Many language learners of English tend to find difficulty in speaking, especially with IELTS exams.
Are you one of these people?
If so… You are on the right track and we are always so ecstatic to share not only tips and tricks but to learn from other people’s mistakes as well!
Without further ado, here are COMMON PRONUNCIATION MISTAKES that many non-native English speakers make:
1. Prestigious
/pre-STI-jus/
Prestigious means having prestige or being honored, but too many people dishonor this word by pronouncing the first “i” in the word as “ee”. But that “i” should be pronounced as a short “i,” and the second “i” should be elided or skimmed over, not emphasized.
2. Anyway
/EH-nee-way/
Why is this easy word here? Because an alarming number of people seem to think there is an “s” at the end. “Anyways,” they say. “I was going to say it correctly anyways.” No, it’s anyWAY. And any which way you pronounce it, there’s absolutely no “s”.
3. Electoral
/ee-LECK-tor-al/
We’ve all heard of the Electoral College, that unwieldy process of choosing the President. But not only do many of us not understand how it works, we don’t even pronounce it correctly. For the record, the accent is on the second syllable, not the third. So it’s “ee-LECK-tor-al,” not “ee-leck-TOR-al,” and most definitely not “ee-leck-TOR-ee-al” — which we’ve also heard.
4. Hyperbole
/high-PER-boh-lee/
Hyperbole means excess or exaggeration, and we’re not being hyperbolic when we say that many people, including former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, pronounce the word as it’s spelled: “Hyper-bowl.” But this word comes from the ancient Greek, and the final “e” is pronounced like “Penelope” (and like another tricky “e”-ending word, “epitome” — which is “epi-tuh-mee,” not “epp-i-toam”).
5. Mischievous
/MIS-chuh-vus/
Many people pronounce this with an extra syllable — “mis-CHEE-vee-ee-us” — and even throw in an extra “i” when they spell it (“mischievious”). This mistake goes as far back as the 16th century, and many of us still haven’t learned.
6. Quay
/kee/
Quays are platforms built next to bodies of water, used for loading and unloading freight or passengers. Looking at the word, it’s easy to see how many people incorrectly pronounce it as “kway.” But it’s always pronounced “kee.” Why the odd spelling? To make a long story short, the word came into English from the French, and got a partial French spelling and a partial French pronunciation.
7. Remuneration
/re-MYOO-nuh-ray-shun/
Often used in business, remuneration means a payment received for work or service done. Almost everyone flips the “m” and the “n” and says “re-NUM-eration,” instead of the correct “re-MYOO-nuh-ray-shun” — perhaps because the word has a lot to do with NUMbers.
Shocking right?! Don’t be… Unfortunately, many native English speakers also find some of these words difficult and go through similar pitfalls as non-native English speakers.
Now that you know them, you can share them with your friends, family, colleagues, strangers, whoever…
Good luck! 🙂