Do you know how to pronounce vegetables? And what about the word mirror or psychiatrist? English spellings often don’t match the pronunciation so we’re back with another ten words that learners find hard to pronounce. You’ll hear how we say them in British and American English.
Click here to see our first video on words that are hard to pronounce and click here to see our third one.
Click here to see more pronunciation videos.
10 more words video script
Are you ready to get your mouth moving? We’re back with 10 more words that are hard to pronounce in English.
We’ve got 10 tricky words. We’re going see how some English learners say them and see how Jay and I say them in British and American English. Let’s get started. First word.
Vegetables.
Vegetables.
No. That’s not right.
Vegetables.
That’s better. It only has three syllables. Vege-ta-bles. I know it looks like it has four but it doesn’t.
Vegetables.
Vegetables.
I don’t like vegetables.
I know but they’re good for you. Next word.
Women.
Women.
Woman is the singular, but women is the plural. The vowel sound changes from eh to I
One woman. Two women.
One woman. Two women.
So we write the same letter, but we say it differently.
Yeah. Tricky eh? OK, next word. This one doesn’t look like it sounds either.
Suit.
Suit. Suit.
Suit.
No. This is a sweet and this is a suit.
No that’s a candy and this is a suit.
Suit.
Suit.
There’s another word like that – fruit.
Yeah, fruit and suit. They have the same vowel sound. OK, next word.
Subtle. Sub… Subtle.
Subtle.
Sub… eh… Subtle?
It’s hard to say.
Yeah, the b is silent so we say subtle.
If something is not very noticeable or obvious then it’s subtle.
A subtle difference.
A subtle flavor.
Subtle.
Subtle.
We have a lot of words with silent letters in English.
Yeah. Here’s another common one.
Answer.
Answer.
No, the ‘w’ should be silent.
Answer.
Yeah, that’s it.
Answer.
Answer.
OK, let’s see if you can answer another one.
Clothes.
Cloth.
This one’s hard because you’ve got the th sound quickly followed by s. You have to pull your tongue back very fast. ths – clothes.
Clothes
Clothes
Be careful not to say cloth-es. It’s just one syllable. Clothes
Yeah and don’t say cloth. That’s a different word. Cloth is the material that clothes are made of.
But here’s a secret. If you say close – like close the door – we’ll understand. We say that too, especially when we’re speaking fast.
Put on your clothes.
Put on your clothes.
OK. Next one.
Jewelry, jewelry.
Jewelry. Jewelry?
No. Listen and count the syllables.
Jewellery.
Jewelry.
Jewellery.
Jewelry.
Two or three syllables? It’s like two and a half isn’t it. And sometimes that schwa disappears and we just say two. Jool–ry. Jool-ry.
Say it like that. It’s easier.
Jool-ry.
Jool-ry.
I like your jewlry.
Oh. Thank you. Next word.
Mirror.
Mirror.
Mirror.
It’s another hard one. Look at all those r’s.
Mirror.
Mirror.
Jay’s r sounds are stronger than mine. And we write ‘o’ but we just say a schwa.. Mirror.
And when we’re speaking quickly, you can hardly hear it.
Look in the mirr’.
Look in the mirr’.
OK, next one.
Sour.
Sour. Sour?
Sour.
We pronounce it sour. For example, lemons are sour. And we eat sour cream.
Sour.
Sour.
It rhymes with hour.
Yeah. Hour – sour.
OK. What’s the last word.
Ah, I saved the most difficult for last.
Psychiatrist. Psychia… Psychiatrist.
Oh my god. Psy… Psychiatrist.
Psy… Psy… Ha, ha!
That was a challenge.
Yeah, thank you Remi, Fernando and Hugo. You were great.
But what were they trying to say?
Psychiatrist. You know, like a doctor for mental illnesses.
Psychiatrist.
Psychiatrist.
In words that start with the letters psy like this, the p is silent. We say s. So psychiatry, psychology. Psychiatrist. It has four syllables, psy-chi-a-trist. And there’s a really cool technique that can help you to say long words like this. Back chain them, so start at the back and work forward. trist – atrist- chiatrist- psychiatrist. Again. trist – atrist- chiatrist- psychiatrist. Did you say it?
If you want to see some more words that are hard to pronounce, we’ve made another video about some.
Yeah, I’ll put a link here.
Let us know in the comments below what words you find hard to pronounce in English and perhaps we’ll make another video about them.
Great! See you all next week! Bye. Bye-bye.
Click here to see our first video on words that are hard to pronounce and click here to see our third one.
Click here to see more pronunciation videos.