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
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!
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
I say February and Antarctica.
I have trouble with colloquial, and even more problems with colloquially. I really have to think before pronouncing them.
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.
“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”?
