15 English words that even native speakers don’t pronounce correctly

Feb-brew-ary? Feb-u-ary? Feb-brewwww-ary? February? Which one, or both? I guess we'll

find out.

Hey everyone, I'm Alex, thanks for clicking and welcome to this lesson on English words

that some English speakers don't pronounce correctly. So today, I'm going to be looking

at fifteen words that are sometimes mispronounced by native English speakers. If you mispronounce

some of these words, you don't have to worry too much. People probably understand what

you're saying, what you mean. What is in common use often trumps what is actually grammatically

correct. But I'm still going to tell you the dictionary pronunciation of fifteen words.

So, we're going to start at the top with a word that I was mispronouncing for years and

years and years. I'm a big fan of the Castlevania franchise of video games, and one of the characters

that you fight in that game is Death, and Death carries this thing, and for the longest

time, I kept calling this thing, the farmers use to cut down wheat: "skythe"... like, "skythe...

sythe, what is it?" Well, I was mispronouncing it for like ten years before I looked at a

pronunciation guide and learned it's actually a scythe. So this is pronounced "sigh-th".

I've put the IPA spelling of all the words we're going to look at today for those of

you who are learning English as a second language and are familiar reading with the IPA alphabet

as well. So, just repeat after me: "sigh-th". [pause] And the end is a hard TH, the "TH"

not "th", TH, like a motorcycle [vroom]. So, say it with me one more time: "sigh-th", [pause]

okay. So, the C is silent, it's not "sk", it's just "sigh-th".

Next, this word is commonly mispronounced as "art-ic" and if you're saying it very fast,

but don't forget that there is a C in that word. Unlike here, where it's silent, here

you typically have to pronounce the C, so the proper pronunciation is "ark-tic", [pause]

repeat it one more time, "ark-tic", [pause] so make sure you get that middle "k" sound:

ark-tic [k, k], okay. Again, like I said, if you say "artic", people will understand

what you mean. If you want to be exact, correct, dictionary precise, grammatically perfect

pronunciation, make sure you say "arktic" with the "k k", okay?

Next, so, this word is often mispronounced as "cal-vary" okay. Now, this word is actually

pronounced "ca-vul-ree". Let's try: ca-vul-ree. The

cavalry refers to a military unit, you know, the military soldiers, obviously military

soldiers as opposed to other soldiers, the soldiers who go on horseback, who ride on

horseback. So, the cavalry. [pause] Ca-vul-ree. Okay, we're okay? Good.

Next, the next two have the same mispronunciation problem, so we have "escape", "especially".

So, not "ex-scape", not "ex-specially", okay, so some people pronounce it like an "X", "ex-scape",

"ex-pecially", it's not an X, it's "s" "escape". So, try with just "sss", the "S", not "X".

Escape. [pause] Especially. [pause] Es-special-ly.

Okay, next, foliage, so this refers to the leafy part of a plant or a tree. The foliage,

the leaves or foliage. The common mispronunciation, some people say the "foil-age", so it is pronounced

just like it's spelled: fo-li-age. And the IPA: fo-li-idge. So repeat after me: fo-li-age.

[pause] The forest has a lot of beautiful foliage.

Okay, so this one, it's not a super common word in daily conversation, so I understand

why people don't pronounce it correctly. When some people see this word, they say "high-archy",

like "high-archy". You're forgetting the "r", so it's actually "high-er-archy". So, if you

say it quickly, it's "hierarchy". [pause] Similar to saying "Higher-archy", you can

say it like that, think about it like that. "hi-er-arch-y". A higher-archy, not a high-archy,

but high-er-arch-y. So 'rar rar', there's the 'rar rar'. [Laughs] Now I'm having trouble.

"Hi-er-arch-y". "rar", the "rar".

The next word is interpret. A common mispronunciation of this one is "interpretate". I don't know

where that comes from, but I've heard it, I've seen it, it's not interpretate, that

is not a word, the word is interpret, and the IPA: in-ter-pret. [pause] Let's repeat

it one more time: "in-ter-pret". [pause] Good, like an interpreter, right?

Okay, next, I think you know the common mispronunciation here if you are an English speaker, you have

been told this since you were five years old. It's not "lie-berry", it's "library", alright?

"Library". Don't forget the "R" here, the first "R". Library, [pause] or li-bra-ry,

or some people just say "lie-bry", "lie-bry" if you say it really fast. "I'm going to the

"lie-bry". But really, it's "li-bra-ry". And again, if you say "lie-berry", you know, somebody

might correct you, or people night not care because they also pronounce it as "lie-berry",

although the proper pronunciation, you should be remembering that "R": library, library,

library, library, now you try: "li-bra-ry". [pause]

Okay, let's continue. We have not "mini-chur", but "mini-a-ture". Mini-a, there's an "A"

in there, an "ah" in there, so "mini-a-ture", [pause] okay? A miniature toy, a miniature

soldier, we're talking about military, so like, toys, so miniature. [pause] "Min-i-a-ture".

[pause] And again, if you say "mini-chur", it's not a huge mistake. "Interpretate", that's

a mistake. That word doesn't exist. But if you say "mini-chur", it's not a huge end-of-the-world

mistake. People understand you, but please know the proper pronunciation should be "mini-a-ture".

Next, "prescription", prescription, not "per-scription", but "pre-scription", so let's repeat it after

me: "pre-script-ion". [pause] So, after you visit the doctor, he gives you some medicine,

you know, a note saying go to the pharmacy and show them this prescription. [pause] Good.

Next, so, "sher-bit". [pause] What? Repeat one more time: "sher-bit". Not "sher-bert".

A sherbet is a frozen treat usually made with fruit, there's some milk in there, it's - I'm

not going to say it's similar to ice cream because it doesn't have cream really, it has

some milk, but "sher-bit". [pause] I love strawberry sherbet, or orange sherbet. I've

eaten a lot of orange sherbet this week, it's delicious, okay.

Next, hm. Feb-brew-ary? Feb-you-ary? Feb-bee-wary? Well, it's not Feb-bee-wary, I can tell you

that. So, two commonly accepted pronunciations for this month of the year: "Feb-bru-ery"

or "Feb-you-ery". If you say "Feb-you-ary" no one's going to say anything to you, okay?

It's like saying "Tuesday" or "Toosday", people are okay with both, really, unless they're

jerks and they say "No, it's not Tuesday, it's "Toosday". The people who say "Toosday",

I'm not a fan of those, okay. So, getting back to February, forget about Tuesday, it's

not even here, that's a bonus word. So, "Feb-bru-ery" or "Feb-you-ery". I think the "Feb-you" is

way easier, so let's just repeat after me: "Feb-you-ary" [pause] "Feb-bru-ery". [pause]

Good.

Next, utmost. So, the common mispronunciation here again, it's not a mispronunciation, it's

similar to interpret when people think of a different word, and they say "upmost", you

know, the upmost reason. So "utmost" means the greatest, or to the highest degree, okay?

I have the utmost respect for you. The highest degree, the highest respect for you. So just

repeat after me, make sure you say "t". "Ut-most" [pause] "Ut-most". [pause] Okay, good. And

this one is a very Canadian kind of sound, the short "uh", its why people laugh about

Canadians saying "ah-boot", it's actually "about".

And finally, this is a word I have mispronounced for many years, and I work for this site.

It's kind of weird. I used to say "Ang-vid". I always pronounced the E as an "Ang-vid"

for some reason, it's "eng-vid", just like "Eng-lish". Why did I say "Ang-vid"? If you

can find some of my earlier videos from like 2010, 2011, probably 2012, you'll hear me

say "Ang-vid", not "Eng-Vid", so the proper pronunciation of our website is "eng-vid"

[pause]. Perfect.

Alright, speaking of engVid, if you want to test your understanding of the pronunciation

here, I will have a quiz for this lesson. What will you do? I guess you'll find out

when you go to www.engvid.com , check out the quiz, and while you're there, check out

the thousands -- is it thousands yet? Yeah, I think it's over a thousand videos that we

have on www.engvid.com where you can learn vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, phrasal

verbs, everything, like English for daily life, IELTS practice, whatever. We have it

all, so please check us out at www.engvid.com , and when you're there, you can also click

on the donate link to support us. We appreciate every donation we receive and we rely on donations

in addition to, you know, the money we receive from YouTube and ads and all that stuff that

other people get too, but donations help a lot, so thank you very much, please donate,

and check me out on YouTube, subscribe there, do the notification thing, Facebook, Twitter,

I don't have Instagram yet, maybe I will when this video comes up, I don't know. Should

I get Instagram? Am I that interesting? Should I post pictures of my food? Let me know.

Alright, until next time, thanks for clicking.