silent, they still remain so that you can see their history and origin. What’s more, words that end in the same combination of letters aren’t necessarily pronounced in the same way. Why is “trough” pronounced “troff” and “through” pronounced “throo”? Check out this video to see what we mean. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZV40f0cXF4

So one of the quirks of English pronunciation isn’t just a question of learning the rules – it’s about learning the many exceptions to the rules.