English Rewind - 6 Minute English: Difficult pronunciation

74,316 views ・ 2023-09-19

BBC Learning English


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Hello! Catherine here from BBC Learning English.
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Just so you know, this programme is from the BBC Learning English archive.
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It was originally broadcast in October 2008 on our website.
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We hope you enjoy it.
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Hi, this is 6 Minute English and I'm Yvonne Archer.
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00:22
I'm Callum Robertson. Hello!
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Hello, Callum.
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In this week's programme, English words that are often 'mispronounced'.
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Callum, can you explain 'mispronounced' for us?
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Certainly. If you 'misprononce', if you 'mispronounce' a word,
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you don't say it correctly.
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You get some of the sounds wrong in that word.
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Very good. And is there a word that you often mispronounce, Callum?
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00:45
Um, no, not really.
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I didn't think so!
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So I've got three difficult ones here for you!
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But, before you read them out, any thoughts?
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Well, looking at these words on paper,
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I think there's a good chance that some people would mispronounce them, yeah.
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01:00
And that's why you're saying them instead of me! So, off you go.
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OK, the words are: 'regularly', 'ethnicity' and 'anaesthetist'.
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β€” Whew! β€” Yeah, but you said them slowly, Callum!
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Yeah, that was tough.
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But there are 3,000 other Brits
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who also agree that those words are difficult to say.
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They were recently questioned by a company called SpinVox
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and the research showed that 'regularly', 'ethnicity' and 'anaesthetist' β€”
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ooh, I said it! β€”
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are some of the most mispronounced words in the English language.
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Now before we hear more about that research, I've a question for you, Callum.
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How many sounds do experts say we need to be able to pronounce,
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so that we can speak English clearly? Is it a) 44? b) 104? Or 400?
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Well, I'm fairly confident on this as I've just made a series on pronunciation.
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In British English,
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there's generally about 44 sounds that are needed to pronounce English words.
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So, about 44, it's maybe a few more, but 44, that's my answer.
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Well, I'm not telling you! You'll have to wait until the end of the programme.
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Now as we hear an extract from the BBC's Today programme
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on the most mispronounced words in English,
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try to find β€” whew, I can't pronounce 'try'!
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Try to find out which word was the most mispronounced.
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If you find 'statistics' and 'ethnicity' difficult to pronounce,
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it appears you're not alone.
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The Daily Mail says they're among
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the top ten most troublesome words in the English language.
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Researchers who questioned 3,000 people found that the most mispronounced word
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was 'phenomenon', followed by 'anaesthetist'.
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Anaesthetist.
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And 'remuneration'.
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Callum, which word was the most troublesome,
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the most difficult to pronounce?
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Well, that was 'phenomenon'. Phenomenon.
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Phenomenon? Phenomenon.
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Yep, I have to say, I have to take that one really slowly
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and just looking at it on paper makes me nervous.
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So why do you think so many of us get it wrong, Callum?
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Well, of course, when we get nervous, we generally make more mistakes,
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but here, it's the mixture of the particular sounds that are in words,
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that's what causes the problems.
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So having the 'm' and 'n' sounds β€” the 'mm' and 'nn' in 'phenomenon' β€”
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having so many of them so close together,
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that makes it a difficult word to pronounce.
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Mm, and what about 'anaesthetist'?
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Well, 'anaesthetist', it contains an odd mixture of 't' and 'th' sounds.
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There's also an 's' in there as well,
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before that group of consonants
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and that also makes things difficult to pronounce.
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Oh, dear, it certainly is!
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BBC Learning English dot com.
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Now, the newspaper that published those research results
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described such words as 'tongue-twisters'.
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But I wouldn't call them tongue-twisters, really, would you, Callum?
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Not really, no, because 'tongue-twisters' are generally a sentence or an expression
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that is very difficult to say quickly and repeat again and again and again.
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Well, I'm feeling really mean today, Callum.
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Go on, give us an example and don't say it slowly!
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OK, try this one, A very famous one is
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"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper."
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Cor, that was pretty good, wasn't it?!
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Of course, but we don't have to say tongue-twisters in life.
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No.
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But we usually do have to use words like, what, 'statistics' and 'February'.
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β€” I can't even say it myself, February. β€” February.
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Well, yes. It is difficult to get through life without saying words like 'February'.
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β€” Yes. β€” Mm.
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But the research shows that many of us try to do just that.
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We don't want to feel embarrassed when we mispronounce those words,
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so we just avoid them and that's a really bad example for learners, isn't it?
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Well, I don't know about that. It's something natural that native speakers do.
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That, you know, if you're not sure how to pronounce a word,
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choose another word or... And I do the same in writing, in spelling.
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If there's a word that I'm not sure how to spell,
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and my spelling isn't, you know, perfect,
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sometimes I will rewrite to avoid using that word.
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So, as in anything, pronunciation does only get better with practice,
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so don't worry about it!
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β€” Just go for it. β€” Mm.
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OK, now for the answer to our question.
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How many sounds do experts say we need to be able to pronounce,
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so that we can speak English clearly?
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Is it a) 44? b) 104? Or c) 400?
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Well, as I said, 44, I'm fairly confident that it's 44 or thereabouts.
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Ah, you knew it all the time, Callum.
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Well, that's all we've got time for today.
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Join us again next time for more 6 Minute English.
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β€” Goodbye. β€” Goodbye.
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BBC Learning English dot com.
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