10 Names YOU Pronounce WRONG!

Aw yeah guys! What's up? I'm Ethan,  your RealLife English Fluency Coach  

and in today's lesson we're taking a look at  How to Correctly Pronounce Celebrities Names. 

Now, recently we did a lesson on How to  Correctly Pronounce Brand Names in English  

and this is kind of a similar lesson because  if you pronounce either one incorrectly  

people probably won't understand you. Now, this has happened to me a lot with  

my students from all around the world that  they're talking about some different celebrity  

and I can't tell who they're talking about  until they actually write it down for me,  

and I can give them the correct  pronunciation of that person's name. 

Now you can actually probably think about this,  if there's some celebrity from your country  

that people from other countries might pronounce  their name wrong. Like here in Barcelona,  

for example, if I were to say the actress  Penélope Cruz the same like that that I  

would say in the United States, people might  not understand who I'm referring to. Now,  

this is also really important because people's  names is really the most important word for them  

in the entire universe so you want to make sure  that you're saying that correctly. So you're not  

kind of creating some distance between you and  that other person now this happens to me a lot  

because my name is a little bit difficult in other  languages, like people call me Eitan or Itan or  

Athon, or anything like that and actually it  should be pronounced Ethan, Ethan. And our other  

Fluency Coach is often called Andra or Andrea  and let's see how she would actually say it. 

My name is pronounced as Andrea, Andrea. And another way that you can look at this  

is trying to think about how an American  would pronounce your name it would probably  

be quite a bit different than how you would  say it in your native language, right? 

Now this is going to be a really useful  lesson to practice your pronunciation  

to do a little bit of vocal training with some of  the different sounds, and so before we jump in,  

I want to let you know that if you're new here  every single week we make lessons like this one  

so that you can understand fast speaking natives,  be understood by anyone and connect to the world. 

Just like our fan Samaneh, who I'm not sure if  I'm actually pronouncing that name correctly,  

who says that thanks to our lessons that he  can understand and speak English like a native.  

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All right, so now let's jump into the Top 10 Most  Difficult Names for English Learners to Pronounce.  

And actually you can get another three exclusively  over on our Instagram after you finish this  

lesson. So after you watch this be sure to head  over to @RealLife.English and check those out. 

Now something really interesting about names in  the United States is that almost all of us are  

descended from people from other countries. So  you'll find a lot of surnames that originally  

come from other languages. However even if  you see a name that might seem like it is  

from your native language, you probably should  still try to pronounce it like an American,  

because normally that's how we will pronounce  it. It kind of loses its original pronunciation.

So that said, how would you  pronounce this famous singer's name?  

Let's take a look at how some  different learners might say this.

All right so she would say her own name as  Rihanna. Now you'll find a lot of Americans  

that also mispronounce this by saying Rihanna.  Now the correct way is with that a sound but  

either way you'll definitely be understood.  Just make sure that you're not pronouncing the h  

and that you are saying the r as an American  or Brit would, so it's that roof sound  

not a tap r or a rolled r. Now the  difference with this if you want to  

be sure is that your tongue should be down  when you're saying that r sound, so it's...,  

see that my tongue isn't going behind my teeth  at all as it would in some latin languages.

Moving on this isn't a real person  but it's a super difficult name  

from the popular book series and movies  Harry Potter. Now, how would you say her  

name? Let's take a look at how some different  learners would actually say this incorrectly.

Now, don't feel bad if you didn't say this  correctly because it was difficult for me  

even before the movies came out, and I heard  tons of different people say this a different  

way. But now we tend to accept the way  that it was pronounced in the movies,  

so this is pronounced as Hermione Granger.  Hermione granger. Now in the last name  

Granger you should say that a as if it were like  in the word rain, so it's a not ah so it's not  

grandeur it's Granger. I'm Hermione Granger. 

And actually the most correct way that you can say  this would probably be how they say it in the UK,  

because of course this book takes place in the  United Kingdom. So let's actually take a look  

at the way I would say it compared to how Andrea  would say it. So I would say Hermione granger,  

and Andrea would say Hermione Granger. Hermione Granger.

All right so the really big  difference there is with the r sound  

so I say it as a strong r and she actually  says it as more of that soft British r.

So next is definitely one of the most popular  actors that we see all over the internet,  

and how would you pronounce his name?  

Now let's take a look at how some  learners often mispronounce this one.

So you should say it Keanu Reeves. Keanu  Reeves. Now the last name a lot of people  

might see how long this is and think  that it should actually be said as like  

Reevz or something like that, but it's  just one syllable, like the word leaves.  

Leaves-Reeves. So you can remember that and  it'll help you pronounce that correctly.

And hey, by the way, if this is difficult for  you, if you find native pronunciation tricky,  

then we have a really fun way for you to master  native pronunciation. And that is with our 3-Part  

Masterclass, which is 100% FREE. Now, you  will be learning with the TV series Friends,  

which various academic studies show is one of  the best series out there for learning English.  

So not only will you master pronunciation,  but you also learn about the other two keys to  

being able to understand fast speaking natives.  And that is vocabulary and cultural context.  

So you can learn more and sign up for FREE by  clicking up here or down the description below.

All right, have you ever heard of this actor?  So in the US and the UK we have many Irish  

names as is this actor's first name. So how  do you think that we would pronounce this?  

Now let's take a look at how some  learners often mispronounce this one.

Alright, so as I said this is an Irish name and  when we see Irish names they are not pronounced  

anything like the way they are spelled.  So his first name we would not say  

Seen or Sein. We actually add in some extra  sounds there, so it's pronounced Sean. Sean. 

Now you can actually think of some other people  that have this name, for example Shawn Mendes, who  

spells it more like it sounds. So if that helps  you at all you can just think that these are two  

different spellings of the exact same name. And  by the way this sound is an ah sound not an o or  

an ah, so make sure that you're really opening up  your mouth with that one. The same way that in the  

United States we would say dog or how I say often  "aw yeah," so it's not "oh yeah" it's "aw yeah."

Now we absolutely love this comedian because  we've done a lot of different lessons  

with her talk show. Now she has a really  difficult last name. How do you think  

we would pronounce this? Now let's take a  look at how some people pronounce this one.

All right, so first let's take a look  at the first name which is easier,  

so it's got two short e sounds. So it's  not Aylin or Allen, it's Ellen. So those  

short e sounds are e e, now that can be kind of  difficult if you don't have that in your language  

so be sure to practice that one a lot: Ellen. And then her last name which is really tricky.  

Now maybe if you're French you might want to  pronounce this like it would be in French, but  

we would actually say this Degeneres, Degeneres.  So that has two schwas and two short e's  

just like her first name. Now that schwa is that  a sound and then the short e that we saw before  

and her first name is e. So it's de gen uh res. Next how would you say this actor's name who  

played the Joker? Now let's take a look  how some other learners pronounce this.

Now this one is probably really difficult for you  because there's so many strange letters in here,  

when you actually hear the way that we pronounce  it. So it's Joaquin, Joaquin. Now a good way to  

remember this is that it sounds like the verb  walking but the difference here is that that  

ng is a bit of a nasal sound in walking, and  the n at the end of Joaquin, the name, would  

be just a regular end. So it's not as nasal, it's  actually got a tap at the top of the mouth whereas  

the tongue is neutral when you say the verb. So Joaquin-walking. And then his last name also  

has some sounds in there that you might have  not expected, so do you know how we pronounce  

that ph first of all? You've probably seen this  in other words. Now we pronounce that as an f,  

so we actually say this Phoenix. Now this one  is really tricky because there's a silent o  

in that name now we don't say that oh at all, it's  just Phoenix. And you can actually remember this  

because it's a real word it's a mythological bird,  and it's also the capital of the state of Arizona,  

so Phoenix, Arizona. And if you love this actor  then you're definitely going to want to check  

out the lesson that we made with the movie Joker.  You can check that out in the description below.

Alright this actor has a super  fun name to say but I would bet  

that it's going to be a little bit  tricky for you to say correctly.  

Now how would you say his name? Let's take a look  at how some other learners think it's pronounced.

Now, Benedict is kind of an old name, it's not  so common nowadays. There is a really famous  

plate that I love for breakfast when I'm in the  United States, and maybe you've had it before  

it's called Eggs Benedict, so that's a really good  way to remember this. So it's a Benedict, so it's  

not a sounds like you might think seeing those e's  in there, it's actually an e and a schwa, so it's  

Benedict. And then his last name  is actually easier than it looks.  

So first we have Cuhm, so that's got that uh that  schwa sound. Cumber, and that's probably a little  

bit tricky, probably the most difficult part of  that name, because the r sound. So Cum-ber-batch,  

and then that last thing is like a batch  of cookies, it's like a group of things  

you would bake a batch of cookies. So  all together Cumberbatch Cumberbatch. 

Now he's British so the more correct way to  say this would be like Andrea would say it,  

so I would say Benedict Cumberbatch. And she  would say: I call him Benedict Cumberbatch. 

All right so the big difference  there again is that r sound.

Okay so we only have two names left but I wanted  to let you know that after you finish this lesson  

I would highly recommend that you  watch this other lesson that I made,  

that teaches you all about connected  speech. Now this really is the secret  

to being able to understand natives  when we speak fast. So you'll be able  

to find that by clicking up here or down the  description below after you finish this lesson.

Now let's take a look at the actress who played  Black Widow. How do you think you would say her  

name? Let's take a look at how some other  learners think that this is pronounced.

So the first name is pretty easy. It's Scarlet, so  make sure you're saying Scarlett and not Scarlet.  

It's a short I sound: Scarlet. And then the more  tricky thing that people usually mispronounce is  

her last name, so it's Johansson. You  should just say one of those s's there,  

and then what a lot of people mispronounce here  is the j. So this actually comes probably from  

some Scandinavian language where the j would be  pronounced as y, so that would actually probably  

be more correct saying Johansson, but she says  it as an American would, so she says that jay as  

je Johansson, and if you love this actress then  you'll definitely want to check out the lesson  

that we made with her movie called Lucy. You'll  find that linked down the description below.

Okay let's take a look now at an Australian  actor. How would you say his name?  

Let's take a look at what  some other learners thought.

All right, so his first name is really common.  Chris, you probably have this even in your own  

language, or some variation of it. So it's Chris,  you just ignore that ch and just say it as a c.  

However his last name is a lot more tricky, it's  actually just two syllables so it won't be so bad  

for you to practice. The first syllable is easier  so it's hems you just need to make sure that  

you're pronouncing that h and that s is actually  pronounced as z. So Hemz, but then the next one is  

a lot trickier, it's actually said like the word  worth. Like "how much is this worth?" What's the  

value of something. And so that's a word that  you might actually have to use sometimes so  

it's worthwhile practicing this. So it's really  tricky because it's got a w, it's got an r, it's  

got a th, which might not exist in your language.  So make sure that you're saying that w as a...,  

not a... And make sure that you're pronouncing the  r correctly. So worth and altogether Hemsworth. 

Now this is another one that because of that  r, Andrea would probably say a little bit  

differently. So how would you say that, Andrea? I would say Chris Hemsworth.

And last but not least we have an  actor that I'm sure you've seen  

in plenty of movies. How would you say his name?

So this is probably the hardest name on  this list. Both his first name and last  

name are pretty tricky. So his first  name we would actually say Matthew,  

so it has two t's but we only pronounce a th sound  there: math, like if you study math. Matthew. 

Now let's switch over to his last name so first  off we have this Mc. Now that actually comes from  

Irish and it's really common in Irish names,  which as I said before we have a lot of in  

the United States, so we would actually say that  as mick, but then in the case of Matthew's name  

we have another c coming after the mick,  so we actually link those together and just  

say one c. So it becomes meka, so make sure  you're not saying mika or miko, it's Mih-Caw.  

And then in that syllable na the gh is actually  silent, so this is kind of like in the word  

"thought," we just say na. And then finally  hay, so all together McConaughey. McConaughey.

All right guys that's it, thanks so much for  joining me today and remember that if you've  

had fun with this you can get three more names  over on our Instagram, so be sure to head over  

there and learn about those. And I want to hear from you  

which of these names did you find most  difficult or did I miss any names that  

you find super challenging? Tell  me down in the comments below.

And now it's time to go beyond the  classroom and live your English. Aww yeah!!