Learn English in 25 Minutes ALL Phrases You Need to Find Love
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hi everybody my name is Alisha and today
we’re gonna be talking about ten of the
hardest words to pronounce according to
you guys so we collected some
information from you on Facebook thanks
very much for sending in your ideas and
these were the top 10 most difficult
words for you to pronounce so let’s get
started
absolutely absolutely absolutely might
be tough to pronounce absolutely means
100 percent absolutely is an agreement
phrase are you going to that music event
next week absolutely yes 100% definitely
absolutely loot like a loot Lu te big
rhyme the grime apparently means dirty
I’ve never heard nor used this word
before but perhaps it’s difficult to
pronounce the grime the door to my
apartment was big rhymed in the storm
last week breakfast the next word is
breakfast breakfast is hard to pronounce
but that is the meaning of breakfast
you’re breaking the fast so fast is a
period of time without eating and to
break means to just well in this case
breaking something it doesn’t refer to
like crushing a thing but stopping
something to break the fast of the night
in other words so you’re fasting during
the night you’re not eating so you wake
up in the morning you break the fast but
we don’t say break fast we say breakfast
in a sentence this morning for breakfast
I ate a bowl of cereal with grapes and I
had a coffee too colleague colleague
yes colleague many of my students
struggle with this they say colleague or
they say colleague you or something cuz
the spelling of this word is really
really strange there’s that gue at the
end or more commonly I feel it’s just
co-worker colleague sounds slightly more
formal to me than co-worker somebody who
you work with or somebody who you have a
business relationship with in some sense
could be a person from another company
could be somebody from your own company
anyone who you do business dealings with
is your colleague can be your colleague
in a sentence I’m going to a networking
event with my colleagues next week
miscellaneous that Mis see missus
Alania so just as the spelling I think
maybe it’s confusing for this word
miscellaneous miscellaneous just means
others stuff or just other uncatted
Erised stuff I keep a lot of
miscellaneous items in a drawer in my
house maybe they don’t they don’t really
fit into one category like it’s not
kitchen things it’s not clothing it’s
just sort of a mixture of things
miscellaneous things negotiation the
next word is negotiation negotiation
yeah there are two T’s in this but
neither T is a hard T they’re both very
soft that sound because they’re
followed by the eye and another vowel
that she a negotiation negotiation
refers to a compromise between two
people you’re trying to make a decision
and you negotiate in this case that’s a
noun form negotiation business
negotiations continued for more than a
month with this important deal realm
realm I see why this one’s hard it’s
that role part that’ll roam it’s a weird
word isn’t it it’s used to talk about
just like the kind of a fantasy world is
sort of the nuance of this phrase the
realm in a sentence lets us go to the
realm where the elves live and eat their
bread unfortunately the next word is
unfortunately unfortunately
unfortunately just means too bad you can
use this to to start bad news for
example like unfortunately I can’t come
to work today because I’m sick or
unfortunately I broke my arm at the
basketball game last week or
unfortunately my haircut is bad
vocabu-larry vocabu-larry vocabu-larry
vocabu-larry vocabu-larry vocabu-larry
just refers to the words in a language
my vocabulary in my second language is
really really low I need a bigger
vocabulary so that I can express myself
more clearly world world oh I see why
this one’s hard world world hard to
pronounce that rld I think together is
tough Plus that W at the beginning as
well it’s such a short word but you have
to say so many weird things at the same
time world
your tongue is going yeah Wow like this
in a sentence I have traveled all over
the world and the best food is in my
stomach that’s in so those were ten hard
to pronounce words give them a try
slowly at first and just kind of try to
work up to saying it at a more natural
speed if you like thank you so much for
sharing your opinions with us on
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don’t miss out on any of this fun
information so thanks again for watching
today and we’ll see you again next time
bye
you don’t need new shoes you need new
feet hi everybody welcome back my name
is Alisha and today we’re going to be
talking about some English tongue
twisters I’m joined again by Michael hey
everybody so today we’re gonna be
talking about some things in English
that are difficult to say that might be
difficult for you and they’re probably
gonna be difficult for us to explain so
let’s get right into it Michael what is
your first tongue twister
my first tongue twister is how much wood
would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck
could chuck wood one more time a little
bit faster how much wood would a
woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could
chuck wood excellent and there is a
traditional response to this one you’re
familiar with the response so once you
tell me it’s a question write this this
is it ends in a question there’s a
question mark on your car and the
traditional response is it would chuck
all the wood that a woodchuck could if a
woodchuck could chuck wood
oh yeah I have it on one of my cards
actually I think too this was totally
unplanned I would like to point out yeah
here it is it wood chuck all the wood
that a woodchuck could if a woodchuck
could chuck wood so you can you can use
this with your friends if you want all
right let’s do it real quick ready okay
how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if
a woodchuck could chuck wood
it would chuck all the wood that a
woodchuck could if a woodchuck could
chuck wood hey all right next one down
okay uh let’s see we’ve talked about
that one already so I guess I’ll go with
another classic one that I’ve known
since I was little this one uses the P
sound a lot Peter Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers
lots of P sounds in this one can you
speed it up for us well I don’t know if
I can say it in the first place Peter
Piper picked up
Oh jiminy manemma do you mean even even
in Menomonee have you not heard this one
before I have it okay Peter Piper picked
a pack of pickled peppers hold on one
more time Peter Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers for me it helps if you
snap okay Peter Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers Peter Piper picked a
peck
oh my god I can’t do it maybe it’s
better if you don’t read it those are
Peter no no I can’t do it Peter Piper
picked a peck of pickled peppers that
wasn’t very good I wasn’t one more time
one more time Peter Piper picked a peck
of pickled peppers what one more time
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers Peter Piper picked
did I I can’t do it Peter Piper picked a
peck of pickled peppers there we go
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of
pink
oh man that’s tough the peas man I can’t
do the piece oh wow peas can’t do you
either okay go to your next one what’s
your not good uh no um my brain is
frazzled now okay uh oh I just like this
one I’ve actually never heard this
before but I like it because there’s a
lot of th’s in it and a lot of foreign
people who are learning English let me
say that a lot of non-native English
speakers have trouble with th that’s
been true for a lot of my students
regardless of where they’re from with
their native languages so the 33 thieves
thought that they thrilled the throne
throughout Thursday wow I’ve never seen
this one
yeah I’m either but I just thought it
was good because they remember th so the
33 thieves thought that they thrilled
the throne throughout Thursday that want
to give it a try yeah I’m gonna try the
33 thieves thought that they thrilled
the throne throughout Thursday hmm
that’s a good one that’s a really good
one for th sounds I think it’s not it’s
I think the consonant sounds like the
hard consonant sounds like the P sound
or the well maybe even the W sound a
little bit like it’s easy to say that
quickly but this one’s really tough to
say quickly I think and clearly but 33
thought they throw this around as
smoothly maybe spitting a lot maybe okay
I guess I’ll go to my next one I really
have no faith that I’m gonna be able to
say this at all this is like the hardest
thing that I think I was able to find I
don’t have to read it slowly the sixth
sick sheiks sixth sheep
sick yeah why okay yeah the sixth sick
sheiks six sheeps sick yeah the sixth
600 like the second word you can’t even
say it it’s really hard one more time
alright this the sixth sick sheiks sixth
cheap sick sixth oh that was good that’s
good yeah we’ll just leave it on that
one that’s it one the six six chic six
sheep sick that’s really hard it’s
really I don’t think I can say it any
faster than that the sixth sick sheiks
sixth oh okay I’m the loss of words okay
one more time okay the sixth sick sheiks
sixth sheeps sick the sixth sick what it
once is okay what’s your next one my
next one is the soldiers shoulder surely
hurts another one I’ve actually never
heard but I liked it because everyone
knows Sally sells seashells down by the
seashore the s and the SH is confusing
and many times in English like surely
there’s no SH but it makes that that SH
sound so it’s a fun one
the soldiers shoulder surely hurts the
soldiers shoulder surely hurts wanna
give it a try the soldiers shoulder
surely hurts this is the tough part here
for me anyway is this the soldiers
shoulder making that sound really
clearly a step the soldiers shoulder
surely hurts yeah easy Wow professional
not really okay on to the last one this
one is really short actually it’s only
two words but it’s tricky it’s really
tricky I can’t say this fast Irish
wristwatch okay Irish by itself it’s
line wristwatch is fine but together
they’re really hard to say
Irish rich Irish wristwatch really hard
Irish wristwatch yeah they’re slow okay
Irish oh wow it’s really hard
doesn’t it seems easier than it is
okay.i wristwatch Irish with Irish
wristwatch Irish wristwatch Irish
wristwatch nice there we go
Irish Irish I can try it this one’s hard
this is really hard for me but yeah only
two words it’s just it’s just that
combination of the SH in the room it’s
just I can’t I got nothing on that one
all right do you have any more no I
think that’s it oh wow that was a good
one no it’s really tough it’s really
tough okay we’ll give them a try please
give them a try and if you have any
tongue twisters preferably in English
please share them with us in the
comments there are great ways to
practice their pronunciation and you can
impress your friends if you can do them
quickly thank you again for joining us
and we’ll see you again soon bye
top sa oh hi sorry I forgot to say hi
again hi everybody and welcome back to
weekly words this week the topic is
going to be SAT words words that
students who are studying for the SAT
the SAT is a kind of college preparatory
test or a test that students take
usually to apply for colleges the words
are typically fairly challenging for
high school students and these are some
of the words that might cause trouble
for some people so let’s begin the first
word is assiduous assiduous is a word
that means somebody who is a persistent
or who is always trying to do their best
to work really really hard you might
have a co-worker who is assiduous I
suppose you could also use it if you’re
just describing anything that’s hard
working like ants for example you might
say answer very assiduous creatures they
work hard they can lift more than their
own bodyweight okay that’s pretty good
next intuitive intuitive someone who is
intuitive is someone who has a good
instinct or they’re able to sense what
the right thing is to do without you
know having to be taught what the right
thing is so let’s say maybe you’re going
surfing for the first time and it comes
to you really really easily
after just your first couple tries your
friends might say
wow you’re really intuitive you know how
to do this without you know having to
take a lesson or anything great job a
good trait to be intuitive precocious
precocious is another usually a positive
word precocious is usually used for
children children who are kind of
strangely talented at something even
when they’re very very little so maybe
you’ve seen on YouTube a kid who can
play the piano extremely well even
though he or she is 5 years old we might
say he’s precocious oh she’s a
precocious child she can do so much but
she’s so young it’s usually a very
impressive thing that the kids are able
to do alright the next one is evanescent
evanescent evanescent evanescent is
another adjective which means something
that fades away rather quickly or
something that’s very short-lived oh to
be very romantic about it you might say
the scent of her perfume was very
evanescent you could smell it for a
brief moment and then it faded away yeah
kind of nice the next word is anecdote
an anecdote is usually some kind of a
short funny story that’s a retelling of
an event that happened to you it might
be a written story or a spoken story oh
want to hear an anecdote about my last
trip to Bali it was hilarious ever say
that though it’s not something you’d use
so much in casual conversation I feel
like a critic might write this word
about someone else’s writing the
anecdotes she chooses to include in her
writing are very humorous for example
okay well we’ve learned a few SAT words
that students might have trouble with
when they’re studying for the test in
their high school years I hope that you
find some of these where it’s useful and
can use them in your daily life as well
thanks for joining us this week and I
will see you again next time bye bye
okay welcome back to weekly words
weekly words I’m Alicia and today we’re
going to talk about words that make you
sound smart oh I’m all over this one
first word is esoteric when something is
esoteric it’s alright so the word
esoteric refers to something that
requires specialized knowledge so in a
conversation somebody might use this
word to say sorry to be esoteric and
then
continue talking about some subject or
some concept that requires a certain
level of knowledge in the given field
next word superfluous superfluous just
means extra really this what can a
person be superfluous so superfluous
yeah just just refers to stuff that’s
maybe not necessary or the X the extra
just stuff or extra extra things in a
given context so maybe you know oh I
have so much superfluous stuff in my
kitchen of course using superfluous in
such a casual way like that is very
unnatural but you could do it if you
really wanted to sound smart aqueous
aqueous means to like you might have
like can I say like Pirates of the
Caribbean something like he will not
acquiesce to your requests or she will
not acquiesce to your requests
it just means she won’t obey or listen
or do as told
but that’s it’s it’s the same exact
meaning to acquiesce to accept something
yet to go along with angst angst refers
to just kind of this like that that
unhappy feeling this sort of angry or
maybe melancholy or just feeling like
you know you’re misunderstood so a
teenager or I suppose a teenager
themselves might not use this word but
the parents of the teenager might say oh
my teenager is so filled with angst
hitch hitch Kitsch refers to in my mind
anyway just junk
honestly it’s the little things that you
know might crowd your house like a snow
globe or special little ornaments or
just you know decorative knickknacks you
might say oh my aunts apartment is
really kitschy I mean she has maybe like
a lot of knickknacks or the style is
just kind of alright that is the end so
those were a few words to make you sound
smart I hope that you learned something
I certainly did and I’ll see you again
next time
thank you bye alright welcome back to
weekly words
I’m Alisha and this week
we’re gonna talk about commonly
mispronounced mispronounced Wow
this week we’re gonna talk about
commonly mispronounced words words that
are often pronounced incorrectly funny
I enjoy mispronouncing this first word
the first word is hyperbole hyperbole
it’s not hyperbole though it does sound
very funny to say that hyperbole just
means to exaggerate something or to make
to blow something up make it really
extreme my friend uses a lot of
hyperbole when she talks about her life
stories I really don’t think some of
those things happen to her
hyperbole not hyperbole next Antarctic
not ah oh I see
Antarctic is the correct pronunciation
of this word some people say and and
tart
Antarctic really oh I guess when you’re
saying this word quickly you might leave
out that first sea in the Antarctic so
don’t say that don’t do that say
Antarctic the the very very cold region
the Arctic is the north cold region on
the planet Earth the South is the aunt
Arctic there’s sort of like almost a
hiccup in the word there Antarctic Oh in
a sentence
I’m thinking about taking a cruise to
the Antarctic what do you think I need a
penguin suit etc not etc oh yeah okay
I’ve heard I hear this ech ech thing a
lot yet cetera is just used at the end
of a list to imply that you mean other
things so the list is not exclusive to
the things that you’ve listed other
things can also be included in it so in
a sample sentence types of fruits are
apples oranges peaches etc there are
others as well so don’t say etc that’s
not correct
etc it’s good the next word is jewelry
what not money’s the next word is
jewelry jewelry I think I’m probably
guilty of this mispronunciation I can’t
say that word mispronunciation where the
word kind of gets a little bit smushed
together and we say jewelry instead
we’ve missed
that second e sound in there it should
be jewelry in a sample sentence maybe
you would say I’m shopping for some
jewelry for my mother for her birthday
jewelry we’re too lazy prescription not
prescription okay a prescription is
something that a doctor gives you when
you’re sick and you require medicine the
doctor will write you a prescription
some people might say prescription Wow
okay I didn’t even notice and I was
doing it while I was telling you guys
not to do it that’s embarrassing
prescription a doctor writes you a
prescription not a prescription when you
go to the doctor’s office the doctor
might say here is your prescription and
all right well we’ve learned that I
apparently can’t pronounce some words
the way that they’re meant to be
pronounced so please work on your
pronunciation I will work on my
pronunciation to thank you for joining
us on weekly words this week I will see
you next time bye bye wanna speak real
English from your first lesson sign up
for your free lifetime account at
English class 101.com welcome back to
weekly words my name is Alisha and today
we’re going to talk about words with
weird sign letters and like the title of
this one let’s get started the first
word is pterodactyl pterodactyl is a
dinosaur this was a flying dinosaur from
the late Jurassic period I totally knew
that on my own
pterodactyl begins with a P but we don’t
say the P’s just starts with a T sound
in a sentence you might say the
pterodactyl is my favorite dinosaur the
next word is mortgage my students messed
up this word mortgage like last week in
class mortgage has a T in it but we
don’t say the T it sounds like mortgage
like there’s no T at all a mortgage is
the payment that you make on your house
every month if if you’ve had to take a
loan from a bank in a sentence my
mortgage payments are very reasonable I
hope the next word is Isle Isle is a
weird word so yes there’s an S in the
word Isle but it is not pronounced I
slay it’s pronounced Isle Isle with an A
in front is the space between rows of
seats on an airplane for example or the
space between shelves and a supermarket
any sort of pathway
is an aisle in a sentence please keep
your feet out of the aisle on the
airplane because the cart might the next
word is pho pho has an X at the end when
it’s spelled on paper but we do not say
folks Oh folks we don’t say that we say
pho pho means fake pho means something
that’s not real
very commonly you’ll hear this in terms
of faux fur as in I prefer to wear faux
fur because I don’t believe that we
should kill animals alright just the
next word is asthma we were just talking
about how I have asthma asthma is
spelled very weirdly there’s a th in
there but we do not say the th it’s it
sounds like Asma Asma Asma is a
respiratory condition you might have
asthma it’s very common where it might
be difficult for you to breathe
sometimes you need to take medicine in a
sentence I carry my inhaler everywhere
because I have asthma and that’s the end
of words that have weird silent letters
so be careful when you come across these
in writing because they sound a little
bit different than the way they’re
spelled thanks again for watching weekly
words this week we will be back with
more fun stuff next time take care bye I
don’t know what
hi I’m remembering to introduce the
series this week my name is Alicia
welcome back to weekly words this week
we’re gonna talk about really long words
that are actually used okay and this is
gonna be interesting I think let’s start
the first word is photosynthesis
photosynthesis is an eighth grade
american science school word is an
eighth grade science word this refers to
the process that plants use to convert
sunlight to oxygen the process of
photosynthesis is vitally important to
the survival of humans right the next
word is imperturbable imperturbable
means someone who can’t really get upset
or excited like it’s hard to change the
emotions of a person so you might say I
have a friend who is imperturbable no
matter what we do or what we say he
doesn’t get angry with us on where the
next is counterintuitive
counterintuitive is a good word which
means it’s the opposite of
commonsense so we talked about the word
intuitive in a previous episode of
weekly words
where intuitive means able to sense
something or able to do something
correctly without knowing having to know
much about it
counterintuitive however on the other
hand means not intuitive or it seems
like something that just doesn’t make
much sense it’s not a common sense thing
so maybe let’s see something that
doesn’t seem to make very much sense to
you maybe on your office building for
example you have to first push the door
and then pull it in order to open it you
might say oh the way the doors work in
this building is very counterintuitive
it doesn’t make much sense the next word
is presumptuously presumptuously means
failing to observe the limits of what is
permitted or appropriate well this is a
tough one to use in a sentence so
anytime somebody does something that’s
just beyond the limits of what is
considered normal in your culture you
can say that they’re being presumptuous
or they’re acting presumptuously so if
for example a salesman comes to your
door for some reason but they enter the
house and sit down on your sofa you
might say the salesman presumptuously
entered my house and sat down on my sofa
I couldn’t believe it
what a sphygmomanometer sphygmomanometer
an instrument for measuring blood
pressure this is a new one for me - Spig
ma manometer is this word isn’t this
called really long words that are
actually used I have only been familiar
with this word in terms of the blood
pressure cuff when you go to the doctor
and they need to check your blood
pressure they’ll put this thing this
figma manometer on your arm usually and
then they’ll kind of pump it up and
check your blood pressure so it’s a very
technical word the doctor might say to a
nurse or to another doctor can you
please get me the sphygmomanometer
we need to check this patient’s blood
pressure Wow okay I learned a new word
today and those are all the long words
that are actually used sometimes give
them a try work on your pronunciation
for these they’re kind of interesting
ones I think thanks again for joining us
for weekly words I will see you next
time bye-bye big momma nom
welcome back to weekly words my name is
Alisha and this week we are going to
talk about words that end with X first
is Equinox there are two equinoxes per
year there is a fall equinox and a
spring equinox and it’s the days where
the daytime and the nighttime are of
equal length in a sentence you having a
party for the equinox this year
today is the spring equinox did you know
that okay onward next is jinx we can use
this as a noun or as a verb a jinx is
something it’s a curse really something
that brings somebody bad luck in North
America maybe in your country as well
when kids say something at exactly the
same time in exactly the same words one
or both of them will often yell jinx and
then they’ll sometimes say you can’t
talk until I say your name - jinx can
also be used as a verb to curse somebody
the witch jinxed me and now I am a
werewolf no no more you know okay Fox
Fox is another word great Fox Fox is a
mammal usually a reddish-brown color
lives in forests in some cultures it’s
associated with trickery it has a big
bushy tail often very cute has a red
belly sometimes Fox Fox Fox in a
sentence my favorite animal is the Fox
what does the Fox say climax is common
in movies or in books it’s whatever the
most intense scene in the movie is the
most intense scene in the book is
something where everything comes to a
peak and it’s the like has the most
action and most drama in the movie
whatever the most intense point of
something is the climax in a sentence
the climax of the movie was the most
exciting part he’s the best climax I
remember obviously Lord of the Rings
yeah I was last one in The Return of the
King this is like that scene where
Legolas rides the elephants you know
Hugh wax life’s most important substance
I’m imagining surfboard surfers we’ll
put it on a surfboard to help their
board glide through water you can put it
on your car to make your car look a lot
shinier and there’s also ear wax a
little bit gross it’s the that kind of I
don’t
stuff gross stuff that gets inside your
ears if you don’t clean them well enough
wax yeah in a sentence wax your car to
make it shiny and that’s the end of
words that end with X give them a try
they’re interesting thanks very much for
joining us this week we will see you
again soon
for more fun stuff bye excellent we
learned something hi and welcome back to
weekly words I’m Alicia and I don’t know
what I’m going to talk to you about yet
but let’s start today’s topic is words
that vary by region Creek I say Creek
you might hear the word Creek Creek the
word Creek means a small River
essentially there’s a creek in my
backyard
for example sure the next word is coyote
I say coyote how do other people say
this word kite coyote oh yeah
coyote I don’t say that coyote is kind
of a doglike animal it’s a wild animal
about the size of a dog with a howl at
night we have them in Oregon where I’m
from I definitely heard them at my house
last night I heard the Coyotes out in my
pasture okay the next word is root ro UT
e root is how I say it you might also
hear the word pronounced route root ro
ute means the way through a city or a
town or some kind of path in other words
ro ot which this word sounds like is the
system that’s at the bottom of a plant
that plant uses to get nutrients you
know with the little Terry fibers I’m so
good at explaining plant biology oh I
know a good route to get from school to
the park later let’s take that on our
bicycles that was oddly specific the
next word is apricot or you might hear
apricot as well it’s a fruit so you
might say hey did you bring any apricots
to the picket pick it to the biggest
apricots no I pick it on the other hand
is a word that means protest there’s a
freebie in there for example you might
say hey I really like those apricot
you brought me the other day they were
delicious okay the next ooh the next
word is caramel I say I think I say
caramel oh this is making me doubt
myself there’s caramel and there’s
caramel they both refer to sugary sweet
substance that’s often a type of candy
or often inside a type of candy it’s
really really delicious
so you might say oh my favorite kind of
candy is caramel or my favorite kind of
candy is caramel just depends on where
you’re from apparently in the east the
East Coast they say caramel on the west
coast it seems we say caramel that
sounds about right to me hmm
you can choose end ray what was this one
called ah this has been words that vary
by region you can choose which region
you’re from perhaps but it’s probably
best for you to be consistent when
you’re speaking so that you don’t
confuse the person listening to you hope
you enjoyed and I will see you again
next time
a bye
[Music]
you