If you are coming to Britain, you'll want to know how to pronounce the places that you
visit. So today I'm going to teach you twenty of the most difficult place names in Britain
and I'll be attempting to say this town. Are you kidding me? All that is coming right up.
Here we go with number one Bicester. It's a small town to the west of London that's
become incredibly popular for outlet shopping. People trying to get bargains, they'll go
to Bicester. Let's say that word together again Bicester, not Bicester or Bicester,
Bicester. Number two is a county Berkshire. It looks like er with the -e but it's actually
ar sound so Berkshire. Many of our counties have the suffix of -shire but actually when
we pronounce it it's -shire so Berkshire Yorkshire. So the -shire is -shire so this one Berkshire.
Number three Gloucester. Gloucester is most famous for its cathedral. Now in that cathedral
they filmed some scenes from Harry Potter. Now I believe it was used as Hogwarts, how
cool it that! So if you are near Gloucester go check it out. Amazing! Alright let's get
the pronunciation again Gloucester. Number four it's a town in East Anglia Norwich. Not
Norwhich, Norwich. Number five, commonly mis-pronounced as Leicester or Leicester. It's much more
simple than that, Leicester. Two sounds, Leicester. That's all you need. Leicester.
Number six, Guildford. It's a town in Surrey, just south of London. Don't pronounce that
/d/, we don't need that /d/ and then the o there is a schwa so -ford. Guildford. Not
Guildford, Guilford.
Number seven is a beautiful University town in the north of England. Durham. So it's not
Dur Ham, that's what it looks like right? But it's Durham. Say it one more time, Durham.
Not only is number eight difficult for people who are not from Britain, it's difficult for
people in Britain because there are two ways to say it. Now I'm not going to get in the
middle of this debate because people are too passionate about it. Some people say that
it Shrewsbury and some people believe that it's Shrewsbury. I don't know which one it
is. I don't even know which one I say, probably Shrewsbury but maybe Shrewsbury, I don't know.
Even the locals debate which one it is. Is it Shrewsbury or is it Shrewsbury? I'm not
getting in the middle of this debate. It's crazy! So you decide which one you want to
say Shrewsbury or Shrewsbury. Number nine Loughborough. This town has a really great
university, it's a big sporting university. The pronunciation again, Loughborough. So
we've got the /f/ sound on that first -gh Lough and then Borough not borough, Loughborough,
Loughborough. That suffix there of the -borough, that's old English for a fortification so
you'll see it a lot there's Knaresborough, Middlesborough, Loughborough it's quite a
common one. It means an old fortification. So one more time, Loughborough. Just a little
tip for some of the suffixes that we have in British English. When you have the -gh
it's silent we don't say it. So for example Loughborough. That -borough at the end there
it's not said. Ok, so the -gh is silent. As I've said the -shire for a lot of the counties
is just -shire. So Worcestershire. If you've got -mouth as a suffix for example Bournemouth
it's not mouth it's -mouth. Bournemouth.
Let's do another county. This time Warwickshire. It looks really hard Warwickshire. It's much
more simple. So that middle /w/ just disappears so it's Warwickshire. Again that suffix of
-shire so Warwickshire. Here's a town just to the west of London, looks tricky, really
easy pronunciation though. Slough. A bit like the noise we make when we get hit 'ow!' Slough.
It's kind of similar, right? So, one more time Slough. Number twelve, it looks like
the verb 'read' so reading but it's not. The pronunciation is actually Reading. So think
about the verb to read in the past, read so Reading. So yeah, think of it that way, Reading.
Number thirteen is a town in the East Midlands, Derby. I know there's an /e/ and often in
American English that's pronounced Derby but in British English we have an /ah/ sound there
so it's Derby.
Alright the next one is our first Welsh place name. This one I'm sure I'll butcher with
my accent. I can only do it in my accent guys. That's the whole point of this video is that
it's just my accent There are other ways to say these place names, this is how I say them,
ok? So this one Aberystwyth. So start off with the Swedish pop band Abba and then Aberystwyth.
That's how I say it. I'm sure someone out there will tell me that I'm saying it wrong,
I might be but that's how I say it. Aberystwyth. Number fifteen, I added this one because it's
just so crazy how different the pronunciation is to the spelling. So it looks like Godmanchester.
Which would be an amazing name. It's actually pronounced Godmanchester. Don't ask me why?
I don't know! It's just British place names gone wild. I'm sorry guys. The good news is,
it's just a small town in Cambridgeshire, you might not ever visit it. But if you ever
do, you see that sign, you'll know it's Godmanchester. Not Godmanchester. I'm sorry! Number sixteen
is another county, Worcestershire. It's quite to say that one, Worcestershire. Wooh! Worcestershire.
There is a sauce that's quite popular in Britain called Worcestershire sauce. If you are in
Britain pick up a bottle of Worcestershire sauce. We use it a lot in meat marinades or
you might use it in a bloody Mary. Worth trying at least. Ok, so one more time Worcestershire.
Number seventeen Welywn Garden City. Looks like Welwyn, no no no Welwyn. Welwyn Garden
City. This is a brilliant. Mousehole? It looks like Mousehole, right? The actual pronunciation
is Mousehole. Number nineteen is one of my favourite seaside towns in Britain, St Ives.
Now, I've included this one because the Saint, the St is Saint so it's a schwa sound. And
then Ives, could be Ives but actually it's Ives. So St Ives. Beautiful seaside town in
Cornwall, if you ever come to Britain go check it out because it's an amazing place. This
is the big one. This is the longest place name in Britain, it's actually in Welsh, so
it's not even a language that I speak. I've been practising. I've been checking out tutorials
about how to say it. I'm going to try, Im going to do it Eat Sleep Dreamers. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
Alright, I'm going to nail this. One more time. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
What does that place name mean? Well as I said it's Welsh
and it means, let me check. 'St Mary's church, in the hollow of the white hazel near to the
fierce whirlpool of St Tysilio of the red cave.' Of course, amazing. Alright Eat Sleep
Dreamers, that was twenty of the most difficult British place names to say and I think you'll
agree with me that last one...yeah. Remember guys I've got new videos every Tuesday and
every Friday helping you take your English to the next level. If you would like me to
make a special video about something that you are interested in then let me know in
the comments below. Write down your idea, if it's a good one, I'll make it for you.
How about that? I can't offer you better than that. That's pretty good. Alright guys, remember
to check me out on Instagram and on Facebook. I'm over there with daily English content.
But until next time this is Tom, the Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.