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BBC Learning English
6 minute English
Difficult words to pronounce

Yvonne: Hi, this is '6 minute English' and I'm Yvonne Archer…

Callum: I'm Callum Robertson. Hello!

Yvonne: Hello Callum! In this week's programme, English words that are often 'mispronounced'. Callum – can you explain 'mispronounced' for us?

Callum: Certainly. If you MIS-PRO-NONCE… if you 'mispronounce' a word, you don't say it correctly. You get some of the sounds wrong in that word.

Yvonne: Very good. And is there a word that you often mispronounce, Callum?

Callum: Umm, No – not really.

Yvonne: I didn't think so - so I've got three difficult ones here for you! But, before you read them out, any thoughts?

Callum: Well, looking at these words on paper, I think there's a good chance that some people would mispronounce them. Yeah.

Yvonne: And that's why you're saying them instead of me! So, off you go…

Callum: Okay, the words are: regularly…ethnicity…and anaesthetist. Whew!

Yvonne: Yeah, but you said them slowly, Callum. Yeah, that was tough. But there are three thousand other Brits who also agree that those words are difficult to say.

They were recently questioned by a company called Spinvox and the research showed that 'regularly', 'ethnicity' and 'anaesthetist' – ooh, I said it - are some of the most mispronounced words in the English language. Now before we hear more about that research, I've a question for you, Callum: How many sounds do experts say we need to be able to pronounce - so that we can speak English clearly? Is it:
a) 44
b) 104 - or 400?

Callum: Well, I'm fairly confident on this as I've just made a series on pronunciation. In British English, there's generally about forty-four sounds that are needed to pronounce English words. So, about forty-four – there's maybe a few more - but forty-four; that's my answer.

Yvonne: Well, I'm not telling you! You'll have to wait until the end of the programme.

Now as we hear an extract from the BBC's Today programme on the most mispronounced words in English, try to foind – whew – I can't pronounce 'try…' - try to find out which word was the most mispronounced…

THE TODAY PROGRAMME
If you find 'statistics' and 'ethnicity' difficult to pronounce, it appears you're not alone. The Daily Mail says they're among the top ten most troublesome words in the English language.
Researchers who questioned three thousand people found that the most mispronounced word was 'phenomenon' followed by 'anaesthetist' (anaesthetist) and 'remuneration'.

Yvonne: Callum, which word was the most troublesome – the most difficult to pronounce?

Callum: Well, that was 'phenomenon'… phenomenon.

Yvonne: Phenomenon… phenomenon… Yep, I have to say that I have to take that one really slowly - and just looking at it on paper makes me nervous. So why do you think so many of us get it wrong, Callum?

Callum: Well of course, when we get nervous, we generally make more mistakes. But here, it's the mixture of the particular sounds that are in words – that's what causes the problems. So having the 'm' and 'n' sounds – the 'mmm' and 'nnnn' in 'phenomenon' – having so many of them so close together – that makes it a difficult word to pronounce.

Yvonne: Hmmm - and what about 'anaesthetist'?