People who speak English have no problem with Worcester Leicester, Gloucester. This is because they are places in England where we speak English not American.
At what point does it go from "wrong" to being a part of a dialect though? If the majority of Americans pronounce something "wrong" at that point is it not just the American dialect for that word?
Language is all about being understood! It's mispronounced if you can't be understood or clarification is needed, but it's dialect instead if it's a common way to say it among similar speakers to you. English is adopting new words all the time from dialects, so if "mischievious" isn't a word now, I think it soon will be!
Languages are fluid. They change over time. The word "internet" didn't exist 50 years ago. Slang and "mispronounced" words are what make accents unique.
No. It's wrong. Language must be preserved... Any Language ... correctly preserved. There can be too many variations, but the correct ones are just that, correct. Even phrases or sentences are destroying the language. Finna...for "fixing too"! You get my point. It must be preserved in its correct form. Alterations in "texting" are short cuts, but should not be acceptable for formal language...ever.
In the late 80's, I became a Realtor.... and, even after ALL these years, folks still say it incorrectly, by adding a syllable, an "a" in between "real" and "tor"..... Thanks for this video, it was awesome, and very informative.... =)
You are so right. The curriculum taught at the Catholic school I attended in Philadelphia during the 60s, was leagues away from what I had been accustomed to when I was in public school. It was in that Catholic school that I was taught how to diagram a sentence. Spelling bees were frequent, and we dreaded misspelling a word. Penmanship was emphasized and so was neatness. Elegant cursive, with the letters always leaning right, won accolades. Our notebooks were open for inspection and were given weekly notices. Incorrect grammar, sloppy usage, and heaven forbid, foul language received swift and firm corrections. To this day, I'm eternally grateful to those devoted nuns.
It requires mention that because English was composed from several languages, its rules of pronunciation are quite inconsistent. The pronunciation of an English word is most often based upon the language from which it came. This is why people in a spelling bee contest ask the language and history of an unfamiliar word before attempting to spell it. Thanks Rachel!
English isn't "composed" from several languages. It has borrowed words from many languages, but that's not the same thing. English is Germanic language.
@@reh3884 Just curious as a non expert, what is the difference between composed and borrowed? I found his answer fascinating as well as your rebuttal, but a little confused why this might be a source of contention.
@@ninjaclan83 English is a western Germanic language brought over by Anglo Saxons. It does feature latin but it is classified as Germanic but I guess you mean that it replaced British Latin? I suppose you're right.
It's also based off where you're from. People have accents that slightly throw off the way they pronounce things. Another thing is that growing up, you learn from others on how to say a word because in that area that's how they pronounce it. Therefore, when people "mispronounce" a word it's not necessarily incorrect, their accent can confuse others, or how they were taught to pronounce it.
Is there any English Teacher for natives over there? Teachers from high school or elementary school? I wonder how is it like? When you correct an essay of a 6th grade student, do you find many writing mistakes? How long does it take for a native to become 'native' in speaking and writing?? Only in English we see things like that: >> clothes = close >> no = know >> would = wood >> draught = draft But in portuguese we also make many grammar mistakes, but the pronunciation is usually the same. 🙏🏼 Thank you Rachel!
I think this is as much a grammar problem. If a person realized that "have" is often part of a part tense expression, they might remember what is correct.
“Draught” is the British spelling of the word. I’m surprised she even put that in here, seeing as it seems she’s teaching American English. You will only ever see “draft” in America
@@kateissues that’s because “draught” and “draft” are pronounced the same. “Draft” is the American English spelling, and “draught” is the British English spelling
Not to mention the -ique words she talks about are all French based words. They are not English at all, we just use the French word because we don't have a better English one.
Wow outstanding video. All words are equally crucial but after this video, I am able to pronounce correctly are; schedule, queue, boutique, vague, vogue etc. I am thankful to you Mrs Rachel.
Someone told me once, you should take caution when judging people that mispronounce words because this stems from reading... An educating activity. Not everyone falls into social circles with diverse vocabularies. The fact that these people are doing it on their own, should be commended. It's difficult to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
Absolutely true! My son, when in second grade, would fearlessly read aloud, sounding out unknown words according to the phonics he'd learned in school.
The problem is that so many of these adults who are pronouncing things totally wrong is that they are so pigheaded and think they are correct and can't be shown the correct way. Or a lot of the attitude is "oh, so what?". And the reading defense I'm reading in the comments is really weak. That's what school and parents are for. To flesh out what is read. Are we basically saying that "not everyone falling into social circles with diverse vocabularies" is given a pass because, well, poor schools, peers and parents?
@@Booshka823 if you lived in my region, you might only know certain words from reading or from a subscription to a cinema channel. Around here - coal country, Appalachia - it has been considered rude to use any but the most basic vocabulary. So I’m not about to look down on anyone who might know a word without having heard it.
I like talking a lil messed up casually. It makes people listen when I switch gears and speak very clearly. Different strokes for different folks and situations. It imparts nuance that can be an important component of the info conveyed.
90% of these are words with French origin. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to learn English if your mother language is not of Latin origin. I work all over the world and am continually humbled by the quality of English spoken by people from far flung continents.
A lot of French words entered the English language after the Norman conquest of 1066. Norman French was the language of the ruling classes at the time.
Some people think its a handicap to only be able to speak english. I dont think so. Its an amalgamation of different languages over different periods. As long as you do a bit of etymological research its fairly easy to recognize patterns in other languages. Save for semitic and asian languages of course.
As a Canadian (where we retain more of the French pronunciations and spellings) some American pronunciations sound REALLY weird to the ears like first time I heard an American pronounce “foyer”. 🤔Americans pronounce the “er” ending as in better or summer.. but in French an “er” ending generally pronounced as a long a so we pronounce it ‘foi-yay’ We also have spelling like “cheque” (check as in banking)… and “centre” but pronounce center.. 🤪
In British English 'schedule' is pronounced with a soft 'ch' - 'shedule' (although, with the influence of American movies, many younger people now say 'skedule').
I think the Oxford English Dictionary would state, schedule is pronounced with a soft a sshh, as in shed. Some people may think they sound more American by saying skedule.
Is this video popping up in everyone's feed or something? Anyway, when people say "expresso" when ordering coffee really grinds my gears for some reason.
“Acrossed” instead of “across” “Ambidextrious” instead of “ambidextrous” “Lacksadaisical” instead of “lackadaisical” Some more mispronunciations with the potential to ruin my mood for the day.
😅give me a break while I eat my salmon. Oops! I mean "samen." I am 82 years old and only a few teeth left. So the way I pronounce words now is a new form of English. 😄Keep up the good work!
It would be helpful to mention the etymology of these words, and the cultures from which they are borrowed. Not only would it help with guessing the pronunciation on reading, it helps to estimate meaning. Echelon is French. Chaos is Greek. Schlep is Yiddish. Adding background would not only make this video more interesting than just going through a list, it would help the viewer retain the knowledge, rather than simply try to memorize data.
My supervisor asked me to write her retirement letter, because she wanted it “gramorically correct”. Her favorite expressions were “it’s a tapestry of justice, and I could care less”. SMH
@@shelbymanners6729 - Or people that use "was" instead of "were". Or, instead of pronouncing the TH sound at the ends of certain words, they use an F. Earf instead of earth, Teef instead of teeth, birf instead of birth etc.
My wife said there are no words in the English language that use every vowel and in the correct alphabetical order. But I think she was speaking facetiously.
We were taught phonetics back in the 60s. I've read thousands of books. If I didn't know what a word meant through context or if I wasn't sure of its pronunciation, I was taught to use the dictionary.
That only helps if you have been taught the phonetic alphabet. I have not, and I was educated in the 1960s and 1970s. I have little or no idea of what each of the symbols mean or what sound they designate. Unless I hear the word spoken, I don’t know the pronunciation.
Vikki Taylor Yes! they taught us the diacritical markings (for long and short vowels , etc.), dipthongs, the schwa sound and all that stuff. It was foolproof! I have noticed online they now either use completely different markings, call them them different names or lump everything into this "universal" code called IPA which makes no sense to me at all. Why fix something that is not broken? We taught our children how to read phonetically since they do not teach it that way anymore. SMH. It's a "guess and go" method now. Look at the whole word and try to guess what it is by the context of a sentence. So dumb.
@cattycorner...There are so many things they no longer teach in school. It seems the goal is longer learning but graduation. I learned how to count without a calculator (money, too!), how to write cursive, how to type, word origins (which helps with spelling and pronunciation!), typing with all my digits (not just my thumbs!), grammer, math, and many other things I use daily...based on current curricula I think the jobs of our educators have become increasingly difficult and our children are suffering because of it. Morality and accountability are two topics that deserve their own forum! Thank you for listening!
Hey I just subscribed- - - *thank you* for making these videos! I learned many words by reading and mispronounciation fears (founded fears mind you) have limited my willingness to express myself to my full potential. I appreciate you. One of the reasons I'm exasperated that youtube removed the dislike button is because it kept me from learning the wrong pronunciations! There are so many bad videos out there one has to dodge! I have a question: Do you have any videos that teach how to read phonetic instruction symbols? Or a course? I truly appreciate your dedication to education. Thank you 💗 😊
Others enunciate words how they learned at home. “SCH” is a Deutsch or Germany for “SH”. English is a composite of mean words from different languages.
Yes, English has Germanic and Romance spelling conventions, which is why it's all over the place. And then pronunciations have changed over the centuries, but spelling stays mostly static. Other languages usually change the spellings of loanwords, but English doesn't.
Actually, I've never heard anyone mispronounce "echelon" until this video, so I think most Americans -- certainly all that I know -- have no problem with the word "echelon."
Didn’t make it to the second word of the video. Never, in over fifty years, have I heard anyone say echelon wrong. Yet one person on an obscure video she watched, used one word wrong, and it’s a word all Americans use wrong.
Depends, because supposably IS a word, it is just used out of context most of the time. It means "able to be supposed". So, if I know you like chocolate, then supposably you will like a Hershey bar. Supposedly means "according to what is generally assumed or believed". As in "Supposedly she is going to pay me back next week".
This video is excellent, but it drove me nuts that you didn't touch on the etymology, which is the entire reason English is so damn complex and inconsistent. Knowing the origins of the word absolutely helps pronounce it. Is it greek, germanic, latinate, french? I think this is the real reason that many Americans don't know how to pronounce words or names well. We're generally very ignorant of other languages and cultures, despite being a society comprised of all the cultures of the world.
Mischievous is such a word that the proper pronunciation has been forgotten. I only ever hear Nuclear pronounced that way in more southern US areas(I’m in WV so I hear it occasionally). Also, February being pronounced as Feb-you-Airy and not including the first r.
I might be alone in this, however I am an Australian and find that most of the people I know pronounce it "mischievious". That said, Aussies are not really known for speaking proper English
0:29 echelon 3:42 schedule 4:47 acai 5:49 mischievous 6:31 triathlon 7:28 facade 7:57 vague and vogue 9:10 queue 10:05 antique and other words that end in -ique 11:06 artisanal 11:41 cognac 12:08 draught, drought, draft 13:03 colonel 13:32 Worcestershire More suggested words: feng shui and qi (thank you, China), abseil and realpolitik (thank you, Germany), rambutan (thank you, Malaysia), and all these words from French: carte blanche (not carte blanc), coup de grace (not like Mardi Gras), lieu, ombre, pied-à-terre, repartee, reveille, and trompe l'oeil, which is what French words in English do - fool the eye.
Well I know how to pronounce all of these words but I had extensive phonics training with vocabulary taught all the way through high school. My teachers were so particular about knowing the spelling, the syllables and the phonetic sounds. We had to know the spelling, the syllables, the pronunciation and how to use it in a sentence for every word. The lack of proper training in the English language is pathetic.
"mel-Lock-a-ny" Someone I went to school with thought it was the pronunciation of "melancholy," and that when people said "melancholy," they were using a different word.
Rachel: just as " açaí " has the French letter "ç", (la cédille) so does the French word "façade": the spelling of façade often being changed to "facade", in English, for obvious reasons. And, in remembering my high school study of the Spanish language, I was reminded that (in both English and Spanish) the letter "c" sounds like a "k" right before the vowels "a", "o", and "u". Examples are as follows: Cat [kat] Cob Cute If the "c" precedes "e" or "i", it has an "s" sound: Cent Citrus / cite... [etc.] Where "façade" differs is in the use of the French "ç" (which guarantees that an "s" sound is made, and not a "k"). NOTE (for what it's worth): In the 1950s, my brother and I "conjured up" our own spellings for words we heard people say, but for which we couldn't find a spelling (in our large Webster's dictionary). >>> And, "façade" was one such word... (So, my brother-- until he got older-- creatively spelled it "fasod".)
Precisely what I came here to say. Thanks for sparing me from typing all of that 😂 We use the Ç in Portuguese as you remember from Spanish. I think English should keep the “cedilha” (what we call the extra bit under the C) in order to make the pronunciation more clear. Speaking of strange words. Have you ever read and then heard how the word for “a lot” is pronounced in french?! That one got me the first time!
I have never heard an American ever use the word, "queue" for a line. In fact when an English person asked me if I "were in the queue," I did not know what she meant.
Here's another way to understand the word 'queue' it is read as [k-yoo] - the letter group QUE forms the [k] sound - think of antique [an-teek] etc., and the last 2 letters -UE creates the vowel sound [yoo] - as in other words like cue [k-yoo] due [d-yoo] etc. :)
@@SuperMagnetizer The word 'queue' cannot be 'pronounced' as 'line.' But the word 'line' is used in America instead of the word 'queue.' And the word 'queue' and 'cue' are both pronounced EXACTLY the same as [k-yoo] - because they are 'heteronyms' - words with different spelling, but the same pronunciation. :)
Schedule with the "k" phoneme is not the only correct pronunciation, it is actually in a way just "accepted". The most corrected one would be as the British do with the "sch" phoneme, as it was originally a French word. Also, açaí cannot really be said to be an American word as well, it is actually tupi-guarani adapted to Portuguese, so it is easy to understand why it is mispronounced, it basically is a foreign word for native speakers.
I'm Brazilian and foreigners can never say "açaí" properly because they don't know that the "ç" has an 'S' sound and that the accent on the I changes the pronunciation :P Portuguese is a difficult language for everyone, but especially English speakers... The name 'João' is confusing even to those who know another Romance language.
I’m from America originally, I say everything correctly just like it was in the 1960’s. Now I say everything wrong decades later. I didn’t change the world did. Even the new elementary teachers say I am no longer saying it the way it is taught now.
Thank you so much for your correct pronunciation tip. I was wondering if you have any examples in which schwa deletion occurs before ng -- whether it occurs in congratulation, congressional, or conclude.
I read the word “conscience” growing up and genuinely believed they were referring to science of con artistry. Rather than your internal moral compass.
Echelon comes from the French échelon, a word whose literal meaning is “rung of a ladder.” Initially it was confined to military use, to refer to a step-like formation of troops. It is not English
I was born in the US, raised in the UK & I have never heard/seen this word before. I had to look up it’s meaning. Thought it sounded French though so thanks for this clarification!
There's multiple English dialects, so naturally many words are going to be said differently. English is Germanic, with Greek and Latin roots and is constantly changing with each generation.
The whole muddle with English really starts in 1066, when Anglo-Norman began to be incorporated into Old English. It wasn't purely Germanic after that. That's why Middle English is actually pretty intelligible to Modern English speakers, whereas Old English might as well be a foreign language. Compare The Canterbury Tales' "Whan that Apryll with his shoures soote" to Beowulf's "Hwaet! We gardena in geerdagum..."
you can't really call them dialects, different accents or different "habits" for saying certain words a certain way or certain phrases. Just now I've been watching British Detective Series "Vera" again. Boy do they come up with some whoppers! I have no idea what they just said or what it means or what they are talking about. But that is mostly from the Newcastle locals with their Geordie accents. The actress playing "Vera" is from Kent. I'm like "what is that word? What does that mean?" Wow!!
@@christopherhelton6999 Yup! That Damn William again!! Muddling things up!! I have a copy of the original written Magna Carta (1215 A.D.) hanging on my wall, with a typed up Modern English translation hanging up next to it. Now, maybe, I can make out a few words from the original. Man is it a nightmare.
@@aspenrebel you absolutely can call them dialects. Dialects encompass both differences in pronunciation as well as differences in vocabulary. A good way to understand this is that a sociolect is itself a dialect, specifically a dialect of a particular social class, usually confined to a particular area. A great example of a sociolect that is very commonly seen in media would be valleyspeak, which outright popularized the use of "like" as a discourse marker in American English.
In sixth grade, I had a schoolmate named Hannah - who was reading the word “political” and she pronounced it as “Polly-tickle”. Even though almost 50 years ago, I will never forget it. Even in 6th grade, most of us knew that was funny. She probably still remembers a sense of shame - for which I personally am sorry.
In seventh grade a girl would continuously say the word "organism" as "orgasm" in science class and I will never forget my homies and I trying our best to keep it together lmao
In British countries schedule is pronounced like "shedule", American say "skedule" In British countries, the word buoy is pronounced as "boy", the U is silent, Americans say, "booey"
A lot of words in the English language come from Latin via French and in British English we retain some of those elements in the pronunciation . Another typical example is Niche which we English pronounce like Neesh where as in the US it is usually pronounced Nitch although again I often hear many in the US confused around its pronunciation. I think a lot of words coming via French seem to cause those in the US confusion in their own tongue.
Never have said nitch. That pronunciation is anathema. My mother is from the British West Indies and pronounces all the other words as you have indicated. I suppose Americans pronounce Buoy as they do to auditorily distinguish it from boy
As a retired ESL instructor myself, with a specialization in accent reduction, I recommend that you also let people know the origins of these words. For example, acai, vogue, and facade have French etymologies. This may help students understand why they are pronounced the way they are.
Not every word that has a “ç” comes from French. Açaí is native to South America and uses the Portuguese phonetics for a Tupi word. Tupi is one of the hundreds of languages spoken by tribal people from the Amazon. So while the “ç” comes from Portuguese (the language spoken in Brazil), the word is very much _not_ European, especially not French.
@@werneckg ok… but as you said, it was spelled phonetically in portuguese, which like french, uses cedillas. so, if people knew what a cedilla was and how to pronounce them, then maybe they’d have an easier time pronouncing the words that contain them.
I'm sure it did. Ha ha ha ha!! Then there are those words that you have heard SPOKEN and you have SPOKEN all of your life ... BUT ... you have NEVER written them, seen them written, nor read them. Now that is a real shocker!! You're like "is that how that word is spelled? I never knew that". At this moment I can't think of a word, an example, but I know it has happened to me. I remember one time, many years ago, I said the word "wholly" to my aging mother. As in "that child's behavior was wholly unacceptable". meaning ... entirely, completely. She didn't know what it meant, spelling, or usage, and she was surprised that I did. English and grammar was never my strong suit in school, I'm more mathematical.
Not to toot my own horn whatsoever but I’m pretty shocked by some of these. I’ve always pronounced every one of them correctly. I probably have my grandparents to thank. Since I was old enough to speak, they always corrected my grammar. I wonder to this day if that’s why I became a writer
@@theesweetie23ca91 Imagine bragging about becoming a writer when you write incomplete sentences ("I probably have my grandparents to thank.") and forget to end the paragraph with a period.🤣
I'm Brazilian and "açaí" is a word that exists in Portuguese, but as said before, has Tupi Guarani origin like a lot of words we use here. Remember that the 'Ç' letter (C-cedilla) has an 'S' sound, and that the "Í" changes the pronunciation. So it's like ah-sah-EE as she said. "Tapioca" is also mispronounced sometimes.
Phonetic alphabet symbols explained, very nice. Not my usual youtubw content but im liking it so far. You are providing a necessary service for Americans.
English is such a language of words borrowed from other languages, it's helpful to know the country of origin, because borrowed words often retain their original pronunciation. For example, "echelon" is from the French, where "ech..." is usually pronounced 'esh...', and "chaos" is from the Greek, where any "ch" sounds like a hard 'k', like the Greek letter "chi" ("Χ" in the Greek alphabet), pronounced 'kee'. English can be challenging due to the numerous borrowed words, but also fun, like traveling the world! Bon voyage!!
English and other languages of europe are latin origin languages. So there are many similar words among them. Languages are formed by communication and movement of people, cultures...so english borrows from others and others borrow from english ofcourse. "Good Morning" and "Guten Morgen" in German sound similar...so we can't say which language borrows from which language cause we are not the first people who use it.
Worrying about pronunciation is such a blue sky problem. So you say a word wrong? Big deal. I prefer to hide my intelligence anyways. If someone is going to think i'm not very smart that is great. It's always better to have low expectations and to take your enemies by surprise.
Working at the banking industry, one word that I hear often is “recurring”. People often pronounce it “reoccurring”, which has a slightly different meaning.
One of my college professors, asked me during class if I read a lot. When I asked why, he said it was because I kept mispronouncing words due to being more familiar with reading them versus hearing them. Apparently his son was the same way. It can be an interesting thing to listen for.
I mispronounce words I learned through reading, too. I was surprised to hear the woman in the video say this, because I never heard anyone say that before though I figured I hadn't heard them spoken. My friend can pronounce almost anything right but he's a terrible speller! Either he doesn't read as much or it's just a different skill set (I can Spell almost anything). I figure he must have had intellectual parents who used these words; my parents were more earthy. But maybe his ear is better while I'm more observant visually. Or maybe I just don't question my assumptions enough! (Some words I've learned correctly from hearing him: papyrus; scythe; unwieldy..)
Why do English speaking newscasters persist in mispronouncing Foreign place names? There is No Cobble Afghanistan! Ka-bule! Many others over the years as if they are trying to change the language. Keep educating us. Thank you.
An axe to the ear will do that every time! It annoys me too, but on further reading, it turns out that it’s an archaic English pronunciation, that would have been common at the time the Puritans left England. - because after the restoration of the monarchy, everyone was fed up with their killjoy ways that had seen them ban sport, the theatre, singing, dancing, Christmas and anything else that could be fun in any way.
That is cultural though. You were hearing a culture that is not your own. They can say it however they want. That is no different than some people saying ain’t. It might not be the rule but it is cultural and some people will always say it.
@@Catsface99 that's like saying only people from Spain speak Spanish correctly. But all the other dialects (Puerto Rican, Cuban, Colombian, etc) are correct in their dialects and the way they evolved, just as American English is correct because that's how it has evolved from British English.
This and other of your videos demonstrate just how surprisingly much of modern English actually comes from French. In a RU-vid video i saw recently, it was said that MORE of modern English comes from older, "country" French than even from earlier forms of English. There are obvious examples like "cognac", but even words like " guard", "study", and "restaurant" come from French. They even said there is more "country" French in modern English than there is in modern "Parisian" French itself. One thing is for sure: English is WAY more French than most people realize. Fun channel!
I find it funny that when she was talking about acai I didn’t know what she was talking about. But as soon as she pronounced is “a-k-ai” I suddenly understood 😂
Thanks! I came down here looking for this comment. Since the English language originates in England, and the English pronounce it ˈshe-(ˌ)dyül , Rachel is in fact teaching the incorrect pronunciation. 😆
@@noirsaba "Calvary" is the place the Bible says Christ was crucified. "Cavelry" means mounted soldiers (today, it usually refers to heavy trucks and tanks, etc. in the military.
I appreciate your challenge & struggle; I only fared well because of growing up in an American English household where my Granny was an English teacher! To all of those who undertake learning English the world around, I tip my hat and applaud your efforts!
I agree. Rural is not the easiest to pronounce. I think about it every time I say it. After thought: Days after posting the previous sentences I was reminded of a movie title from the tv show Thirty Rock. The character Jenna attempts to tell others about the small budget movie she made the previous summer. The movie was titled The Rural Juror. The way she pronounces it has everyone confused; no one can understand what she's saying. Lol. It's perfect for this example.
@@jenni8982 I'm from a rural area of the U.S. We pronounce it both ways. Fast (one syllable) if saying an address quickly (the old style of address) and slowly (two syllables) if saying the word in other circumstances.
I taught English and I know whereof she speaks! Americans not only mispronounce words, they also do not know correct grammar! It drives me crazy to hear people on the air say things such as “this was given to my husband and I “ instead of to my husband and ME!! People seem to think that a compound that includes the speaker must use I. Not true!! Another is people using the reflexive word myself as a noun such as “myself and my friend went”. Aaarrrrrggh!!
As time passes, language, words and pronunciations change amongst all cultures. What one deems appropriate, inappropriate or wrong today, may likely be accepted, omitted or changed in the future.
What your describing would be slang but no matter how much time passes words are still supposed to be said correctly. When your saying a word completely wrong no matter where you are or if the person your speaking to cares or not, if you say the word wrong it’s still wrong.
@@catrivera7463 Well... I see your point, but that's debatable: For example, the Mexican Spanish letter "i griega" (y) and the "elle" [EH-yay] both have exactly the same sound. >>> Some individuals who really never learned to spell well use the "y" instead of "ll" in words/word phrases like these: "las yamas (llamas)" >>> Las 'yamas' nos quemaron. >> (The flames burned us.) "me yamo (llamo)... >>> Me 'yamo' Juan. >> (My name is John.) THE PROBLEM, however, isn't in Mexico: they learn impeccable Spanish in school. >>> It is really problematic in other (unnamed) places, because of slang and a thing called laziness: it is these two factors, I believe, that account for the changes in pronunciation that I have heard, among Spanish speakers in various (unnamed) places, over the last 50 years...
Yea there is a bit of reaching here. It feels mildly pretentious to say Americans in the title like everyone across the US says Ekkelon or Cheyas. Never heard those words mispronounced, and even though I've heard mischievous mispronounced it's not a big deal because I know what they're saying.
I'm not even entirely sure how I leaned the correct pronunciation, but it was definitely before I was actually taught it. Trachea too. It's just one of those words that I've always known how to pronounce.
A German speaking here. I think most of the trouble comes from the fact that the most mispronounced words were 'borrowed' from other languages, and from what I see here is that it is often overlooked where the words came from. In the cases presented here mostly French. If you'd write them in thier natural French form there is a distinct difference between "antique" and "appliqué". And I don't even speak French myself, but German also has a lot of words 'borrowed' from French, Latin, or Greek ;) I really like to quote James D. Nicoll here: “The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” And I really need to add that it took me about 35 years from being able to read the writing on the bottle to talk to an actual English-(British-)person how Worcestershire sauce is pronounced... And it didn't help that the most common brand of the sauce is labelled "Worcester Sauce", apart from the fact that 'sauce', even though still correct spelling is slowly replaced by "Soße" or "Sosse".
Oh, for Pete’s sake, get over yourself. (Pete is pronounced with a long “e”, just so you know) You can’t do the master race thing anymore so now you’re the master speakers. Actually, I’m only teasing but you did go on a bit! 😊
I served my Country for18 months in your country and loved it. Y'all have a beautiful place your forests are of the chain and the people were all pleasant and proud. I even met a man with a signed picture of Hitler he still had his arm band my daddy was a paratrooper. He thought I was a Englander then I spoke he replied ah Americana then said Texas no Florida. We drew pictures to communicate plus had a man who spoke some English. Love your country.
How about segue - I've always said "seg-way" so I was surprised when I heard a friend say "see-goo". I knew that pronunciation was important to her, so we looked it up. (And I knew that she also learned words by reading.) Well, we found that it's correctly said seg-way. Has anyone else had a problem with this one?
I've never heard anyone say it that way but I can understand how someone might think that's how it's pronounced. As you said, just another example of learning words by reading :)
A little side point relating to the word realtor. There is an organization that has added an a to the word. This organization requires registration with their group and they are called "Real-a-tors"(TM), just like the mispronunciation for the word, - 'realtor'.
Nice, thanks, wouldn’t have known that otherwise. Thankfully, I’ve never had the misfortune of mispronouncing most words, even those I hardly use. I just don’t see how anyone could make simple mistakes like that.
@@idw9159 Not really Ian. The double dot over the I, as in naive, is the French spelling for the diphthong a-i. In Portuguese, that same sound is represented by the symbol over the í. Hence, açaí.
I was in the tea aisle of a grocery store years ago and this lady asked her friend, "What's chamomile?" But she pronounced it as SHAMOMOLY. I broke out laughing and had to apologize. But it was too funny to ignore.
Well, you have changed my attitude a bit. I pronounce these 14 words correctly but I confess I have been a bit judgmental of native speakers who don’t pronounce words they have learned only in written context. I can see now that it’s easier to do than it appears to me so I will work to correct my inner monologue. How about something on ribald, which is generally mispronounced in my experience with the word?
Same here. I'm Italian and speak French and Spanish. I never had problem with those words. Only, when I speak English, absolutely hate (mis)pronounce italian words like spaghetti, pizza, latte, etc saying, for example "spagheri"...arghh :)
You should emphasize that the English language incorporates several languages, including French; the words you featured are mostly French so naturally, proper pronunciation may be elusive. If I may, it would help to differentiate hard vs. soft, long vowels, etc. My five siblings and I attended parochial schools until high school; we were taught proper English and phonics played an enormous role. Phonics and diagramming sentences aren't necessarily delightful learning as compared to geography or organic chemistry but both are vital components learning and utilizing the English language. As our society exponentially deteriorates, especially where education is concerned, (it's so foundational to one's future but not properly emphasized in our culture), I'm forever grateful our parents gave us each a solid education where failure, especially in proper English, both spoken and written, was not an option.
That’s exactly right. English is a hybrid, bastard language. It’s German with French influence mixed in, as proven by the words that have double meaning. I feel terrible for people learning it. Wind blows but wind a watch. Eat Polish Kielbasa and polish your table…it doesn’t end.
English comes almost directly from German, the Saxons. Not only pronunciations, but roots of many words, especially nouns. The French is the influence of the Normans. So, correct, just like there isn't a real 'English' people, so is the language a hybrid language... and a wee bit of Celtic/Gaelic mixed in for good measure. Can't forget our roots completely. Or Latin, for that matter
@@martyconroy3786 Rachel was highlighting primarily French words there being a copious amount of French words incorporated into modern English - in art, more than many professions, of which I am quite familiar as an artist. I was going to mention the Latin aspect as well as both my parents studied Latin as required courses as children, which served my mother well as an English teacher; she was also of German descent and I happened to visit her ancestral home in Alsace-Lorraine, France.
As a non native English speaker living in Uk for the last 16 years and being a bit of a linguist I had no problems with these words and I pronounced them correctly except the word “colonel” which I thought is pronounced without r I learned something new also schedule American English and British English is shedule Thank you 😊
Yes, the English say "shhedule". Also, do the French pronouce "Colonel" as "Ko-Lo-Nel"? Without and "r" sound in it? It makes no sense that Americans pronounce it "Kernal" as in "Kernal Hogan".
Try some American dialects/accents in the Deep South. Oi. I'm in Boston, but as a kid I had cousins from Florida. When they came up to visit I couldn't understand a bloody word they said. Yet their accent wasn't even that bad, not a deep southern drawl. There are places where it is really bad. It took me like 3 years before I could understand what the heck Cheryl Cole was saying, with her Geordie accent. Then it was funny watching "X Factor UK" when that gal singer from Scotland came on ..... trying to think of her name ..... Jade Richards. When she sang, could understand her fine. But when she stopped singing and started talking, couldn't understand a bloody word she said!!!
@@rachelsenglish thank you for the reply, I appreciate it, especially on such a big channel that a lot of people ask questions in the comment section on
Mischievous... I gave up... Everyone pronounces it "mis cheeevios" Even British narrators in documentaries! So, that pronunciation does not match the spelling, but that pronunciation is how everyone says it. Language was in use thousands of years before rulebooks. And rulebooks are just a way to ATTEMPT to make things consistent. If you pronounces something "correctly" but not like 99% of the people....then you are pronouncing it wrong.
@@langreeves6419 By most people are we talking by number of speakers or by number of accents/dialects. I’d really like to hear you call certain small dialects of English wrong like AAVE or the related Southern US English. Please correct me if I’ve misread your point here.
@@langreeves6419 you only need to be understood by one person for your pronunciation to be correct. the only thing that makes something correct is understandability. everything else is just linguistic supremacy and you sound silly repeating that garbage
I think with “mischievous” people’s brains immediately flip to “devious” and want to pronounce it that way. Our brains read words as a whole, not individual letters, so that explanation makes sense to me at least.
I will deliberately pronounce it incorrectly randomly - it's more fun - although I was born in The House of an English Lord I failed _English Language_ the same year I won a Physics prize [not a Nobel - I was only 16] and did Advanced Math[s] after completing the standard syllabus in a few weeks - over the following 2 decades I used 15 other languages to export to 50 countries - 2020 I was working for Porsche BMW Jeep Suzuki and they terminated me (aka sacked fired dismissed) with hospitali[s or z]ed pneumonia as Prince Andrew collected his quarter million UBI his brother Charles tens of millions to subsidise his biscuit baking
Nah, she's wrong on this one. American English speakers almost always pronounce it mis-CHEE-veeus. It's silly that it's not recognized in the dictionary. Honestly, with all the other BS being incorporated into "official" dictionaries, it's silly that she picked this one. This pronunciation of mischievous is more accepted in the US than "they" being used as a pronoun for gender non-binary singular.
@@AlexeiArntzen true...A pronunciation \mis-ˈchē-vē-əs\ and a consequent spelling mischievious are of long standing: evidence for the spelling goes back to the 16th century.
@@AlexeiArntzen We Americans often mispronounce many words. As an example, recently, the crowd at a NASCAR race in the US were chanting " let's go Brandon " but we're actually mispronouncing the words so it sounded exactly like they were saying F"(# Joe Biden
I agree! I would also say that I have only rarely heard it pronounced properly in America and even then it was always a British person who said it correctly. So I did not really know that was wrong until now…I thought it was a toMAYto tomAHto sort of thing.
A draft is also a cool breeze or wind coming in through the window. Eg "It's very drafty in here--close the window. " In England we pronounce schedule as sshedule with the "Sshh" sound (like when you're telling someone to be quiet!!) ❤
I used to live in London. I used the tube almost every day. And a lot of people mispronounced two places. Maybe more but these two where the most common. Amersham and Chesham.
When I was in second grade, I heard my teacher say chameleon as shamalon. I corrected her, and to this day have never forgotten that minuscule moment in 1965. BTW, my pet peeve is the mispronunciation of the word, nuclear, as nucular.
@@miranduri In British English the word is jewellery and has four syllables. When I lived in the US many years ago it used to bug me that people mispronounced the word until I realised that you spell it differently. It’s like aluminium, you miss letters out. 😊
@@Punchgirl4 While the language is sometimes a bit mangled in the US, a lot what we often think of as errors are in fact correct, like Aluminum, which was the original name for a long time until we decided to change it - they didn't. When you hear a word being mispronounced, made up or "Americanised" look it up in the OED and more often than not you will find it's correct, maybe 17th or 18th century, but correct. Outside of Hollywood Americans are much more conservative than we the British.
There are more French words that are used in English than one would expect. In this video alone, here are the ones I caught: Echelon = Échelon Facade = Façade Vague = Vague Vogue = Vogue Queue = Queue Antique = Antique Boutique = Boutique Artisanal = Artisanal Cognac = Cognac Colonel = Colonel
@@kimifur , Estate Agent, if you're in Canada or UK somewhere. In the USA, it's Realty Agent, Realtor, or Real Estate Agent, also unless the land owned is pretty darn large and has a mansion on it, it is not called an estate until you're talking about the last Will and Testament and the division of goods and property. A small place, on a modest Street is never called an estate until there's discussion about contents of a Will. I am aware that in most of the UK any owned or rented land is an estate, and that there are apartment buildings or projects built for the economically disadvantaged and other people "on the dole" that are called an estate or referred to as "the estates" as it is probably on a large expanse with housing on it, regardless of the size of said dwelling.
Same sort of deal with Brand Names.... Nutella for example is pronounced as "Nut"-"ella". But some people say "NUtella". "Nut" is said because it's referring to the Hazelnut. Adidas is pronounced as "Adi"-"Das". Because it is an abbreviation of 'Adolph Dassler'. Adolph was referred to as "Adi". But some people say "AD"-"DEE"-"DIS".
"Nuclear" is the champion in my book. As for the added-syllable words like "triathlon," the one I hear all the time is "vinegar-ette" for "vinaigrette."
Love that the heading is for English words mispronounced, and yet, like the video, ppl are throwing French words around. At least its giving my friend in Alsace a laugh
@@johnwynne2179, English is one of the great mongrel languages. Words are borrowed from many other tongues, but the pronunciation is often changed. For "foyer," the preferred pronunciation in English is "FOY-er" although you do sometimes hear "FWA-yay." Sometimes it goes the other way: "valet" is now usually pronounced "val-LAY" as in French, but the usual pronunciation from 75 years ago was "VAL-it." As for "vinaigrette," I'd bet that a lot of English-speakers believe the word is spelled "vinegarette."
@@Barpoint212 I do understand about the English language, living in an area full of old Norse names helps. But the title, which everyone seems to be ignoring, states English words, Boutique, has only been used quite recently, peleton, as someone mentioned, is mainly used in cycle racing, as the body that oversees cycle racing, is French based. I also understand that French came into the English language after 1066, but most of the words that are used as English, are modern day additions from France, and are known to be French, not English, as i have said in another reply, tagged a friend from Alsace, and they are quite amused that ppl think French words are English
I confess to intentionally mispronouncing this to mess with people. I've even corrected people to get them to say nuculur. Be nice to me, though. I, ahem, almost always tell them I'm joking. Like the others, I've never heard echelon mispronounced. I wonder if I could get some people to say it that way.
@@rachelsenglish As for açai, the Oxford Dictionary gives two pronunciation variants: [aˈsʌɪiː, asʌɪˈiː]. The guy in the dictionary uses the first variant.
