10 (Advanced) English Words You Are Probably MISpronouncing! | Pronunciation & Common Mistakes

Hello I'm Emma from mmmEnglish

and in this lesson, I'm going to share ten advanced

English words that you're probably mispronouncing!

Now before I go on, this video is created for

my audience, people who are learning English

as a second language.

Many of the words that I'll be sharing with you today

will be pronounced slightly differently

depending on the English accent used.

So you'll hear them in my Australian accent

but just be aware that there can be slightly

different ways of pronouncing the same word.

The words that I'm sharing today are appropriate for

advanced level English learners and of course,

any ambitious intermediate level learners as well.

But the words that I'll be sharing are often

mispronounced by native English speakers too.

So if you're a native English speaker

don't go anywhere, you might find this lesson useful

and interesting as well.

So ready to get started?

Okay the first word,

pronunciation.

It is hilarious to think that this word

is so commonly mispronounced

and very often by native English speakers.

Pronounce. Pronunciation.

So there's the verb pronounce,

which means to say words and sounds.

Did I pronounce that correctly?

And then there's the noun, pronunciation,

which means the way that a word is pronounced or said.

My pronunciation is improving,

not my pronounciation is improving.

It's often mispronounced

because there's a different vowel sound used in the

stressed syllable in each of these words.

Listen to the difference.

Pronounce.

Pronounce.

Ow, ow.

Pronounce.

Pronunciation.

Pronunciation.

Pronunciation.

Next,

chaos.

It's actually a hell of a lot easier to pronounce

than it looks!

Chaos.

Chaos.

Kay - like the letter K

and -Os,

chaos.

And not chaos or chous.

It's much easier than you think!

Chaos.

And this is a noun, it's used when a situation

is really confusing or messy.

There's no order, there's no control at all.

The accident on the freeway this morning created

chaos for commuters.

But this word can extend into the adjective, chaotic.

You can describe a situation as chaotic

and the same pronunciation rules apply.

It's much easier to pronounce than you think.

Kay-o-tic.

Chaotic.

It became very chaotic outside the station.

So we can extend this even more

into the adverb chaotically.

So that's describing how something happened.

It happened chaotically.

Kay-o-tic-li.

Chaotically.

Specifically.

Not spe-cif-i-cal-li.

Specifically.

Specifically.

There are four syllables, not five.

This pattern is one that occurs often in English.

Often when an adjective that ends in C like specific

becomes an adverb by adding the suffix -ally or just -ly.

So there's lots of examples of this.

Realistically,

strategically,

politically

logically,

democratically,

artistically,

economically

and chaotically, which we mentioned earlier

which is a really good example

of this same rule that applies.

Chaotically.

Prestigious.

So the preferred pronunciation is pre-sti-jus,

not pre-stee-jus.

The shorter vowel sound.

Prestigious is an adjective that's used to say

that something or someone is of a high status.

They're very honoured, very respected and admired.

Brighton Grammar is a prestigious boys school.

She won the prestigious Archibald Prize.

Again the problem here comes from the root word,

prestige,

where the stressed vowel sound is actually different.

Prestige and prestigious.

We have the longer e vowel sound in prestige

and the shorter

vowel sound in prestigious.

Mischievous.

Mischievous.

Not mis-chiev-i-ous, there is only one I here.

It's mischievous

and it's often spelt incorrectly too.

Pronounced and spelt incorrectly.

So this is an adjective that describes a person,

usually a child, who is having fun by causing trouble.

They're cheeky, it's kind of silly behaviour.

It's not really a negative thing.

Jack is quite a mischievous child.

Note that the noun mischief is also mispronounced

sometimes as mischeef.

Mischief.

Mischief.

Now mischief is behaviour that causes trouble

or disruption but not serious harm to other people.

Just a bit of fun.

He's always getting up to mischief.

Now for any of you athletic types who like to run

and swim and cycle,

triathlon is often mispronounced

and miss spelt

as triathalon.

Now this is probably because of the pronunciation of

marathon.

After he ran the marathon, he started training

for the triathlon.

Triathlon.

Triathlon.

I'm guessing that if you're the athletic type

and you care about your health and

you're probably eating healthily

most of the time,

but natural foods, whole foods

can also be quite difficult to pronounce.

Think about the word quinoa.

Quinoa.

I'll have the pumpkin and quinoa salad please.

Or acai.

For a long time I actually pronounce this word as aseye.

But I recently found out that I've been pronouncing it

completely wrong!

It's acai. The stress is on and it's emphasising

the third syllable or the last syllable.

Both of these words, since they're not originally English

words are completely butchered

by native English speakers.

By butchered I mean completely mispronounced

and ruined.

It seems that English speakers everywhere

are confused about how to pronounce some of these

super food names, so don't be surprised

if you hear it being pronounced incorrectly

by native English speakers.

It's very common.

Genre.

Genre is quite a sophisticated word, genre.

It's used to group a particular style or category

of film or literature or art.

What's your favourite genre?

That genre of music was really popular in the seventies.

Now in French, where this word, originates where it

comes from, the spelling is identical

but the pronunciation is completely different.

dzon, dzon.

Now that's a pretty pathetic French accent

but my point is that if you're a French speaker,

this is a false friend,

the English pronunciation is different

even though it looks exactly the same.

Genre.

Genre.

The first sound is the dzh

sound that you hear in the middle of words like

vision or measure.

And it's a tricky sound to make.

It's a voiced sound.

Now for all of the coffee fans out there, it's espresso

not expresso

and I know that I don't need to tell my

Italian students that.

But this seems to be a really common mistake

for native English speakers and English learners alike.

The letters S pronounced as X.

This is a really mysterious one for me,

why native speakers, why?

It's espresso

not expresso.

I skip breakfast most mornings

and just get by on an espresso.

Perhaps the confusion comes from the word, express,

these two words have kind of come together.

I can't express how important morning espresso is!

I'm going to escape to the country,

not exscape to the country.

This one is especially tricky, not exspecially tricky.

Well how did you go with that list

of advanced English vocabulary?

Perhaps you've been mispronouncing

one or two of them

or perhaps as a native speaker, you've just realised

that you've been mispronouncing one of them

like me with acai.

Now there is no better way to practise and improve

your pronunciation than with a native English speaker

and you can do that with Cambly.

The teachers at Cambly are native English speakers

from the, US from the UK, Australia, Canada

and they can give you specific and personal feedback

helping you to fix those pronunciation problems

and communicate clearly in English.

So use the link in the description below

to get a free 15 minute lesson with a native speaker.

You could even practice the list of words and examples

from this lesson.

Awesome to have someone listening to you

and telling you what you need to do to improve.

If you enjoyed this lesson then please subscribe,

comment, say hi, I love hearing from you!

In fact, what other English words

are difficult for you to pronounce?

I'm sure you have a list of them somewhere.

Make sure you try out this video right here

to learn how to pronounce 10 English words

that I think you're mispronouncing

and watch this playlist down here

to practise your pronunciation and English expression.

Thanks for watching and I'll see you next week.

Bye for now!