English Words Americans Mispronounce ❌ Difficult English Words | Common Mistakes
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- čas přidán 30. 04. 2024
- Do you ever wonder which English words Americans are mispronouncing most often? In this video I’ll show you the most commonly mispronounced words and how to correct any mistakes you’re making. Even AMERICANS mispronounce words as adults because the language is not phonetic. I’ll help you hear and master the correct pronunciation using IPA and real-life examples. I will show you how these difficult English pronunciation challenges can be solved, allowing you to incorporate the correct pronunciation into your American English accent. You’ll see that even native speakers make mistakes in how they pronounce English words. As an English learner you’re in good company! Even those of us who have grown up speaking English are still trying to figure it out! You’ll learn how to sound more like a native English speaker and have a lot of fun too! I think you’ll be inspired and encouraged as you see that even native English speakers are constantly learning the intricacies of the English language!
Playlist on the phonetic symbols for English: • IPA - International Ph...
Video on the word ‘schedule’: • How to Pronounce 'Sche...
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Improve your American Accent / spoken English at Rachel's English with video-based lessons and exercises. Rachel uses real life English conversation as the basis for teaching how to speak English and how to sound American -- improve listening comprehension skills. Study English vocabulary and English phrases such as phrasal verbs, as well as common expressions in English. Learn American idioms and American slang.
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Rachel's English do you mean, pronounce wrongly?
Rachel's English You mispronounced the word “aunt.”
how about the word "often"?
Rachel you would be much happier if you marry me .
Here are some: Plumbing, singer and solder as in soldering iron. Also the word iron itself.
Queue is just pronounced 'q' because the rest of the letters are still waiting in the line... =)
koszeggy
Cute!
Clever
😂
Brilliant
That is hilarious way to remember it.
The 3 hardest things for people to say: I'm sorry, I was wrong & worcestershire sauce.
I can say the first two but the last one still gets me. Maybe I should practise it.😄
People who speak English have no problem with Worcester Leicester, Gloucester. This is because they are places in England where we speak English not American.
@@Em-wr9ze people from Massachusetts like myself tend to pronounce words closer to those in England.
@@Em-wr9ze Those are all names of towns in Massachusetts as well, so we tend to pronounce them the right way 😉
Not hard for an Englishman!
"Booty queue" was hilarious, I never heard that before haha. My word I always messed up was "epitome", I pronounced it epee-tome
I’ve never hear “boutique” pronounced “booty queue” but, I often hear it pronounced “bow tique”….I’m always blown away when I hear it!
Actually it’s E pit oh me: epitome
"The letters of this word make no sense for the way it's pronunced!". That is true for all of english, from a non-native speaker's point of view
I appreciate your challenge & struggle; I only fared well because of growing up in an American English household where my Granny was an English teacher! To all of those who undertake learning English the world around, I tip my hat and applaud your efforts!
Literally, in half a century, I've never once heard any person mispronounce Echelon.
Trivia :
It's from Latin: Scala --> French: échelle /
échelon --> English: Scale (ladder, steps, etc)
I've heard people say both eKelon and eCHelon......but then again I'm always on the road so tend to talk to thousands of people each year.
I’ve never heard of it at all 😳
We are snobs. We don't associate with such lower echelon individuals.
I learned its pronunciation in the Marines.
90% of these are words with French origin. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to learn English if your mother language is not of Latin origin. I work all over the world and am continually humbled by the quality of English spoken by people from far flung continents.
A lot of French words entered the English language after the Norman conquest of 1066. Norman French was the language of the ruling classes at the time.
it's not that hard actually
Some people think its a handicap to only be able to speak english. I dont think so. Its an amalgamation of different languages over different periods. As long as you do a bit of etymological research its fairly easy to recognize patterns in other languages. Save for semitic and asian languages of course.
90% load of bollocks
As a Canadian (where we retain more of the French pronunciations and spellings) some American pronunciations sound REALLY weird to the ears like first time I heard an American pronounce “foyer”. 🤔Americans pronounce the “er” ending as in better or summer.. but in French an “er” ending generally pronounced as a long a so we pronounce it ‘foi-yay’
We also have spelling like “cheque” (check as in banking)… and “centre” but pronounce center.. 🤪
"mel-Lock-a-ny"
Someone I went to school with thought it was the pronunciation of "melancholy," and that when people said "melancholy," they were using a different word.
This video is excellent, but it drove me nuts that you didn't touch on the etymology, which is the entire reason English is so damn complex and inconsistent. Knowing the origins of the word absolutely helps pronounce it. Is it greek, germanic, latinate, french?
I think this is the real reason that many Americans don't know how to pronounce words or names well. We're generally very ignorant of other languages and cultures, despite being a society comprised of all the cultures of the world.
One thing that drives me crazy is that so many people write "I should of" instead of the shortened for "I should have" which is spelled "should've".
Do so agree. Drives me crazy and unfortunately is increasingly common
Jeanette Place, Thank you! "Should of indeed!" One wonders about these people.
I think this is as much a grammar problem. If a person realized that "have" is often part of a part tense expression, they might remember what is correct.
Oh yes - the ubiquitous 'of' I see this a lot in blogs written by Americans, such as 'off of'
Unfortunately this is common in the UK too.
I love this video, 12 years in Catholic school taught by nuns, I got 100% on this one. Those ladies loved correct English, and manners too.
Thanks Rose!
They also hated their students.
My school too!!! Thank God for the nuns of SSND
@@terrykelly6113 No, just you.
You are so right. The curriculum taught at the Catholic school I attended in Philadelphia during the 60s, was leagues away from what I had been accustomed to when I was in public school. It was in that Catholic school that I was taught how to diagram a sentence. Spelling bees were frequent, and we dreaded misspelling a word. Penmanship was emphasized and so was neatness. Elegant cursive, with the letters always leaning right, won accolades. Our notebooks were open for inspection and were given weekly notices. Incorrect grammar, sloppy usage, and heaven forbid, foul language received swift and firm corrections. To this day, I'm eternally grateful to those devoted nuns.
In the late 80's, I became a Realtor.... and, even after ALL these years, folks still say it incorrectly, by adding a syllable, an "a" in between "real" and "tor"..... Thanks for this video, it was awesome, and very informative.... =)
You're welcome and thanks for sharing!
This and other of your videos demonstrate just how surprisingly much of modern English actually comes from French.
In a CZcams video i saw recently, it was said that MORE of modern English comes from older, "country" French than even from earlier forms of English.
There are obvious examples like "cognac", but even words like " guard", "study", and "restaurant" come from French.
They even said there is more "country" French in modern English than there is in modern "Parisian" French itself.
One thing is for sure: English is WAY more French than most people realize.
Fun channel!
At what point does it go from "wrong" to being a part of a dialect though? If the majority of Americans pronounce something "wrong" at that point is it not just the American dialect for that word?
Language is all about being understood! It's mispronounced if you can't be understood or clarification is needed, but it's dialect instead if it's a common way to say it among similar speakers to you. English is adopting new words all the time from dialects, so if "mischievious" isn't a word now, I think it soon will be!
You’re an Azuki simp too huh
Languages are fluid. They change over time. The word "internet" didn't exist 50 years ago. Slang and "mispronounced" words are what make accents unique.
There is a term for words that are used per region that allows them to be correct.
No. It's wrong. Language must be preserved... Any Language ... correctly preserved. There can be too many variations, but the correct ones are just that, correct. Even phrases or sentences are destroying the language. Finna...for "fixing too"! You get my point. It must be preserved in its correct form. Alterations in "texting" are short cuts, but should not be acceptable for formal language...ever.
When I hear people say, "we conversated," it absolutely kills me, it's conversed.
Hello Stevie......
@@maxwellmark986 🤮
Conversated is correct slang😋
Didn't they add "conversate" to the dictionary?
My 9 year old grandson says things like that! It's cute at his age. He says spectating too. Spectators are spectating in his thinking 😄
It would be helpful to mention the etymology of these words, and the cultures from which they are borrowed. Not only would it help with guessing the pronunciation on reading, it helps to estimate meaning. Echelon is French. Chaos is Greek. Schlep is Yiddish. Adding background would not only make this video more interesting than just going through a list, it would help the viewer retain the knowledge, rather than simply try to memorize data.
Why do English speaking newscasters persist in mispronouncing Foreign place names? There is No Cobble Afghanistan! Ka-bule! Many others over the years as if they are trying to change the language. Keep educating us. Thank you.
Someone told me once, you should take caution when judging people that mispronounce words because this stems from reading... An educating activity. Not everyone falls into social circles with diverse vocabularies. The fact that these people are doing it on their own, should be commended. It's difficult to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
True!
Absolutely true! My son, when in second grade, would fearlessly read aloud, sounding out unknown words according to the phonics he'd learned in school.
@@Sides3Sides That's great (and cute) for a second grader, but not for a grown adult. It's just sad in an adult.
The problem is that so many of these adults who are pronouncing things totally wrong is that they are so pigheaded and think they are correct and can't be shown the correct way. Or a lot of the attitude is "oh, so what?". And the reading defense I'm reading in the comments is really weak. That's what school and parents are for. To flesh out what is read. Are we basically saying that "not everyone falling into social circles with diverse vocabularies" is given a pass because, well, poor schools, peers and parents?
@@Booshka823 if you lived in my region, you might only know certain words from reading or from a subscription to a cinema channel. Around here - coal country, Appalachia - it has been considered rude to use any but the most basic vocabulary. So I’m not about to look down on anyone who might know a word without having heard it.
It requires mention that because English was composed from several languages, its rules of pronunciation are quite inconsistent. The pronunciation of an English word is most often based upon the language from which it came. This is why people in a spelling bee contest ask the language and history of an unfamiliar word before attempting to spell it. Thanks Rachel!
English isn't "composed" from several languages. It has borrowed words from many languages, but that's not the same thing. English is Germanic language.
@@reh3884 Just curious as a non expert, what is the difference between composed and borrowed? I found his answer fascinating as well as your rebuttal, but a little confused why this might be a source of contention.
English does borrow from other languages. We have many words from all over but it is a Germanic language. Not composed of other languages!
All western languages are derived from Latin. Anyone speaking Latin would tell you that just about everything you say is mispronounced...
@@ninjaclan83 English is a western Germanic language brought over by Anglo Saxons. It does feature latin but it is classified as Germanic but I guess you mean that it replaced British Latin? I suppose you're right.
Is there any English Teacher for natives over there? Teachers from high school or elementary school? I wonder how is it like? When you correct an essay of a 6th grade student, do you find many writing mistakes? How long does it take for a native to become 'native' in speaking and writing?? Only in English we see things like that:
>> clothes = close
>> no = know
>> would = wood
>> draught = draft
But in portuguese we also make many grammar mistakes, but the pronunciation is usually the same. 🙏🏼
Thank you Rachel!
Binging this channel should be mandatory for every English speaker with access to the internet.
Thanks a lot!
My wife said there are no words in the English language that use every vowel and in the correct alphabetical order. But I think she was speaking facetiously.
👀
Nice one!!
🤣👍
*Groan*
Smart aleck
My trigger word: "expresso" when saying "espresso". Gets me everytime. That's an eye twitch inducer right there.
What about when people press the excape key?
When I was young I used to say EXpecially instead of especially 😆
I hate it, and MOST PEOPLE DO THIS 😳 SUPPOSEBLY INSTEAD OF SUPPOSEDLY !! DRIVES ME BONKERS!!
My trigger word is "seen". "I seen so and so"... It's "saw" you plebs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love saying expresso to people who get triggered for not saying espresso! Makes for a little spice!
When I was young, having no idea how to say it correctly, we pronounced Worcestershire sauce as Roosterfire sauce.
How about segue - I've always said "seg-way" so I was surprised when I heard a friend say "see-goo". I knew that pronunciation was important to her, so we looked it up. (And I knew that she also learned words by reading.) Well, we found that it's correctly said seg-way. Has anyone else had a problem with this one?
I've never heard anyone say it that way but I can understand how someone might think that's how it's pronounced. As you said, just another example of learning words by reading :)
I know people who say, “supposably” rather than, “supposedly.”
Ugh. Me too and it is physically painful 😖.
My supervisor asked me to write her retirement letter, because she wanted it “gramorically correct”. Her favorite expressions were “it’s a tapestry of justice, and I could care less”. SMH
@@shelbymanners6729 - Or people that use "was" instead of "were". Or, instead of pronouncing the TH sound at the ends of certain words, they use an F.
Earf instead of earth, Teef instead of teeth, birf instead of birth etc.
@@toshikotanaka3249 I think you're just describing 5 year olds
Yes, so annoyitating!!😃
Another pet peeve: someone saying “I pacifically (instead of specifically) told you….
This one drives me nuts!
😡😡😡😡😡
Oh wow. I just commented the same thing. Then I scrolled down. I always want to slap people when they say that.
I always respond with Atlantically.
@@rm5282 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😂
How about “ flustrated ” instead of frustrated
Please do one on oriented. I have heard it two different ways and would love the correct pronunciation. Thanks for doing these, they are extremely helpful!! Blessings.👏🤓🕊
Thanks for the suggestion Deborah!
Hi Deborah Amy. I am a nurse so I am used to my patients being either oriented to time, place, etc or disoriented. It is like fingernails on a blackboard when I hear anyone say "orientated" & "disorientated"! I can't stand it! But I keep my mouth shut!!
I like talking a lil messed up casually. It makes people listen when I switch gears and speak very clearly. Different strokes for different folks and situations. It imparts nuance that can be an important component of the info conveyed.
It's also based off where you're from. People have accents that slightly throw off the way they pronounce things. Another thing is that growing up, you learn from others on how to say a word because in that area that's how they pronounce it. Therefore, when people "mispronounce" a word it's not necessarily incorrect, their accent can confuse others, or how they were taught to pronounce it.
That should be "Based ON where you are from". Not only words but also expressions should be preserved.
“Draught” is the British spelling of the word. I’m surprised she even put that in here, seeing as it seems she’s teaching American English. You will only ever see “draft” in America
The only exception being imported beer :)
I'm american and even I pronounce it as Draught lmao
@@kateissues that’s because “draught” and “draft” are pronounced the same. “Draft” is the American English spelling, and “draught” is the British English spelling
I see "Draught" on beer menus at restaurants all the time.......
Not to mention the -ique words she talks about are all French based words. They are not English at all, we just use the French word because we don't have a better English one.
Thank you, at last , it's a pure delight to hear words in our mother tongue pronounced correctly. to be quite honest, I've compiled an English to American English conversion table but you've given me new hope. You will be blessed.
The mischievous mispronunciation drives me crazy. Thank you for addressing it.
In British English 'schedule' is pronounced with a soft 'ch' - 'shedule' (although, with the influence of American movies, many younger people now say 'skedule').
I agree and have heard both versions.
both are correct
Don't get influenced by americans, its your own language.
I have heard Canadians using the soft ‘ch’ pronunciation also. She is referring to American English though so maybe that’s the reason.
I think the Oxford English Dictionary would state, schedule is pronounced with a soft a sshh, as in shed. Some people may think they sound more American by saying skedule.
Teacher: Johnny, please give me a sentence using the word officiate.
Johnny: My uncle got sick from a fish he ate.
😂🤣😂
😆😆😆
🤣🤣🤣
😂👍
I’ve never heard that one!!
That made me chuckle out loud.
Me a french native, seeing the prononciation of "Vague" which as far as I'm concerned comes from French, well this mister pronounced it correctly as Vague in French and Wave in english (bears also the same second meaning) is pronounced with a pure A sound. And I love how all of the words with the "que" ends are litteral French words as many of them to my knowledge all possess english contreparts, often direct like Antique and Antic , of cours they do not bear the same meaning, and yet all of the "que" ending words were mispronounced as well
But don't worry, we the French also have a lot of fun butchering the prononciation of many english words!
Same sort of deal with Brand Names....
Nutella for example is pronounced as "Nut"-"ella". But some people say "NUtella". "Nut" is said because it's referring to the Hazelnut.
Adidas is pronounced as "Adi"-"Das". Because it is an abbreviation of 'Adolph Dassler'. Adolph was referred to as "Adi". But some people say "AD"-"DEE"-"DIS".
Thanks for sharing!
😅give me a break while I eat my salmon. Oops! I mean "samen." I am 82 years old and only a few teeth left. So the way I pronounce words now is a new form of English. 😄Keep up the good work!
Yessssss! Drives me nuts!
🤣🤣🤣
English language is pronounced with no reason. Watch the comedian Galleger talk about it. Very funny!
YOUR 82?! YOU are freaking immortal !!
Yeah, salmon is a weird one! Good call!
We were taught phonetics back in the 60s. I've read thousands of books. If I didn't know what a word meant through context or if I wasn't sure of its pronunciation, I was taught to use the dictionary.
And, I still do that
That just makes too much sense
That only helps if you have been taught the phonetic alphabet. I have not, and I was educated in the 1960s and 1970s. I have little or no idea of what each of the symbols mean or what sound they designate. Unless I hear the word spoken, I don’t know the pronunciation.
Vikki Taylor Yes! they taught us the diacritical markings (for long and short vowels , etc.), dipthongs, the schwa sound and all that stuff. It was foolproof! I have noticed online they now either use completely different markings, call them them different names or lump everything into this "universal" code called IPA which makes no sense to me at all. Why fix something that is not broken? We taught our children how to read phonetically since they do not teach it that way anymore. SMH. It's a "guess and go" method now. Look at the whole word and try to guess what it is by the context of a sentence. So dumb.
@cattycorner...There are so many things they no longer teach in school. It seems the goal is longer learning but graduation. I learned how to count without a calculator (money, too!), how to write cursive, how to type, word origins (which helps with spelling and pronunciation!), typing with all my digits (not just my thumbs!), grammer, math, and many other things I use daily...based on current curricula I think the jobs of our educators have become increasingly difficult and our children are suffering because of it. Morality and accountability are two topics that deserve their own forum! Thank you for listening!
I get extremely annoyed with people mispronouncing words, this is very soothing haha
I remember as a kid, the words that tripped me up the most were usually loan words from French. The one that took me the longest to learn was recipe, I would say it like reh-cipe, sounding like ‘tripe’.
I cannot spell lots of stupid French words like rendezvous or reservoir.
Two of my pet peeves: mischievous as “mischievious” and nuclear as “nuculur”
Mischievous is such a word that the proper pronunciation has been forgotten. I only ever hear Nuclear pronounced that way in more southern US areas(I’m in WV so I hear it occasionally). Also, February being pronounced as Feb-you-Airy and not including the first r.
Anyone remember David Letterman taking the mick out of George W Bush over "nucular"? It was hilarious.
I might be alone in this, however I am an Australian and find that most of the people I know pronounce it "mischievious".
That said, Aussies are not really known for speaking proper English
To me people are "mischievous" but things are "mischievous".
Ill let you figure It out lol 😎
Is this video popping up in everyone's feed or something?
Anyway, when people say "expresso" when ordering coffee really grinds my gears for some reason.
You mean grinds your beans?
“Acrossed” instead of “across”
“Ambidextrious” instead of “ambidextrous”
“Lacksadaisical” instead of “lackadaisical”
Some more mispronunciations with the potential to ruin my mood for the day.
It would me too, but have never heard it said that way.
@@uncletasty9721 Ah ha Alex, I myself have been laxadaisical in my pronunciation of lackadaisical. Thank you for pointing it out. 👍
@@livableincome You clearly have been listening in a lackadaisical manner.
As a native speaker of English I enjoy watching this because I am learning French right now and it is nice to know I’m a native speaker of a very hard language to learn
I always came across the word ennui while reading. I had never heard anyone use it in casual conversation. I finally heard it spoken much later in life.
QUEUE is simply the letter Q followed by 4 silent vowels
Queue is one of my favorite unusual words. I also like syzygy. Queue and syzygy can mean the same thing: in a line.
I have never heard an American ever use the word, "queue" for a line. In fact when an English person asked me if I "were in the queue," I did not know what she meant.
Here's another way to understand the word 'queue' it is read as [k-yoo] - the letter group QUE forms the [k] sound - think of antique [an-teek] etc., and the last 2 letters -UE creates the vowel sound [yoo] - as in other words like cue [k-yoo] due [d-yoo] etc. :)
In America, queue is pronounced LINE. In Britain it is pronounced CUE.
@@SuperMagnetizer The word 'queue' cannot be 'pronounced' as 'line.' But the word 'line' is used in America instead of the word 'queue.' And the word 'queue' and 'cue' are both pronounced EXACTLY the same as [k-yoo] - because they are 'heteronyms' - words with different spelling, but the same pronunciation. :)
I'm originally from Italy and I came here when I was 2. I astonishingly say all these words correctly. Thank you to my grammar school teachers.
I did not have 25 percent of my hearing all the way up to the 2nd grade. I really could have used someone to teach me. I'm still learning.
It happens. You put pride on speaking and writing grammatically correct unlike most Americans.
same
Hai fatto molto bene, Aldo 🇺🇸 🇮🇹
I’m from America originally, I say everything correctly just like it was in the 1960’s. Now I say everything wrong decades later. I didn’t change the world did. Even the new elementary teachers say I am no longer saying it the way it is taught now.
A lot of these are hard because they are non-native and don't follow normal English spelling rules. But we don't have the accented letters in acai or facade so don't realize there is an alternate pronunciation. Schedule is dialect. A lot of the English speaking world pronounces it as shejul or skejul.
Realtor seems to be a tongue twister for lots of folks… I hear it pronounced “re la tour” all the time and occasionally “re al tour” and “re ala tour”….so crazy!
Others enunciate words how they learned at home. “SCH” is a Deutsch or Germany for “SH”. English is a composite of mean words from different languages.
Yeah I don’t even speak German but I would assume the correct pronunciation of schedule would be with an “SH” sound at the beginning
So schez you al.
czcams.com/video/GkPLjy3lyJk/video.html I prank call dollar tree asked them to watch my kids 😭😭😭😭😭
Yes, English has Germanic and Romance spelling conventions, which is why it's all over the place. And then pronunciations have changed over the centuries, but spelling stays mostly static. Other languages usually change the spellings of loanwords, but English doesn't.
@@shaunmckenzie5509 that pretty much covers the things that make English very difficult to learn for people who have had little exposure to it.
The first time I saw “outlier” I thought it was French and pronounced it Ute-Lee-ay. Hilarity ensued.
I'm sure it did. Ha ha ha ha!! Then there are those words that you have heard SPOKEN and you have SPOKEN all of your life ... BUT ... you have NEVER written them, seen them written, nor read them. Now that is a real shocker!! You're like "is that how that word is spelled? I never knew that". At this moment I can't think of a word, an example, but I know it has happened to me. I remember one time, many years ago, I said the word "wholly" to my aging mother. As in "that child's behavior was wholly unacceptable". meaning ... entirely, completely. She didn't know what it meant, spelling, or usage, and she was surprised that I did. English and grammar was never my strong suit in school, I'm more mathematical.
I bet that one time is now an outlier from all the other times you have pronounced it correctly. :)
I used to live in London. I used the tube almost every day. And a lot of people mispronounced two places. Maybe more but these two where the most common. Amersham and Chesham.
de·ba·cle
/dāˈbäk(ə)l,dəˈbäk(ə)l/
Oxford shows the above. Most other dictionaries show just 1 pronunciation, the second of the two above, both having the accent on the second syllable. I always thought it was like ‘De Bah kul. Just didn’t sound right any other way.
Working at the banking industry, one word that I hear often is “recurring”. People often pronounce it “reoccurring”, which has a slightly different meaning.
20 spot 7
Most insane thing ever. They say spot instead of dot or point.
😳I have never considered that one before. 🤔
There is no such word as “reoccurring”.
@@Woodman-Spare-that-tree That is incorrect.
Thank you sir...you just helped me out lol..now I'm self conscious, which is good actually
Some real estate agents mispronounce the word realtor. Adding an "a", pronouncing it "realator".
A lot of people who aren't realtors say it that way, too, including me, haha.
A little side point relating to the word realtor. There is an organization that has added an a to the word. This organization requires registration with their group and they are called "Real-a-tors"(TM), just like the mispronunciation for the word, - 'realtor'.
This one really bothers me. And yes, local realtors will mispronounce it in their own radio ads. Smh!
"Masonary" for "masonry" is a similar error.
@@geoculus5606 I feel like 95 percent of the English speaking world does.
This also works the other way, ie words that people misspell seems to link to accent. I'm a native Londoner living in Glasgow. When I first arrived in the west of Scotland, my mind was blown by some amazing misspellings, until I realised that people write what they say; eg 'definitely' is pronounced definAtely (with exaggerated a) here and many people spell it that way!
Thanks for sharing Mark!
I do not mispronounce "echelon" because back in college I took a Precalculus class dealing with algebra matrix resolution. But thanks for telling us whose whose mother tongue is not English that native English speakers also mispronounce some words.
I find it funny that when she was talking about acai I didn’t know what she was talking about. But as soon as she pronounced is “a-k-ai” I suddenly understood 😂
Muso?
Def felt like a fool ordering an “ akai” bowl in Hawaii last month lol
My English is pretty good but I went with a K too
They used to make good tape decks.
@@carltonlambert7608 still make samplers
I don't ever mispronounce "echelon". Heck, I never use it, forgot it even existed.
😂😂😂
Exactly. I learned the word from reading and still pronounce it properly.
It’s a French word. It would be more honourable an attitude to openly admit this.
I learned it from Splinter Cell. Because you’re part of 3rd Echelon.
I'm Japanese but I knew the word and its pronunciation thanks to Travis Scott's song 😅
Wow outstanding video. All words are equally crucial but after this video, I am able to pronounce correctly are; schedule, queue, boutique, vague, vogue etc. I am thankful to you Mrs Rachel.
That's great Tika! Keep it up!
Rachel my dear. The ''açaí'' is a very common palm tree here in the Brazilian Amazon region that produces a bacaceous purple fruit, widely used in food and beverage production. The açaí palm is sometimes confused, in the state of Pará, with the juçara palm, which, although it is another type of palm, produces palm hearts of excellent quality. Remembering that you are ''B&B" (beautiful and the Best) Hugs from Brazil darling.
Thanks again Rubens!
I read the word “conscience” growing up and genuinely believed they were referring to science of con artistry. Rather than your internal moral compass.
I cannot ever seem to spell “conscience” or "couscous" correctly!?
I split it up the word conscience. I take the first syllable c o n and then I spell science made it easier for me growing up.
I still think it is.
You got my ribs cracking!!!
@@discmotoslots Couscous, so good they named it twice.
In sixth grade, I had a schoolmate named Hannah - who was reading the word “political” and she pronounced it as “Polly-tickle”. Even though almost 50 years ago, I will never forget it. Even in 6th grade, most of us knew that was funny. She probably still remembers a sense of shame - for which I personally am sorry.
I used to say "viginer" instead of vinegar lol
MEEEEEEEE I DO THISSSS XD
My wife pronounces the word rotisserie, as in the chicken, “roast-ti-aire.” The first time she told me to pick one up, I was like “the what chicken?!”
In seventh grade a girl would continuously say the word "organism" as "orgasm" in science class and I will never forget my homies and I trying our best to keep it together lmao
I said polytitial one time and got made fun of lol
It drives me crazy to hear the word turmeric pronounced toomeric, especially when a chef does it!
Once I stopped a meeting by saying "ISOTOPES" the wrong way using my native language rules. Another word that drove crazy for a while was "LINCOLN". I say both right now. Thanks Rach for showing us more of those.
You're welcome Giorgio and thanks for sharing! :)
"Chaos"
People who have watched sonic:*i have no such weaknesses*
Until you play the games and go to the Chao garden. Then it's pronounced as if you're saying goodbye in italian.
^^this
As a kid, I never knew the word “chaos” so I pronounced it as ( ch-Aw-ois-)
I was such a smart kid...
@Hecker-chan uh...
Schedule with the "k" phoneme is not the only correct pronunciation, it is actually in a way just "accepted". The most corrected one would be as the British do with the "sch" phoneme, as it was originally a French word. Also, açaí cannot really be said to be an American word as well, it is actually tupi-guarani adapted to Portuguese, so it is easy to understand why it is mispronounced, it basically is a foreign word for native speakers.
I'm Brazilian and foreigners can never say "açaí" properly because they don't know that the "ç" has an 'S' sound and that the accent on the I changes the pronunciation :P
Portuguese is a difficult language for everyone, but especially English speakers...
The name 'João' is confusing even to those who know another Romance language.
I don’t know if I’d say “originally a French word,” the origin of our pronunciation of it, sure, but I would’ve went with late Latin as an origin
@@t.castro4493 I had a similar problem with ß is German, turns out its just an S sound with just a little longer stress to it.
I've heard people pronounce "schedule" as "shkedule"
@@Amy_Dunn Yup, back when I was a child I thought it was a "B".
The "Ä" still confuses me, though.
I have LITERALLY never heard the proper pronunciation of Worcestershire, every time I say it I would just say something similar to "worsheshesheshire shaush" because I never knew how to pronounce it
The word that got me was "debris." I had heard it pronounced and understood what debris (pronounced "debbree") was by the time I was 10, but then I read the word "debris" in a book, recognized what it meant from the context, but thought it was pronounced "deb-ris". It was perhaps 5 years later before I understood that I was not dealing with two words that had the same or similar meanings, but with one word spelled "oddly."
There are more French words that are used in English than one would expect. In this video alone, here are the ones I caught:
Echelon = Échelon
Facade = Façade
Vague = Vague
Vogue = Vogue
Queue = Queue
Antique = Antique
Boutique = Boutique
Artisanal = Artisanal
Cognac = Cognac
Colonel = Colonel
YES. Almost all the words she chose as examples were lifted lock stock and accent from the French. And they DO follow the rules - the FRENCH rules.
Is that Vague as in "Nouvelle Vague". Or vague as in "The Hague"? Obviously not to be confused with "Den Haag".
But never, ever "Coenyac". Always "Cognac".
53% of English words come directly from the French language
@@ggggerryggg8170 wait, 53% 🧐 😳
English is such a language of words borrowed from other languages, it's helpful to know the country of origin, because borrowed words often retain their original pronunciation. For example, "echelon" is from the French, where "ech..." is usually pronounced 'esh...', and "chaos" is from the Greek, where any "ch" sounds like a hard 'k', like the Greek letter "chi" ("Χ" in the Greek alphabet), pronounced 'kee'. English can be challenging due to the numerous borrowed words, but also fun, like traveling the world! Bon voyage!!
👍🏻
@@rebeccarozen722 Quay is pronounced Key
English and other languages of europe are latin origin languages. So there are many similar words among them. Languages are formed by communication and movement of people, cultures...so english borrows from others and others borrow from english ofcourse. "Good Morning" and "Guten Morgen" in German sound similar...so we can't say which language borrows from which language cause we are not the first people who use it.
Worrying about pronunciation is such a blue sky problem. So you say a word wrong? Big deal. I prefer to hide my intelligence anyways. If someone is going to think i'm not very smart that is great. It's always better to have low expectations and to take your enemies by surprise.
German language class in 8th grade, I thought wow. Makes much more sense than English in America.
This is great! I’m very much appreciated for this session of pronunciations. Thank you.
Thanks so much indeed, Rachel! The word "colonel" is actually pronounced with the "r" sound in American English as there is no "r" in the word but it's pronounced without the "r" sound in British English. ❤❤❤👍
Thanks for sharing William!
As a non native speaker I feel somewhat special for knowing how all these words are pronounced 😅
My tip: listen to audiobooks
Thanks for sharing Aizu!
Same because they come from french I guess like echelon, vague, Vogue, queue, facade, chaos...
Same here. I'm Italian and speak French and Spanish. I never had problem with those words. Only, when I speak English, absolutely hate (mis)pronounce italian words like spaghetti, pizza, latte, etc saying, for example "spagheri"...arghh :)
Aizu brilliant tip!
I have heard a number of words mispronounced in audio books.
One of my college professors, asked me during class if I read a lot. When I asked why, he said it was because I kept mispronouncing words due to being more familiar with reading them versus hearing them. Apparently his son was the same way. It can be an interesting thing to listen for.
I mispronounce words I learned through reading, too. I was surprised to hear the woman in the video say this, because I never heard anyone say that before though I figured I hadn't heard them spoken. My friend can pronounce almost anything right but he's a terrible speller! Either he doesn't read as much or it's just a different skill set (I can Spell almost anything). I figure he must have had intellectual parents who used these words; my parents were more earthy. But maybe his ear is better while I'm more observant visually. Or maybe I just don't question my assumptions enough! (Some words I've learned correctly from hearing him: papyrus; scythe; unwieldy..)
@@cockeyedoptimista he knows the spoken language and you know the orthography!
Hey I just subscribed- - - *thank you* for making these videos! I learned many words by reading and mispronounciation fears (founded fears mind you) have limited my willingness to express myself to my full potential. I appreciate you. One of the reasons I'm exasperated that youtube removed the dislike button is because it kept me from learning the wrong pronunciations! There are so many bad videos out there one has to dodge!
I have a question: Do you have any videos that teach how to read phonetic instruction symbols? Or a course? I truly appreciate your dedication to education. Thank you 💗 😊
You're very welcome! Here's a playlist: czcams.com/play/PL76E3034895AF6FF4.html
"etchelon" is perfectly good, based on Norman French.
“Rural” has always taken more of my concentration than it should.
I agree. Rural is not the easiest to pronounce. I think about it every time I say it. After thought: Days after posting the previous sentences I was reminded of a movie title from the tv show Thirty Rock. The character Jenna attempts to tell others about the small budget movie she made the previous summer. The movie was titled The Rural Juror. The way she pronounces it has everyone confused; no one can understand what she's saying. Lol. It's perfect for this example.
I hate this word. I stumble on it regularly
If you're from a rural area in the US, you don't have issue with it as people here pronounce it as a one syllable word "rul" that is drawn out.
@@jenni8982 I'm from a rural area of the U.S. We pronounce it both ways. Fast (one syllable) if saying an address quickly (the old style of address) and slowly (two syllables) if saying the word in other circumstances.
@@lj.3589 nobody speaks quickly where I'm from.
Actually, I've never heard anyone mispronounce "echelon" until this video, so I think most Americans -- certainly all that I know -- have no problem with the word "echelon."
Didn’t make it to the second word of the video. Never, in over fifty years, have I heard anyone say echelon wrong. Yet one person on an obscure video she watched, used one word wrong, and it’s a word all Americans use wrong.
Right!? I know plenty of commonly mispronounced words, but I have never, ever heard anyone mispronounce "echelon" until today.
This woman would have a field day with Cardy b or whatever her name is
Agreed. Never heard someone mispronounce it either.
Most non-homosexuals just say ladder rung anyway
We have 15,000 French words in English. The first king of England was French. I really feel people mispronounce due to not thinking. If you read something i.e. triathlon, why are you adding syllables?
People hear others, trust others, thus they screw up. A favorite is hearing people say Tijuana. They say Tiajuana (incorrect). Guacamole is mispronounced. Guacamole is not Spanish. Guacamole is Aztec and sounds like: wah-kah-mo-lay.
I could go on forever like this. I appreciate you helping out. I needed açai, the rest I knew.
Thank you.
I like this teacher,props to you Rachel ,you have helped me a lot especially in pronunciation
You're very welcome Francis!
Echelon comes from the French échelon, a word whose literal meaning is “rung of a ladder.” Initially it was confined to military use, to refer to a step-like formation of troops. It is not English
I would wager half of English isn't English
My thoughts EXACTLY.
Thank you.
A lot of the words in this video come from French (antique, boutique, facade, echelon) - Americans like me can't say anything right :P
@@tonis204 60% of English comes from French they say ;)
I was born in the US, raised in the UK & I have never heard/seen this word before. I had to look up it’s meaning. Thought it sounded French though so thanks for this clarification!
The word schedule is also tricky, seeing as the British pronounce it differently. Though not as the student suggest 😅
I usually hear Brittish/Australians pronounce it shed-ual, with a minor emphasis on the s.
Thanks! I came down here looking for this comment. Since the English language originates in England, and the English pronounce it ˈshe-(ˌ)dyül , Rachel is in fact teaching the incorrect pronunciation. 😆
I hate when people say Shed-ule like bruh c'mon that's not it
@@kaproskarleto5136 That's cuz you speak 'Mericun, bruh
I always thought you would shed ual and event into your skedge ual
Pretty sure there are a lot of us brits using it like this.
I don't know if this was already said but good job on pronouncing açaí, I'm from Brazil and from what I know that's a portuguese word from the native tupi, and I know a lot of english speakers have trouble with Ç and our emphasis (like à,á,ã,â), what we call "accents", but you did an amazing job! :)
I am so glad we have english / education being taught in the US. Can you imagine how many issues existed before standards were agreed upon and then distributed through standardized education. As a Stats person, I am not suprised, as the proibilities will always dominate in systems that are unclear.
Not a speaking issue but a writing one: the 90% use of loose when they mean lose.
Very true. And some can't distinguish between they're, there or their.
Like a lot of people spell the line splitting two countries apart as "boarder" instead of "border".
Aaaack! The whole "loose" and "lose" thing. Pet peeve of mine. Lol
@@firefly19690 that drives me nuts.
People who spell does as dose
My pet peeve is hearing someone say “supposably” when it’s actually “supposedly”. Nails on a chalkboard! 😕
Maybe they have speech problems or different dialect because of region
@@PrincessofKeys Not an excuse. 😂
Depends, because supposably IS a word, it is just used out of context most of the time. It means "able to be supposed". So, if I know you like chocolate, then supposably you will like a Hershey bar. Supposedly means "according to what is generally assumed or believed". As in "Supposedly she is going to pay me back next week".
For me it’s “in the meanwhile.” Imo it should be “meanwhile” or “in the meantime” and “in the meanwhile” sets my teeth on edge.
@@JoeMac1983 how is having a communication disorder an excuse...?
Hi Rachel! This was many years ago, possibly even in my tweens (I'll be 66 in a couple of weeks!),I was reading & came across the word misled, so if course I read " mizled"! A relative said she always thought amicable was "a mik able"! Hey, we've all done it!
Niche. I pronounce it “nish”. My wife and I argued this one for months. She was adamant it was “nitch”. Turns out, both of us were wrong and right!
Nee-sh
@@solooverland3666 like I said…either way is correct
The upside to all this is that we began playing scrabble and Yahtzee together every day until Nov 14th, 2013.
I had a very strict English teacher, so I learned all of this in the proper place.....school, many moons ago! It's a shame that many of today's teachers are unable to speak correct English, much less teach it.
Proper place?
@@Elvis-guy1973 Yes, school is for learning
@@gigimoore3738 To say you learned all of this in the proper place is bad grammar.
I learned a lot of this from my grandmother, who had been an English teacher. I never came across the word açaí, until I was in my 40s, and so school, my grandmother, and other pronunciation snobs utterly failed me. Failed me!
@@Elvis-guy1973 Why is it bad grammer?
I have heard everyone say Mischievous wrong all my life, that the correct pronunciation sounds wrong now haha!
I quite often hear a similar thing - grievous, pronounced as grev-i-ous, adding an extra syllable.
The pronunciation and spelling "mischievious" with the extra -i- goes back hundreds of years. It's rarely (if ever) been included in dictionaries, and yet it has endured for a very long time.
@@IAmAlgolei There are two approaches to creating dictionaries. Prescriptive and Descriptive. Prescriptive is when you create a dictionary that tells everyone how they ought to be speaking regardless of whether anyone actually speaks that way.
Descriptive is if an alien (or foreigner) were observing us and trying to figure out how to understand and speak our language. This dictionary would reflect the way the language is actually spoken.
Dictionaries try to strike a balance between the two (unless they are specific to a region and time) because languages change over time.
If you have appointed yourself the High King/Queen of English (or any other language) you can declare that the way you speak is correct and prescribe to everyone else how it ought to be spoken the way you do.
Of course the issue here is that before you could create your prescriptive dictionary, you had to first describe the way you speak it. Because the way you speak it today was incorrect a hundred years ago.
I actually didn't realize Misch-ee-vious wasn't a word. I thought Mischievous and "Mischievious" were two different words. If a vast majority of people accept "Mischievious" as a word and use it, then it becomes a part of the language. and if it is replaces the "correct" pronunciation, then it becomes the correct pronunciation.
I find this belief that our languages should remain stagnant to be as ridiculous as the beliefs that our scientific, political, etc. views should remain stagnant.
@@Mehwhatevr Perfect! I just left a comment about it and you explained it. Proscriptive, prescriptive and descriptive. 😘
Language is live otherwise I would be speaking Latin - I'm Brazilian and we speak Portuguese, not Spanish -🌹
@@AnaLuizaHella And isn't your Brazilian Portuguese significantly different from Iberian Portuguese? And both are correct, since ultimately, language is what the majority of people actually speak, not what some presumed authority dictates.
Some more common ones:
nuclear being pronounced "nucular;"
defibrillator being pronounced "defibulator;"
peripheral being pronounced "periphyal;"
femoral, (fem'-or-al) being pronounced fe-mor'-al.
I am from the United States. Echelon - phonetically speaking the ch has two sounds, ch like sha, or ch like K Eventually you just hear the word so often you know how to pronounce it. That is how I was taught to read via phonics.
i didn't know any of these mistakes were common, I've literally never heard any of these words pronounced wrong until this video
I heard echelon, the first one, a few times. But it's not usually used outside of formal speaking.
maybe people don't say mischievous around you but that word is mispronounced more often than not, even on tv and movies
I'm in the same boat never heard these wrong. Even mischievous is pronounced correctly
Yea there is a bit of reaching here. It feels mildly pretentious to say Americans in the title like everyone across the US says Ekkelon or Cheyas. Never heard those words mispronounced, and even though I've heard mischievous mispronounced it's not a big deal because I know what they're saying.
For real dude I’ve never heard a damn time these words being used wrong or differently XD
As time passes, language, words and pronunciations change amongst all cultures. What one deems appropriate, inappropriate or wrong today, may likely be accepted, omitted or changed in the future.
Ebonics
@Fernando Blanco
Aren't you glad you spell "amongst" the exact same way William Shakespeare and King James, the First, did: over 400 years ago?
Doesn’t really happen with Spanish
What your describing would be slang but no matter how much time passes words are still supposed to be said correctly. When your saying a word completely wrong no matter where you are or if the person your speaking to cares or not, if you say the word wrong it’s still wrong.
@@catrivera7463
Well... I see your point, but that's debatable:
For example, the Mexican Spanish letter "i griega" (y) and the "elle" [EH-yay] both have exactly the same sound.
>>> Some individuals who really never learned to spell well use the "y" instead of "ll" in words/word phrases like these:
"las yamas (llamas)"
>>> Las 'yamas' nos quemaron.
>> (The flames burned us.)
"me yamo (llamo)...
>>> Me 'yamo' Juan.
>> (My name is John.)
THE PROBLEM, however, isn't in Mexico: they learn impeccable Spanish in school.
>>> It is really problematic in other (unnamed) places, because of slang and a thing called laziness: it is these two factors, I believe, that account for the changes in pronunciation that I have heard, among Spanish speakers in various (unnamed) places, over the last 50 years...
Only one of these words I ever pronounced wrong was "Draught". Often times you can glean a word's correct pronunciation by knowing its root word or knowing from which language it hails, or even recognizing some patterns from other words
I think the reason for the common mispronunciation of "mischievous" is because it has a somewhat similar meaning/feeling to "devious", so many people automatically conflate the two pronunciations..
And I have to agree that I've always felt "queue" just has way too many letters, for no good reason. IMHO, to quote Eddie Izzard, "that's just cheating at scrabble"...
And to be fair, most of these words are technically really French's fault...
I'm kinda surprised you didn't mention "nuclear", though..
I’ve got a word you can add to your list “Realtor”. Many people say “Realator”.
It drives me nuts when I hear folks pronounce it ‘realator’. I cringe!
Wow, you read my mind when I saw triathlon. Realtor...same thing.
Don't forget the word library. I've heard it pronounced lie-berry way too often.
It pronounced "estate agent".
What about ask pronounced axe?
There's multiple English dialects, so naturally many words are going to be said differently. English is Germanic, with Greek and Latin roots and is constantly changing with each generation.
The whole muddle with English really starts in 1066, when Anglo-Norman began to be incorporated into Old English. It wasn't purely Germanic after that. That's why Middle English is actually pretty intelligible to Modern English speakers, whereas Old English might as well be a foreign language. Compare The Canterbury Tales' "Whan that Apryll with his shoures soote" to Beowulf's "Hwaet! We gardena in geerdagum..."
you can't really call them dialects, different accents or different "habits" for saying certain words a certain way or certain phrases. Just now I've been watching British Detective Series "Vera" again. Boy do they come up with some whoppers! I have no idea what they just said or what it means or what they are talking about. But that is mostly from the Newcastle locals with their Geordie accents. The actress playing "Vera" is from Kent. I'm like "what is that word? What does that mean?" Wow!!
@@christopherhelton6999 Yup! That Damn William again!! Muddling things up!! I have a copy of the original written Magna Carta (1215 A.D.) hanging on my wall, with a typed up Modern English translation hanging up next to it. Now, maybe, I can make out a few words from the original. Man is it a nightmare.
@@aspenrebel you absolutely can call them dialects. Dialects encompass both differences in pronunciation as well as differences in vocabulary. A good way to understand this is that a sociolect is itself a dialect, specifically a dialect of a particular social class, usually confined to a particular area. A great example of a sociolect that is very commonly seen in media would be valleyspeak, which outright popularized the use of "like" as a discourse marker in American English.
@@G0LD3NR0D fir sure ah! Narly, totally rad.
I'm amazed at your ability to search for and find mispronunciations.
Thanks Robby!