Words you can't pronounce

As a foreigner who learned English at school I probably have a ton of words I mispronounce, but I mostly struggle with understanding the logic behind certain words. For example why on earth is Nike not pronounced the same way as Ike? I understand it in Ikea because there is the -a at the end but it’s not Nikea… Why is the -e not silent as it logically should?

Another one that baffles me is aluminium - I’ve only heard it pronounced as aloo-mi-num but always see it spelled out aluminium instead of aluminum. So confusing! I understand that in English you don’t necessarily pronounce each letter but cutting them of at random makes it harder for foreigners to learn. I’ll keep studying tho maybe one day I’ll be able to carry a conversation without people making fun of me :slight_smile:

Synecdoche.

Nike is named after a Greek goddess, and the final “e” is pronounced in Greek. In British English, many people do pronounce Nike to rhyme with Ike, although the “correct” pronunciation is “Nike-ee”.

As for aluminium, are you in Britain or the USA (or elsewhere)? Aluminium is the British spelling, and we do pronounce it “al-yoo-MIN-yum”. Aluminum is the US spelling, and it is pronounced “a-LOO-min-um”. Both pronounced as they are spelled.
I can pronounce most English words fine, but I can’t roll my Rs.

My wife has real trouble with the word “vanilla” - she always says “valinna”, which oddly I find MORE difficult to say!

Americans spell and pronounce it “Aluminum” whereas most other English speaking countries spell and pronounce it “Aluminium.”

So you’re confused because of country of origin of where you read or hear it.

Ammunition

[del]am-uh-ni-shun

am-you-shun

amma-shun[/del]

Bullets.

“ostensibly”

I can never say it!

Pwned

Thank you for this clarification! I live in Europe but have lived a while in the States, never even visited Britain. It was at first rather difficult to understand the American English as we mostly study the British English over here. I wish I could pick up the British accent as it sounds so much more sophisticated :slight_smile:

I say February and Antarctica. :confused:
I have trouble with colloquial, and even more problems with colloquially. I really have to think before pronouncing them.

Can’t think of anything off the top of my head. I was always amazed though how many teachers I had who had problems with the word “statistics.”

My mother couldn’t pronounce “Eukanuba” to save her life. I wonder if that’s part of why she switched the dog to a different brand of dog food.

Adirondack

I pronounce it “A-deer-on-dack”

Ditto. I also usually pronounce Wednesday correctly.

I try to pronounce it with the first ‘r’ but it always comes out awkward, like “Febrary” instead of “February”.

This is off topic, but I think it is interesting.
From the wiki article on Aluminum:

I cannot pronounce “bag” and “egg” the way Jeff Probst does on Survivor. I hear him say “bag” on many episodes and try as I might, I just can’t say it.

That could cause some confusion:

“How is your family?”
“Thank you for asking, everyone is fine. And our son is going to jail!”

May I ask you, since I suspect I may not get a completely honest answer from my Spanish friends who want to spare my feelings, what do native Spanish speakers think of someone who is otherwise fluent, but cannot pronounce “rr” correctly, and just makes it a hard “r”?

Comfortable. I invariably say “comftorble”
Email. It always comes out as “emell”

Thesaurus.

Theseus.

Thessalonica.

I have a lisp.

Van Gogh. :stuck_out_tongue:

I used to stumble over cacophony, continuity and applicable.

I’ve got them down now.

I think… :smiley: