10 Advanced English Words You Are Probably MISpronouncing Pronunciation Common Mistakes
Hello I’m Emma from mmmEnglish
and in this lesson, I’m going to share ten advanced
English words that you’re probably mispronouncing!
Now before I go on, this video is created for
my audience, people who are learning English
as a second language.
Many of the words that I’ll be sharing with you today
will be pronounced slightly differently
depending on the English accent used.
So you’ll hear them in my Australian accent
but just be aware that there can be slightly
different ways of pronouncing the same word.
The words that I’m sharing today are appropriate for
advanced level English learners and of course,
any ambitious intermediate level learners as well.
But the words that I’ll be sharing are often
mispronounced by native English speakers too.
So if you’re a native English speaker
don’t go anywhere, you might find this lesson useful
and interesting as well.
So ready to get started?
Okay the first word,
pronunciation.
It is hilarious to think that this word
is so commonly mispronounced
and very often by native English speakers.
Pronounce. Pronunciation.
So there’s the verb pronounce,
which means to say words and sounds.
Did I pronounce that correctly?
And then there’s the noun, pronunciation,
which means the way that a word is pronounced or said.
My pronunciation is improving,
not my pronounciation is improving.
It’s often mispronounced
because there’s a different vowel sound used in the
stressed syllable in each of these words.
Listen to the difference.
Pronounce.
Pronounce.
Ow, ow.
Pronounce.
Pronunciation.
Pronunciation.
Pronunciation.
Next,
chaos.
It’s actually a hell of a lot easier to pronounce
than it looks!
Chaos.
Chaos.
Kay - like the letter K
and -Os,
chaos.
And not chaos or chous.
It’s much easier than you think!
Chaos.
And this is a noun, it’s used when a situation
is really confusing or messy.
There’s no order, there’s no control at all.
The accident on the freeway this morning created
chaos for commuters.
But this word can extend into the adjective, chaotic.
You can describe a situation as chaotic
and the same pronunciation rules apply.
It’s much easier to pronounce than you think.
Kay-o-tic.
Chaotic.
It became very chaotic outside the station.
So we can extend this even more
into the adverb chaotically.
So that’s describing how something happened.
It happened chaotically.
Kay-o-tic-li.
Chaotically.
Specifically.
Not spe-cif-i-cal-li.
Specifically.
Specifically.
There are four syllables, not five.
This pattern is one that occurs often in English.
Often when an adjective that ends in C like specific
becomes an adverb by adding the suffix -ally or just -ly.
So there’s lots of examples of this.
Realistically,
strategically,
politically
logically,
democratically,
artistically,
economically
and chaotically, which we mentioned earlier
which is a really good example
of this same rule that applies.
Chaotically.
Prestigious.
So the preferred pronunciation is pre-sti-jus,
not pre-stee-jus.
The shorter vowel sound.
Prestigious is an adjective that’s used to say
that something or someone is of a high status.
They’re very honoured, very respected and admired.
Brighton Grammar is a prestigious boys school.
She won the prestigious Archibald Prize.
Again the problem here comes from the root word,
prestige,
where the stressed vowel sound is actually different.
Prestige and prestigious.
We have the longer e vowel sound in prestige
and the shorter
vowel sound in prestigious.
Mischievous.
Mischievous.
Not mis-chiev-i-ous, there is only one I here.
It’s mischievous
and it’s often spelt incorrectly too.
Pronounced and spelt incorrectly.
So this is an adjective that describes a person,
usually a child, who is having fun by causing trouble.
They’re cheeky, it’s kind of silly behaviour.
It’s not really a negative thing.
Jack is quite a mischievous child.
Note that the noun mischief is also mispronounced
sometimes as mischeef.
Mischief.
Mischief.
Now mischief is behaviour that causes trouble
or disruption but not serious harm to other people.
Just a bit of fun.
He’s always getting up to mischief.
Now for any of you athletic types who like to run
and swim and cycle,
triathlon is often mispronounced
and miss spelt
as triathalon.
Now this is probably because of the pronunciation of
marathon.
After he ran the marathon, he started training
for the triathlon.
Triathlon.
Triathlon.
I’m guessing that if you’re the athletic type
and you care about your health and
you’re probably eating healthily
most of the time,
but natural foods, whole foods
can also be quite difficult to pronounce.
Think about the word quinoa.
Quinoa.
I’ll have the pumpkin and quinoa salad please.
Or acai.
For a long time I actually pronounce this word as aseye.
But I recently found out that I’ve been pronouncing it
completely wrong!
It’s acai. The stress is on and it’s emphasising
the third syllable or the last syllable.
Both of these words, since they’re not originally English
words are completely butchered
by native English speakers.
By butchered I mean completely mispronounced
and ruined.
It seems that English speakers everywhere
are confused about how to pronounce some of these
super food names, so don’t be surprised
if you hear it being pronounced incorrectly
by native English speakers.
It’s very common.
Genre.
Genre is quite a sophisticated word, genre.
It’s used to group a particular style or category
of film or literature or art.
What’s your favourite genre?
That genre of music was really popular in the seventies.
Now in French, where this word, originates where it
comes from, the spelling is identical
but the pronunciation is completely different.
dzon, dzon.
Now that’s a pretty pathetic French accent
but my point is that if you’re a French speaker,
this is a false friend,
the English pronunciation is different
even though it looks exactly the same.
Genre.
Genre.
The first sound is the dzh
sound that you hear in the middle of words like
vision or measure.
And it’s a tricky sound to make.
It’s a voiced sound.
Now for all of the coffee fans out there, it’s espresso
not expresso
and I know that I don’t need to tell my
Italian students that.
But this seems to be a really common mistake
for native English speakers and English learners alike.
The letters S pronounced as X.
This is a really mysterious one for me,
why native speakers, why?
It’s espresso
not expresso.
I skip breakfast most mornings
and just get by on an espresso.
Perhaps the confusion comes from the word, express,
these two words have kind of come together.
I can’t express how important morning espresso is!
I’m going to escape to the country,
not exscape to the country.
This one is especially tricky, not exspecially tricky.
Well how did you go with that list
of advanced English vocabulary?
Perhaps you’ve been mispronouncing
one or two of them
or perhaps as a native speaker, you’ve just realised
that you’ve been mispronouncing one of them
like me with acai.
Now there is no better way to practise and improve
your pronunciation than with a native English speaker
and you can do that with Cambly.
The teachers at Cambly are native English speakers
from the, US from the UK, Australia, Canada
and they can give you specific and personal feedback
helping you to fix those pronunciation problems
and communicate clearly in English.
So use the link in the description below
to get a free 15 minute lesson with a native speaker.
You could even practice the list of words and examples
from this lesson.
Awesome to have someone listening to you
and telling you what you need to do to improve.
If you enjoyed this lesson then please subscribe,
comment, say hi, I love hearing from you!
In fact, what other English words
are difficult for you to pronounce?
I’m sure you have a list of them somewhere.
Make sure you try out this video right here
to learn how to pronounce 10 English words
that I think you’re mispronouncing
and watch this playlist down here
to practise your pronunciation and English expression.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next week.
Bye for now!