Can You Say These Difficult English Words
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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
other 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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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
there’s 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
used the P sound a lot Peter Piper
picked a pack of pickled peppers
lots of P sounds in this
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 [ __ ] jiminy
manemma do you mean even you mean in
Menominee 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 Oh
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 three more times
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers Peter Piper picked
I did 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 I’m 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 well 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 better 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 the 33 thought that
they throw this out as smoothly may be
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
sheeps sick yeah 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 right
this the sixth sick sheiks sixth cheap
sick the sixth oh that was good that’s
good that’s way better yeah we’ll just
leave it on that one that I did it was
the sixth six chic six sheeps 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 you make it sound so
easy
well 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 Risch okay Irish by itself is fine
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
really hard doesn’t it seems easier than
it is yeah I risked watch Irish with
Irish wristwatch Irish wristwatch Irish
wristwatch nice there we go
Irish Irish I can’t try it this one’s
hard this is really hard but yeah only
two words it’s just it’s just that
combination of the shin the roof it’s
just I can’t I got nothing on that one
alright 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
hardworking 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 too
sorry to be esoteric and then they’ll
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 does 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 for 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 a
like can’t say like Pirates of the
Caribbean something like he will not
acquiesce to your request or she will
not acquiesce to your request
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 are 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 it means 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
am Alicia and this week
we’re gonna talk about commonly
mispronounced mispronounced Wow
this week we’re going to 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 and tart ick
really oh I guess when you’re saying
this word quickly you might leave out
that first see 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 Antarctic 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 etcetera 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 knew 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
want to speak real English from your
first lesson sign up for your free
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101.com
welcome back to weekly words my name is
Alisha and today we’re going to talk
about words with weird silent letters I
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 peas 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 all
right 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 I 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
onward 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 uh 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 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
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
Big Mama not under 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 ok 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 has a big bushy tail often very
cute has a red belly sometimes Fox packs
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 it was last one in The Return of
the King 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
there’s also ear wax a little bit gross
it’s the
kind of I don’t even know 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 gonna 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
ute 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
really like those apricots 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]