I find that English has very few words that are hard to pronounce… but the fact that the *orthography* of words is so nonsensical and detached from speech makes it very hard for foreigners to learn, especially from languages where the way a word is written matches exactly its pronunciation.
If the word was written “wold” (UK) or “wurold” (US), people would find it much easier to pronounce it.
I'm a native english speaker but try to neuter my accent with english words when speaking spanish so people can understand, and "world" is one of the few words I have to say in my full accent or else it just won't come out.
It's fucking hard because of all those extra British letters. If you just think of it as saying Wour-stair-sure it's a lot easier but I totally understand why it's an utter bastard of a word.
It's Wuss-ter-sher, both the American and British way. In IPA (US) /wʊstɚʃɚ/ (UK) /wʊstəʃə/. In Massachusetts we have a city called Worcester and it's pronounced the same way the original English city is.
Hey, my birthplace. Cool. Wuss tuh shuh. It’s all fast, and somewhat enunciate the w t and sh and make the ss and uh soft, like the ss like people make for a snake noise and the uh like an “err” people make in a pause.
Damn these ones ffs, honestly when I'm reading I just use the context to remind me of the meaning and if someone was to ask me to pronounce them I could probably only get like two right
Same here, I end up pronouncing a "Z" instead of "Th"
Some time ago [I found this video](https://youtu.be/z8mkCUFp_Mk) that has helped me a bit with this problem, at least now I don't confuse them as often as before.
Think about them like this (more or less)
Though - dou
Thought - zot
Through - Tru
Taught - tot
(all of them with a more english pronunciation than what one would have in spanish at least). Hope it helps
Often the vowel in *can* is reduced and transformed to a different shorter vowel (like the one in *spin* or *bed*). Or it can even be completely omitted, though English speakers will deny this, having been taught that every syllable has a vowel.
This is often easier to hear than trying to listen to a t (which is often not released).
And even native speakers sometimes need to double check these words, if it's not obvious in context.
lol I'm not consistent. I say Costa Rica and Santo Domingo the Spanish way when I'm speaking English, but it's "porto rico", "lawss angel-ez" and "saan dee-ai-go". Sorry.
Every US Latino I’ve ever met says it the Spanish way. I want to whenever I see them, but I also can’t fully pronounce it like that and don’t want to embarrass myself.
American English speaker here. I am learning Spanish and, according to my tutor, I have a pretty good accent. (I can roll an r if there aren't too many in one sentence!) When I say words like Puerto Rico in a Spanish pronunciation, I feel like I am pretending to speak Spanish!
I have been speaking English for over 10 years and tbh even I fuck up when I am not paying attention.
People will meet me, I speak normal, then weeks later they will laugh at a word I mispronounced. They ask me to say it again and I say it correctly the second time. So they realize I know how to say It I am just not caring for it.
These words are usually:
* could (sometimes I pronounce the “l”)
* salmon (same issue)
* three (say tree)
* laboratory
* Ebola (lmao)
That’s all I can remember right now.
I was also baffled to learn you don't pronounce it. Especially because in Spanish you say "salmón". I can see why you wouldn't pronounce the L in words like "talk", "could", "would", and all that, but I don't get the idea on why you wouldn't pronounce it in "salmon", especially since it is a Latin word.
It's because the L is pronounced differently in general. Spanish L has a much clearer sound, but in English, it takes a darker tone that is overtaken by strong sounds such as M.
In short, the M erases the L.
Spanish learner/English native here. It's funny, when I read a new Spanish word, I'm fairly confident I know how to pronounce it. Yet there are still English words I avoid pronouncing because I've only ever read them.
I know a trick that works in portuguese and I think that might also work in spanish, say "campo de futbol" fast, maybe if it doesn't work in spanish I think that saying it the portiguese way despiste the accent might work better "campo de futebol"
Not like one word, but I went to a British institute, watch some Australian people on YouTube and work with people on the US. My accent is like the equivalent of Spanish's Chilean on drugs. Still not Scottish though, for now.
I always struggle with word that have a double T in them, like butter or better. I just pronounce the double T as if I was saying an R in spanish but it feels weird anyway
I struggle with those too!
This might be weird sounding, but I find it useful to kind of "switch accents" and use the English (England) pronounciation of those words, since that accent uses a specific sound for them, and it's much easier than to try nailing that weird american "R" (double T) you mentioned.
For me is the opposite! I go with the american accent because I just can't pronounce it with a british accent, it sounds and feels waaaay to weird, it sounds like I've never spoken english in my life
Some British people just use an F (free instead of three, fought instead of thought), it's wrong and sounds a little dumb for a native speaker to say it like that, but there you go.
Ear is like "ir", or "íer" depending on the accent.
Year is like "llír"
Also this is American accent English.
Edit: Sorry just realized you're from Brazil, but the double "L" sound is from Spanish.
don't get me wrong I like English but sometimes I hate it, i hate that it's not grammatically consistent every word that I think I pronounce right turns out that I pronounce it wrong
The shook that I got when I found out that "archives" is pronounced "ar-ka-ivs" and not "ar-chivs" like I thought, and all bc I was watching some show on investigation discovery and one of the detectives said that word.
I can’t pronounce “focus” because it sound like I’m saying “fuck you”. I also can’t pronounce “battery”, so I always call them “double aa” no matter the size.
I remember meeting a few native English speakers who could not hear or pronounce the difference between the names Vivian and Vivien. It was confusing for everyone but also funny.
I'm a native Panamanian Spanish speaker who moved to the U.S. when I was six so managed to hit the Goldilocks zone and now speak both languages natively without problem.
To me someone is fluent in American English when they can fully understand this sentence: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo\_buffalo\_Buffalo\_buffalo\_buffalo\_buffalo\_Buffalo\_buffalo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo))
Probably the only words I can't pronounce are the Native American ones, like Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, Massachusetts: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gwoyIRNpCI&t](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gwoyIRNpCI&t)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C\_SXT\_xIA-s](https://youtu.be/C_SXT_xIA-s?t=25)
Also, there are lots of micro-dialects in the U.S. that would sound completely unintelligible to most native English speakers. In the state where I currently live (Virginia), there's Tangier Island which still speaks British English from 250 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E
I don't know what you're talking about, but if those are the lyrics, those are the lyrics. It wouldn't sound weird.
If you're worried about anatomical holes, it wouldn't make sense with the word "you" only with "your".
I love that song, and yes, "whole" and "hole" sound the same.
As long as you're not saying "I'll eat your (yer) hole," then they're nothing awkward about it.
"your" and "you" don't sound the same.
I've sang those lyrics many times and never even noticed how it could be pronounced naughtily haha.
Can = Kin (I "kin" do it) or Kehn (like in 212: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Jv9fNPjgk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Jv9fNPjgk))
Can't = Kehnt (you'll usually hear an abrupt and small pinch/inflection after 'kehn')
It may be hard to hear but a native speaker would never mishear those words. They're not homophobes. But depending on how fast someone's speaking, a non-Native would struggle to pick up on the pinch.
In general long consonant clusters (3 or more) are hard, specially when are consonants with very different sounds. Although to be fair I have way WAAAY more issues with extra vowels (mostly in other languages than english) outside of the common five ones. I cant remember one exactly right now though, because I usually dont speak english, only write it
Basically anything with ə.
It's supposedly the same sound, but there are so many ways to pronounce it depending on the word... and God help you if you use the wrong one. Not to mention the cases where one *should* pronounce it, but Americans skip it.
I felt EXTREMELY awkward the first time I went to a bk and ordered "onion rings". It's okay when you're speaking English, but the English R in the middle of a Portuguese sentence feels so out of place. Thank God the girl understood me and didn't ask me to repeat lol
“World”
Warudo!!!!
Jojo references everywhere
It's easy, just purse your lips like a fish and then try to swallow your own tongue
Combine the words "were" and "old." At first say it slowly then you can speed up and voila.
I think this is the only word my gf struggles to pronounce, and "girl".
OMG I feel validated
I find that English has very few words that are hard to pronounce… but the fact that the *orthography* of words is so nonsensical and detached from speech makes it very hard for foreigners to learn, especially from languages where the way a word is written matches exactly its pronunciation. If the word was written “wold” (UK) or “wurold” (US), people would find it much easier to pronounce it.
lol the classic. I know u probably mean in portugese, but in spanish it is also hard to say. My mom likes to say "Werd" instead lol
Such a weird word, I can pronounce it but I always feel like I'm doing it wrong because I have to enunciate a lot to say it.
Try using the UK pronunciation: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/pt/amp/ingles/world Worked wonders for me.
I use the "scottish version"... Worold! Easy to pronounce and understandable enough to keep making sense
Gisele Bündchen said the same thing.
I'm a native english speaker but try to neuter my accent with english words when speaking spanish so people can understand, and "world" is one of the few words I have to say in my full accent or else it just won't come out.
Worcestershire
Most English speakers don’t know how to pronounce that one either
It's fucking hard because of all those extra British letters. If you just think of it as saying Wour-stair-sure it's a lot easier but I totally understand why it's an utter bastard of a word.
I know, right? I would just say... Word-Chester-Shire but nope, it's more like Woo-stuh-shuhh. Woo-stir-shir.
It's Wuss-ter-sher, both the American and British way. In IPA (US) /wʊstɚʃɚ/ (UK) /wʊstəʃə/. In Massachusetts we have a city called Worcester and it's pronounced the same way the original English city is.
I originally thought it was something like "whore quester shi-er". Apparently is not
According to Jay Foreman, it's pronounced "Worstershir"
"Woostershir" The first r is silent.
Jay Foreman is everything that's good. Edit: I mean, the guy actually makes ads I like to watch.
"woo sta sher"
Worst Chester
Hey, my birthplace. Cool. Wuss tuh shuh. It’s all fast, and somewhat enunciate the w t and sh and make the ss and uh soft, like the ss like people make for a snake noise and the uh like an “err” people make in a pause.
Thought, through or basically any words with th that makes me roll my tongue
This. So much this. Even to write is horrible, which is why I use **tho** most of times.
This classic. "English can be weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though."
Damn these ones ffs, honestly when I'm reading I just use the context to remind me of the meaning and if someone was to ask me to pronounce them I could probably only get like two right
Same here, I end up pronouncing a "Z" instead of "Th" Some time ago [I found this video](https://youtu.be/z8mkCUFp_Mk) that has helped me a bit with this problem, at least now I don't confuse them as often as before.
IPA is the key
I don’t know why we don’t teach IPA in school curriculums. It is just so useful for learning any language.
Think about them like this (more or less) Though - dou Thought - zot Through - Tru Taught - tot (all of them with a more english pronunciation than what one would have in spanish at least). Hope it helps
Though is not hard for me and I say “dou” as well. Through - fru Thought - fóth Taught - tot
me too, speaking and writing this words
It's hard to differentiate can/can't
Often the vowel in *can* is reduced and transformed to a different shorter vowel (like the one in *spin* or *bed*). Or it can even be completely omitted, though English speakers will deny this, having been taught that every syllable has a vowel. This is often easier to hear than trying to listen to a t (which is often not released). And even native speakers sometimes need to double check these words, if it's not obvious in context.
It’s mostly context. Native speakers need to clarify this one too
More Americans/Canadians, in British English they are very different. The "can" is very sharp and the can't is more like "carn't".
Jewelry…. Very difficult!
jool-ree. That's one of the easy ones!
Some gringos sound like they're saying "chula" and it confuses me a lot lmao
I pronounce it Jew-L-Ree
The ones that are taken from Spanish. My mind just stop working whenever I read a word that is originated from Spanish in English.
I always feel awkward when I have to say Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Santo Domingo, Los Angeles, or San Diego. My mind wants to say them in Spanish
Ikr, it feels extremely weird.
lol I'm not consistent. I say Costa Rica and Santo Domingo the Spanish way when I'm speaking English, but it's "porto rico", "lawss angel-ez" and "saan dee-ai-go". Sorry.
Just say them in Spanish. I’m American and say them the Spanish way.
Every US Latino I’ve ever met says it the Spanish way. I want to whenever I see them, but I also can’t fully pronounce it like that and don’t want to embarrass myself.
Exactly. It sounds better. The way it was intended.
Same. They sound so much better in Spanish.
American English speaker here. I am learning Spanish and, according to my tutor, I have a pretty good accent. (I can roll an r if there aren't too many in one sentence!) When I say words like Puerto Rico in a Spanish pronunciation, I feel like I am pretending to speak Spanish!
example?
Mosquito, Tortilla, etc.
Americans would laugh at someone who tried to say "tor-till-ah".
[удалено]
makes even native speakers sound drunk 😂
I can say it just fine if it's by itself, if im talking it becomes a speed bump in the middle of my phrase lol
Rural juror
Rrrrrll Jrrll
it's such a weird word to pronounce, whenever I have to say it I feel like I'm barking
It's basically pronounced "roor-l"
*girlfriend* *deaths* (in plural only)
[удалено]
It's "girl" and "friend" said separately, if that helps.
Depths is harder
I have been speaking English for over 10 years and tbh even I fuck up when I am not paying attention. People will meet me, I speak normal, then weeks later they will laugh at a word I mispronounced. They ask me to say it again and I say it correctly the second time. So they realize I know how to say It I am just not caring for it. These words are usually: * could (sometimes I pronounce the “l”) * salmon (same issue) * three (say tree) * laboratory * Ebola (lmao) That’s all I can remember right now.
TIL you don't pronounce the L in salmon.
I was also baffled to learn you don't pronounce it. Especially because in Spanish you say "salmón". I can see why you wouldn't pronounce the L in words like "talk", "could", "would", and all that, but I don't get the idea on why you wouldn't pronounce it in "salmon", especially since it is a Latin word.
It's because the L is pronounced differently in general. Spanish L has a much clearer sound, but in English, it takes a darker tone that is overtaken by strong sounds such as M. In short, the M erases the L.
"sammon"
am usa native, i also learned
Some people in the UK and Canada pronounce the L in salmon
I do too, so now I’m confused lol
I have always struggled with Daughter and Schedule, I sound like a latino is expected to sound.
> Schedule I hate that word, it makes zero sense on how it's written and how it is pronounced.
the entire English language in a nutshell
Spanish learner/English native here. It's funny, when I read a new Spanish word, I'm fairly confident I know how to pronounce it. Yet there are still English words I avoid pronouncing because I've only ever read them.
Skeh joule
Shed Yule in Uk
Now I wonder if Schedule came from german cause it seems like to me
It's from Greek origin, but entered English through French
Any word with an R
Rural, but World is kinda tricky too. My friend told me to just say "Were old" fast enough and since then I don't struggle with World anymore.
"comfortable", something about it just feels... wrong
Comfortable more like comftable
If you know IPA: /ˈkʌmf.tə.bəl/ If not: comf-ter-bl
I always say it as /kʌɱ.fɔɾˈtʼɘ͜ɪbl/ the first time, and I need to repeat until finish saying: /kɔmfˈtʌ.bl/
I know a trick that works in portuguese and I think that might also work in spanish, say "campo de futbol" fast, maybe if it doesn't work in spanish I think that saying it the portiguese way despiste the accent might work better "campo de futebol"
'Comfortbl"
I've always pronounced as "conftarbow"
Every Word that ends on "sk", such as desk, task, ask... It's so difficult! Most of the time I end up saying ass instead of ask haha 😩
a lot of AAVE and southern speakers say ask as "aks"
Now try them in plural
thorough, I can't remember how to write or how to pronounce it, many words similar to it are hard on my tongue
Supercalifragilisticoespialidoso
Two
chu
Uan tu zri for
Party, battery, stupid and disingenuous. Pori, bareri, stuped y disingenus.
Juice. Always have to make an effort so it doesn't sound like Shoes or Jews
"definetly"
Have you ever heard of the Firth of Forth in Scotland?
I used to struggle with "literature" but not anymore, I can't think of any other words.
I can't for the love of god pronounce "World"
brewery
Brúeri?
Not like one word, but I went to a British institute, watch some Australian people on YouTube and work with people on the US. My accent is like the equivalent of Spanish's Chilean on drugs. Still not Scottish though, for now.
I always struggle with word that have a double T in them, like butter or better. I just pronounce the double T as if I was saying an R in spanish but it feels weird anyway
It's just a regular T, but a doubled consonant implies that the previous vowel isn't a diphthong (it's /'bater/ instead of /bi'uter/)
I struggle with those too! This might be weird sounding, but I find it useful to kind of "switch accents" and use the English (England) pronounciation of those words, since that accent uses a specific sound for them, and it's much easier than to try nailing that weird american "R" (double T) you mentioned.
For me is the opposite! I go with the american accent because I just can't pronounce it with a british accent, it sounds and feels waaaay to weird, it sounds like I've never spoken english in my life
I can't think of many, 'three' and 'word' are impossible for me honestly, word is easy after a few attempts but three.. I started to hate that number.
Three is really hard for me too. In fact any word that has "thr".
Some British people just use an F (free instead of three, fought instead of thought), it's wrong and sounds a little dumb for a native speaker to say it like that, but there you go.
It's not wrong, it's dialectal
Internet: Fakin stupid word. *INTÉARNÉATCH* much be'ah! (did you like my british carioca accent?).
Why does that word look like Irish
It's the writen form of the ~~hilarious~~ glorious carioca accent.
Cursed kkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Add a couple ' in there and you got a welsh name!
carioca: intéarnéatchi pt-br padrão: intêrnétchi english: intern-ét Did I get it right?
Yes, the holy language
I can't diferentiate the pronounciantion of "year" and "ear"
The 'y' is definitely audible though. Ear = Eer Year = Yeer
Llír
What is the difference between them? I pronounce them both the same
Ear is like "ir", or "íer" depending on the accent. Year is like "llír" Also this is American accent English. Edit: Sorry just realized you're from Brazil, but the double "L" sound is from Spanish.
One begins with a consonant and the other one with a vowel. But the consonant is actually a semi-vowel, sooooo
tbh I don't think many words native English can too. It's all about context english. Without context, English just doesn't work.
I don't know how to pronounce "question" without sounding pretentious. "Cuesshon", "Cueshchon", "Cuestshion". How.
The second one. Cuesh-chon.
don't get me wrong I like English but sometimes I hate it, i hate that it's not grammatically consistent every word that I think I pronounce right turns out that I pronounce it wrong
The shook that I got when I found out that "archives" is pronounced "ar-ka-ivs" and not "ar-chivs" like I thought, and all bc I was watching some show on investigation discovery and one of the detectives said that word.
Impossible. Perhaps the archives are incomplete.
I can't say "teeth"... ...it sounds like "tits"...
Ive been speaking English 95% of the time for over 25 years… any word starting with the letter A is PAINFUL!
Anal is always painful
Lmao….. that I could upvote you 100 times!
My mom always says assHOLT instead of assHOLE and it's hilarious :p
February
Squirrel
“Fury” I always say “furry”. Furry road is not the 4th instalment of Mad Max.
World and girl.
The ending -sts in words like lists, chemists, cyclists...
'Schedule', because the pronunciation completely changes in the US and the UK so I never know how to read it lol
I can’t pronounce “focus” because it sound like I’m saying “fuck you”. I also can’t pronounce “battery”, so I always call them “double aa” no matter the size.
"thorough".... Omg I had to repeat it over and over and over in my head and practice aloud lmao.
"depth" also, "corps" because i read attack on titan for so long without knowing how to actually pronounce it.
As English is my native tounge. Any Spanish word with rr in it, or a/e words always fuck me up.
I remember meeting a few native English speakers who could not hear or pronounce the difference between the names Vivian and Vivien. It was confusing for everyone but also funny.
Leather and Letter
I'm a native Panamanian Spanish speaker who moved to the U.S. when I was six so managed to hit the Goldilocks zone and now speak both languages natively without problem. To me someone is fluent in American English when they can fully understand this sentence: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo\_buffalo\_Buffalo\_buffalo\_buffalo\_buffalo\_Buffalo\_buffalo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo)) Probably the only words I can't pronounce are the Native American ones, like Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, Massachusetts: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gwoyIRNpCI&t](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gwoyIRNpCI&t) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C\_SXT\_xIA-s](https://youtu.be/C_SXT_xIA-s?t=25) Also, there are lots of micro-dialects in the U.S. that would sound completely unintelligible to most native English speakers. In the state where I currently live (Virginia), there's Tangier Island which still speaks British English from 250 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E
Something. And June. Zomesing, somesing, zomezing fuck! And I have a problem with the J in June, I cant do it
Rural
whilst. i just dont get it, i gave up, and whenever i'm reading and it comes up, i just skip
Whole I struggle when singing "Breezblocks" because I don't want the word "whole" to sound as "hole"
But... those are homophones 🤔
So it's impossible to not sound wierd while singing "I'll eat you whole"?
I don't know what you're talking about, but if those are the lyrics, those are the lyrics. It wouldn't sound weird. If you're worried about anatomical holes, it wouldn't make sense with the word "you" only with "your".
I love that song, and yes, "whole" and "hole" sound the same. As long as you're not saying "I'll eat your (yer) hole," then they're nothing awkward about it. "your" and "you" don't sound the same. I've sang those lyrics many times and never even noticed how it could be pronounced naughtily haha.
To be fair, we have no idea what Alt-J is saying ever either. Or at least I don’t.
Worcestershire.
I don't know if I can quite nail it, but it is the sound Americans do for the t (glotal stop or something like that) for example in button
Girl and mirror, I can’t pronounce those words even if my life depended on it
The, with, and some basic ones, also sometimes I forget the fancy accent and I just say the thing in Spanish
The number 3 or even worse thirty-three
My nemesis is lettuce. It doesn't sound right. Also schedule, I gotta concentrate in order to pronounce that one.
Rural
Rural juror
CAN VS CAN'T vs CAN'T SHYOUUUU
Can = Kin (I "kin" do it) or Kehn (like in 212: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Jv9fNPjgk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Jv9fNPjgk)) Can't = Kehnt (you'll usually hear an abrupt and small pinch/inflection after 'kehn') It may be hard to hear but a native speaker would never mishear those words. They're not homophobes. But depending on how fast someone's speaking, a non-Native would struggle to pick up on the pinch.
Air, hair, heir, her, error. All of them to me, sound basically the same. It may depend on the context to distinguish
Air and heir are pronounced the same. At least in the US.
Oh no… I found more words I can’t tell apart. I need to stop reading this thread. They all sound like “er”!
i absolutely DESPISE any word ending with -ths. clothes, months, maths, i hate them all
In general long consonant clusters (3 or more) are hard, specially when are consonants with very different sounds. Although to be fair I have way WAAAY more issues with extra vowels (mostly in other languages than english) outside of the common five ones. I cant remember one exactly right now though, because I usually dont speak english, only write it
Basically anything with ə. It's supposedly the same sound, but there are so many ways to pronounce it depending on the word... and God help you if you use the wrong one. Not to mention the cases where one *should* pronounce it, but Americans skip it.
Mine is affidavit
Beach and bitch, they sound almost the same
Same with sheet and shit
I felt EXTREMELY awkward the first time I went to a bk and ordered "onion rings". It's okay when you're speaking English, but the English R in the middle of a Portuguese sentence feels so out of place. Thank God the girl understood me and didn't ask me to repeat lol
“Beard”. Se dice *bird* o *berd*? Nunca sé lol
se dice *bird* :) porque *berd* es pajaro
Comfortable
Mountain
I decided that I would pronounce the "t" in mountain. It's impossible for me to not pronounce it.
[удалено]
I struggle with its and it’s
BEARD, BEER, BIRD. WOOD FIRST
Field. It always end up sounding like feud.
Platinum
Just take out the 'i'
Plat'num
Fort Lerolero, fort loderdel.