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Communication

These 30 Words are Always Mispronounced

Written by Sasmita Mishra
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English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Now, anywhere up to 1.8 billion people around the world speak English. It is easy to learn and flexible. In spite of that, there are many words which are mispronounced by many people. This may be because of the fact that English is not their native language and they have their own regional accent. These 30 words are always mispronounced. Even by most of the people whose native language is English.

  1. Almond: This dry fruit is pronounced as Ah-mund, (pronunciation of u as in sun). L is silent. You should not pronounce it as Aal-mund.
  2. Bury: It is pronounced as Be-ri, the same as berry. And not Beu-ri or Burr-ri.
  3. Dengue: This disease is pronounced as Den-gee (pronunciation of ‘gee’ as in cheese). You should not pronounce it as Den-goo.
  4. Dessert: It is pronounced as dizz-urt, (pronunciation of u as in sun). And not as des-ert which is a barren land.
  5. Schedule: According to US English, sked-jule is the correct pronunciation for this word. According to British English, shed-yool is the correct pronunciation.
  6. Zebra: According to US English. the sound of the letter ‘Z’ is ‘Zee’. So, Zee-bra. (pronunciaiton of ee as in tree). But according to British English, it can be Zeb-ra. (pronunciation of Zeb as in egg).
  7. Niche: In US English, it can be pronounced as Nee-sh (pronunciation of Nee as in tree). But according to British English, it is pronounced as Nitch (as in switch).
  8. Bowl: It is pronounced as bo-hl (pronunciation of o as in roll). Not as ba-ool which is wrong.
  9. Euler: It is pronounced as Oiler. And not as Yuler/Yular which is wrong.
  10. Truth: It is pronounced as troo-th (as in boo) and not tru-th.
  11. Epitome: It is generally pronounced as ep-i-tome (as in foam) But the correct pronunciation is ep-i-tummy.
  12. Develop: The correct pronunciation is D+vay+lupp, and not as Day+vay+lupp.
  13. Pizza: The correct pronunciation is peet-zuh, (peet pronounced as in wheat). And not Pi-za.
  14. Monk: It should be pronounced as muhngk as in drunk. It is often mispronounced as mawnk (mon as in Montreal).
  15. Genre: The correct pronunciation is Zhon-ruh, (Zh is a sound as in vision, and ruh as in umbrella). It is often mispronounced as Jen-ner.
  16. Quote: The correct pronunciation is kwo-te. It is often pronounced as coat which is wrong.
  17. Sour: The correct pronunciation is sower (as in power). It is often pronounced as saar which is wrong.
  18. Quinoa: The correct pronunciation is keen-wah. It is often pronounced as keenoah which is incorrect.
  19. Ethyl, methyl: The correct pronunciation is A-thil, mey-thil. (thil as in hill) But these words are often pronounced as eethail, meethail (aail as in ice).
  20. Porsche: The correct pronunciation is Por-shuh. It is often mispronounced as porsh.
  21. Salon: It should be pronounced as sa-lon, (sa as in Apple, lon as in John) It is often pronounced as suh-loon which is incorrect.
  22. Police: The correct pronunciation is Puh-leece. It is often mispronounced as Poo-leece.
  23. Chauvinism: The correct pronunciation is shoh-vuh-niz-uh-m. It is mispronounced as chow-vi-ni-zum.
  24. Coupon: The correct pronunciation is Koo-pon (pon as in pawn). It is often mispronounced as koo-pun (pronunciation of u as in sun).
  25. Gauge: The correct pronunciation is gayj. It is often mispronounced as gauj.
  26. Raspberry: The correct pronunciation is Raz-ber-ee. The fruit is often pronounced as rasp-berry which is incorrect, the P should be silent. .
  27. Cocoa: It should be pronounced as koh-koh and not koh-koh-wa.
  28. Capris: The correct pronunciation is Kuh-preez and not cape-reese.
  29. Victuals: The correct pronunciation is vittles. It is often pronounced as vik-choo-uls which is incorrect.
  30. Plumber: Its correct pronunciation is plume(r) with b silent.

Featured photo credit: Johan Klovsjö via flickr.com

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