6 commonly mispronounced FOOD NAMES

Hey guys, it's Hadar and this is The Accent's Way and today we're gonna talk

about the six most mis-pronounced food names. Especially by non-native speakers

The reason why I'm super passionate about today's video is because as a

non-native speaker working in many different restaurants in the U.S. I had

to mess those words up so many times until I got them right. Until people stop

looking at me like this... waiting for me to explain what I just said. So let's begin.

The first word is quinoa, quinoa. Not qui-noah, keen-wah. Two syllables, the

first one, is /k/ sound, and than a high 'ee', 'keen', ended it with an /n/, that's the primary

stress. And then it's a /w/ sound - 'whoa', and the /ah/ as in "father" - 'wah'. /keen-wah/, /keen-wah/.

Would you like some steamed quinoa with vegetables? Quinoa.

Then we move on to Brazil with the nutritious and delicious açaí.

We begin with /ah/ that's the /ah/ as in

father, then /sa/ that's the /s/ and the /ah/ as in father

'ah-sa'. And the third syllable is just 'ee'. It's the primary stress, so it's going to

be higher in pitch. ah-sa-(y)ee. And when we connect the 'sa' with the 'ee' we get a

little bit of a 'y' sound - açaí, açaí. With granola, and, honey, and banana. açaí

The next word is "gnocchi", that tasty Italian dish, so I'm kind of like embarrassed to

share this story with you. But I will because it's all about openness and

communication over perfection. So when I was 20-something I was training in this

restaurant and the owner was a real jerk, right. Really mean, he would humiliate the

waiters and waitresses. So on my first day he calls me to his table and he's

like, "What are the specials?" So, I'm kind of like shaking and shivering

looking at the page and I'm like, "We onion soup, and porcini Ghannouchi with

cream and.." And he's like "What?" "Porcini Ghannouchi." "What are you talking about?"

He was Israeli. "What are you talking about?" I was like, "Look, it's on the board

there's like porcini Ghannouchi". And his girlfriend, she was sweet, she's like, "gnocchi".

"Of course, gnocchi! Porcini gnocchi, you know, just sorry about that." Anyway, "gnocchi".

So the spelling has nothing to do with the pronunciation and the pronunciation

is 'nyow'. It's an /n/ sound, and then the /o/ as in go - 'nyow'. And then a /k/ and a high /e/. Nyow-kee. "Gnocchi".

We have another Italian word and that is

Bruschetta, bruschetta. It's not 'brushetta'

It's 'bruws-keh-da'. The first syllable is 'bruws'.

It's a B sound an R, round your lips for the R. It's not 'brrruws' but 'bruws'.

A tense /uw/ and an /s/. Like the name Bruce, as in Bruce Springsteen or Bruce Willis.

Then the second syllable is /keh/, it's a /k/sound and then the /eh/ sound as in "red". /keh/.

And then it's a /t/ sound and an 'uh' (schwa). But since the T is in between two vowels it's a

flap T. 'bruws-keh-da', "bruws-keh-da". Can I get a bruschetta with tomatoes and garlic

and olive oil and a little bit of salt, please?

How should you pronounce this word? So a lot of Americans pronounce it like this:

'hummus', 'hummus'. But the closest pronunciation to the original word would

be 'huw-m's'. It's an H sound, than the 'oo' as in "food" - 'huw', and the second syllable is

m's-m's. 'huw-m's', 'huw-m's'. But you can also say 'hummus' and everyone will

understand you. 'hummus' Or you can just go for 'humus (with an Israeli accent).

Now the next word is the accent

coaches favorite - the word "salmon". And if you want to hear a really funny

pronunciation story about this word then stick with me until the end.

Let's begin with a simple fact that there is no L in the word salmon.

Now, don't try to convince me that there is an L and you just can't hear it or that

you swallow it because it's a dark L, there is no L, okay? It's an S sound than

the A as in cat, /seh/. But when the /a/ in cat appears before an M sound, which is

the next sound, because there is no L, the /a/ turns more into an /eh/ - 'seh'.

The second syllable has an M sound, a schwa, so there is no O, and an N. So it's not 'mon', it's

m'n, m'n. seh-m'n, seh-m'n, The /seh/ is the primary stress so it's going to be

higher in pitch. seh-m'n. Now I have a really funny pronunciation story about

the word salmon. And I hope my husband forgives me for sharing this story with

you guys. But hey, it was one embarrassing story about me. What about him? It's only fair.

So when we were in New York a few years back, my husband went to a bagel

store looking for salmon cream cheese because he loves it, I don't know why. So he

remembered that there is no L sound from all my videos and I always talked about

it but I guess I forgot what vowel comes before. So he walks up to the guy the

counter asking for poppy's bagel with semen, cream cheese, tomatoes and onion.

Semen. Now, the guy at the counter was probably thinking, "Okay, this guy did not

just ask for semen cream cheese. He probably meant cinnamon cream cheese".

So he prepared for him a poppy's bagel with sweet cinnamon, cream cheese, tomato,

and onion. Now, my husband, Gil, was like, "Okay, this is not what I asked for, but

I'm just gonna take it and say thank you".

Salmon. So the word "salmon" has no L, so

it's not "sal-mon", and it's definitely not "semen".

That's it guys, thank you so

much for watching. If you like this video consider subscribing. Let me know in the

comments below what other foods give you a hard time. And I'm not talking about

digestion, I'm talking about pronunciation. Have a wonderful week, and

I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye!