Hey guys, it's Tom. Today we're going to be looking at my top ten most difficult words
to pronounce in English.
Welcome Eat Sleep Dreamers. Now why have I chosen these ten words? Well there are three
reasons. The first reason, they are all high frequency. That means that they are used a
lot in English and especially spoken English. Second reason, I've been a teacher for almost
ten years and these are the words that I found my English learners have most difficulty with,
Ok? And the third reason, you guys asked for these words, ok? I asked you on Facebook and
Instagram which words you find difficult to pronounce and these are some of the words
that you told me. Yes, there are hundreds of words I could have put in this video but
I can only choose ten. So if you are ready, let's have a look at them.
Our first word, comfortable. Now how many syllables does that have? Com-for-ta-ble four
syllables but we don't need them all. In fact we can just get rid of that middle section,
that OR , we don't need it. Now we have comfortable and where's the stress on this word? Comfortable.
On the first syllable. 'These shoes are super comfortable'. Your turn. 'These shoes are
super comfortable'.
Number two, is a pair that are often confused walk and work. So often that I hear they are
confused. Learners say 'I walk for Google', I walk for Google? I mean maybe you do walk
for Google but you probably work for Google. Now the key here is all in the mouth, ok?
We have to look at the mouth. Look at what the mouth does. Ok, the first word 'work'.
Second word 'walk' 'work' 'walk'. Can you see what's happening there? Alright now sometimes
with pronunciation you have to make an idiot of yourself so it's my job to make an idiot
of myself. Here we go! Have a look at the lips. So we've got 'work' 'walk' 'work' 'walk'
ok, can you see my mouth is going outwards for 'work' and forwards or closed for 'walk'
'work' 'walk'. Let's try these practice sentences 'I work for Google'. Alright let's try this
one 'I walk to school every day'. I've got a really silly tongue twister for you guys
to practise this. Here we go. 'I walk to work, I don't work to walk'. Guys you are not singing
it back to me. 'I walk to work, I don't work to walk'. You're not doing it, I'm on my own!
Number three, 'restaurant'. Now again it's a long word but we don't need the middle part
and all those sounds. All we need, two sounds, restaurant, ok? You got it. Restaurant. So
'what's your favourite restaurant?
Number four, clothes. This one is tricky! Ok, so let's look at how we can say it properly.
There are two things we need to think about. First of all, is our mouth and second of all
is our tongue. First of all our mouth. So our mouth is going forward, so clo and then
back 'clothes'. So forward and narrow and then back and wide 'clothes'. Alright, now
our tongue is going up and down 'clo' and then it touches the top of our teeth and comes
back so 'clothes'. It's tricky, let's put it together 'clothes' that's not easy is it?
Practise, practise, practise 'clothes'. Let's try a practice sentence 'How often do you
buy new clothes?' Now Eat Sleep Dreamers, I've got a little cheat for you ok. If you
cannot say 'clothes' properly. If you are just like 'I can't say it' then you can try
saying 'close'. Now they are kind of similar in sound. When you put it into a sentence
they sound kind of similar, let's try. 'I love your new close' which one did I say?
'Close' or 'clothes'? It was 'close'. 'I love your new close'. But they are kind of similar
so if you want to cheat just a little bit you can say 'close'. But don't tell anyone
that I told you ok? It's our secret.
Number five, 'island'. Now it's not that difficult to say but we do need to remember that 's'
is silent, ok? We don't pronounce it. So it's just 'island'. Let's put it into a practice
sentence 'The hotel is on the island'.
Number six, 'dangerous'. Here are two sounds 'dangerous'. The stress is on the first syllable
'dangerous'. Say it with me 'dangerous'.
Number seven, 'analysis'. Now this is a noun and the important thing to know is where the
stress of the word is. So it's on the second syllable 'analysis'. Now don't be confused
by the verb which is 'to analyse' and the stress there is on the first syllable 'analyse'.
So remember the noun 'analysis' on the second syllable and the verb 'analyse' is on the
first syllable. Our practice sentence 'let's look at the analysis'.
Number eight, 'vegetable'. It had to be there of course. Now this one, I've often heard
mispronounced as veggie table I love veggie table it sounds brilliant but the real pronunciation
is 'vegetable'. Ok, so that middle section, we throw it away, we don't need it 'vegetable'.
Alright, let's put that into a practice sentence 'I love vegetables'.
Number nine, is another pair of words 'tooth' and 'teeth'. 'Tooth' is one and 'teeth' more
than one. Now the trick here is the /th/ sound at the end of the word. So the way I make
it is I put my tongue on my top teeth and I blow out. So 'tooth' and at the end of the
word 'tooth' you should feel air on your, on the back of your hand or the front of your
hand 'tooth' 'teeth'. Ok, I want you to practise 'tooth' 'teeth'. Our practice sentence 'You've
got really nice teeth'.
And our final word is 'asked' not ask ed asked. This is a past tense regular verb, the -ed
has a /t/ sound. Now I've done a whole video about the -ed endings, the pronunciation,
if you want to check it out it's right there. When we put asked into a sentence we often
don't pronounce the /k/ sound. Listen to this 'have you asked him yet?' The pronunciation
there asked not asked and that's just because we are lazy and it's much easier to say it
like that. So let's practise 'Have you asked him yet?' Eat Sleep Dreamers, that's it. I
hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. Take a few minutes to watch another English
language video and until next time guys thank you so much. This is Tom, the English Hipster,
saying goodbye.