15 Words You Might Be Pronouncing WRONG! - Commonly Mispronounced English Words

Hello and welcome. In this lesson I'm going to share with you 15 words that

you are probably pronouncing incorrectly. And of course I'll also teach you the

right way to say these words. So without further ado let's jump into it.

Here is word number one: how do you say it? The correct pronunciation is

poem - /po-um/ poem. Now some people say /poyum/ but that's not a standard

pronunciation. The correct way to say it is poem. Now poems in general

as a form of literature are called poetry /po-a-tree/ poetry. The next word is

this vegetable. Now this is not an /on-i-on/ it's an onion /un-yun/ onion. Number three

is another vegetable: the tomato actually that's the American

pronunciation. The British pronunciation is /to-mah-to/. Now in the pronunciation

symbols on the screen AmE means American English and BrE means British English

Now the American and British pronunciations of this word are mostly

the same; there are three syllables in each but it's that middle syllable that

Americans and Brits disagree on. For Americans that syllable is /may/ tomato

and for Brits it's /mah/ /tomahto/ tomato tomato. Now we've

talked about a couple of vegetables but are you saying the word vegetable itself

correctly? It's vegetable it's not /veggie-ta-bl/ and there's no table in it

It's /vej-ta-bl/ vegetable. I hope that onions and tomatoes aren't the only

vegetables you eat because doctors recommend that we include a variety of

fruits and vegetables in our diet. Did you notice how I said that word? It's

variety - /va-rai-a-tee/ with the stress on the second syllable /rai/ so it's

variety. The next word is mountain. I sometimes hear my English students say

/moun-tayn/ but that second syllable is /ton/ maybe because it takes a ton of

work to climb to the top of a mountain. Once again the word is mountain. If you

do get to the top of a mountain you might find somebody sitting there

meditating peacefully in that calm and serene atmosphere; that person might be a

monk. Not a /mawnk/, but a monk with an /uh/ sound

monk. Next up is this word - how would you say it? Well there are actually two

versions of this word; the more common version is a verb and it means that you

were doing some activity but then you stopped it and now you're starting that

activity again and it's pronounced resume. /ri-zoom/ like when you zoom your

camera lens, resume. Now that's the American pronunciation; the British

pronunciation is slightly different /ri-zyoom/ resume. So American resume

British resume. The second version of this word refers to a document that has

your qualifications, your work history etc. on it and it's something that you

might give to an interviewer when you're looking for a job.

This version is spelled with accents; those little slant lines above the e's

and it's pronounced /re-za-may/ in American English. In British

English it's pronounced /re-zyu-may/ So American resume and

British resume. Number nine is another type of document - certificate. I sometimes

hear students mispronounce this word as /certifi-KATE/ but your name doesn't have

to be Kate for you to get a certificate. Now that's a terrible joke but just

remember that that last syllable is /ket/ /sir-ti-fi-ket/ with the stress on the

second syllable /ti/ - certificate. Number ten is data. Now this word basically just

means information, especially information that's used to make calculations but

there's some debate about the correct pronunciation because there are three

ways that people say this word - /day-ta/ which is the way that I said it, /da-ta/ and

even /daa-ta/ but the most common pronunciation is /day-ta/ and that's how I

recommend you say this word. Once again, data. The next word is cupboard - it refers

to a piece of furniture with doors and shelves that's used to store things like

clothes. Now this is not a /cup-board/ I know it's spelled like that but it's

pronounced /ka-berd/. If you're more into British English you can

drop the /r/ and say /ka-bud/. Number twelve is this word: it's an adjective

and it means that something is easily broken like glass. You often see that

sticker on shipping boxes to say that the package needs to be handled with

care. So how would you pronounce the word? In American English it's pronounced

/fra-jil/. In British English, the second syllable is /jayl/

So American /fra-jil/ and British /fra-jayl/. Next up is determine - this is not

/deter-mine/ - there's no mine here - it's /de-ter-min/

with a stress on the second syllable /ter/, so determine. Once again, determine.

What about when a situation is a total mess and you just can't determine what's

going on? Well you can use this word to describe it. It means a state of total

confusion and it's pronounced /kay-os/. /Kay/ like the letter K and /os/, chaos. And our

last word is niche or is it /neesh/? Well this word refers to a small space in a

wall where you can put things like statues but it can also mean a

comfortable job or business for a person. The traditional pronunciation of this

word is /nich/ but due to influences from other languages like French, /neesh/ has

become more popular. In fact it's the more common pronunciation in British

English nowadays. I personally prefer /nich/ because saying /neesh/ might make

you sound artificial but of course both /nich/ and /neesh/ are acceptable. Alright

I hope you enjoyed this lesson. If you did give it a thumbs up by hitting the

like button. Also remember to subscribe to this channel by clicking the

subscribe button to get my latest lessons right here on YouTube. As always

happy learning and I'll see you in another lesson soon.