- Hello and welcome to Go Natural English.
How are you?
I was just on my way out the door, to get a snack.
And I thought, speaking of food, why don't we talk
about some commonly mispronounced food items.
And I could show you how to correctly pronounce them.
Does that sound like fun?
Well, then let's begin.
Let me share 27 common food items that you might
be saying wrong.
And for those of you who are here perhaps for the first time
let me quickly introduce myself.
I'm Gabby from GoNaturalEnglish.com.
And I'm an experienced English teacher from
the United States and I have a masters in education.
So, you can trust me.
I'm going to give you some good information.
Plus, I love food.
So I was saying I was just on my way out to get a snack.
That snack is, in American English, called a churro.
But a churro is actually from South America.
And if I was speaking Spanish, I would call it a choo-row.
If I was speaking Portuguese, which is the language
of Brazil where I'm currently living, and where I will
buy and eat my churro,
I would say choo-ho.
So isn't it interesting that with many foods
that are from a specific country and language
then their pronunciation changes in other languages.
This is what happens a lot in English.
And you'll notice that most the words on my list
of the 27 most commonly mispronounced words,
are actually in other languages, not English.
That's why I think they're commonly mispronounced
in English, because the origin of these words
is not English.
In any case, let's begin.
And in that case, this video is actually quite helpful
for a lot of native English speakers as well,
because if you're an English learner, who actually
knows these words from your home country,
then they're gonna be easier for you.
But sometimes Americans actually pronounce them
differently than you would in your native language.
So, if you recognize any of these words
from your native language, tell me in the comments.
I would like to know.
Number one, hello Brazilians, is acai.
So this word became really popular in the last few years
because the acai fruits or berry, became really popular
with health food enthusiasts in the United States.
So a lot of Americans, native English speakers,
had trouble saying this word and they would say
things like, yes, I would like to order an ak-eye smoothie.
And well, we know now, that it's ah-sye-ee.
This word comes from Brazilian Portuguese,
and when you see the little tail on C, it's a soft C.
And when you see an accent on the I, it is stressed.
Number two, oh, I've had a lot of questions about this word.
I never really knew how to say it, because people around me
would say it in many different ways.
They would say ji-row, jeer-row, heer-oh,
but I've learned that the most correct pronunciation
is yur-oh.
And this is sandwich that comes from Greek.
Ah, number three, quite confusing.
The correct pronunciation is wur-stah-shur.
And this is a sauce that some people like to put
on their food or their french fries.
I personally don't use it a lot.
Number four.
We don't say the L.
We say sam-on.
We just simply say sam-on and omit the L sound.
Next we have mow-lay.
If you're a Spanish speaker, you might be familiar
with this already.
But mole has become really popular in the United States
as well, even outside of Mexican restaurants.
Mole is really delicious, and I tried it for the first time
when I traveled to Oaxaca, in Mexico, many many years ago.
And I had real authentic mole, and it was so good.
Tell me if you've ever tried mole, or if you would like
to try mole.
We're gonna get hungry during this lesson,
but let's keep going.
Next we have another Spanish food, pie-ay-ah.
So this is difficult for some people that don't know
that the double L is actually a Y in Spanish.
And when we're talking about Spanish foods,
we will use the Spanish pronunciation.
I love gnocchi.
Gnocchi is made from potatoes.
And it's like little balls that you cook like pasta.
It's so good, n-yo-key.
So we don't say the G here.
We don't hear it at all.
The G is silent and we do not make the ch sound
that you would commonly hear with a C H spelling in English.
Because this word comes from Italian.
Next we have croo-di-tays.
Crudites are from French, and it means like,
cut up sticks of vegetables, like carrots, celery,
maybe some cauliflower, or broccoli and you typically
have a dip.
So it's a nice healthy snack to have at your party.
We could call crudites a finger food,
because it's food that's acceptable to eat
with your fingers.
Ah, Chipotle, one of my favorite places to eat
if I have to eat out in the United States.
You can put together you own burrito there.
Oh, so good.
And this is not sponsored by Chipolte.
But hey, Chipolte, if you're watching,
you can actually give me some free burritos.
I would really appreciate that.
Next, oh I'm so guilty of mispronouncing this word.
I always used to say before this lesson, broo-shet-ah,
but it's actually broo-sket-ah.
Thank you Go Natural English for helping me.
I learn so much with you guys too.
Niss-wahs, so you've noticed probably,
that a lot of these words are coming from French,
Italian, Spanish, and a little Greek.
A lot of great food, in the US comes from other cultures.
But a nicoise salad generally has lettuce,
green beans, tuna, olives.
I enjoy it a lot.
Next we have tortillas.
So we do pronounce this similar to the Spanish
we have the double L, just like paella, tortilla,
or tor-tee-ya.
Charcuterie, or in American English,
you might hear shar-coo-der-ee, because we make the T
often into a D.
Or some people think it's an R sound,
when it comes between two vowels.
So this is like a plate of cubes of cheese and meat.
Or-durvs, man when French foods come into English,
they become difficult to pronounce.
Actually hors'doeuvres is a snack like a small appetizer
that you might have at a party or before your main dish.
And I've always had trouble spelling this word.
Until now, I finally learned how to spell it,
but it's not easy.
So I recommend if you have trouble spelling
some of these words, just try to relate them
to something you already know.
Or sometimes I'll think about how the word looks
in my head.
Like this actually looks like ors-dah-vors.
Totally not the correct pronunciation,
but thinking of that pronunciation that is completely wrong
help me to remember how to spell it.
Hopefully that's helpful for you.
Next, espresso, there's no X in espresso.
And many native English speakers are guilty
of creating an X here in this word.
And it has no X, so ess-press-oh,
one of my favorite things to drink.
Herb from the French, so we do not pronounce the H, erb.
Par-mah-jahn, Parmesan cheese.
Pro-shoo-tow, prosciutto is a kind of ham.
Quinoa, not keen-oh-ah, but keen-wah, is a really great
grain that gives you a lot of protein too.
If you like spicy food, you probably love sriracha.
So don't worry about pronouncing that first R.
Just say sir, like hello sir, rah-cha.
Sir-rah-cha.
Tapenade, not top-ah-nayd, top-ah-nod.
Tapenade is a paste made from olives that you might eat
on chips or crackers.
The next one, I have to admit, I've pronounced wrong
many times.
I used to always say man-ays,
but it's actually may-oh-nays.
And actually many native speakers say man-ays or may-oh,
but the correct pronunciation is may-oh-nays.
Almond, some people say that pronouncing the L
is not correct, but this is a contentious debate.
And I would say that pronouncing the L is okay.
Almond, it's quite slight.
Thanks to my three months living in Vietnam,
and meeting up with Go Natural English audience there,
I learned that this word is fah,
not foh, but fah.
Pho is a very popular noodle soup that is traditional
in Vietnam.
You should definitely try it if you haven't had it yet.
Next, we have peanuts.
It's very important to pronounce that last ts sound,
or else this will sound like a man's private part
in English.
So pee-nuts, pee-nuts
Make sure that your tongue is right behind your teeth
and you are forcing out plenty of air to make that sound.
Ts, ts, pee-nuts.
Okay, and similarly, Coke is a beverage
you want to pronounce carefully.
In many other countries people will say, cola,
or Coca Cola, but in the US, we say Coke.
And make sure that oh sound is nice and long,
coh-ck, or else, you will again, be saying a slang word
for a man's private parts.
So be careful with this word.
That's why I mention it.
Finally, number 27, we have sake.
And I learned how to say this correctly
from my time is Japan.
A lot of people say sa-kee, and people will
understand you but it's not really correct.
So if you drink alcohol, you might order a Japanese saw-kay.
Okay, well I'm getting really hungry, and it's time
for me to go out an get my churro.
Did you enjoy this lesson?
Please tell me in the comments what you learned.
If you noticed any of these foods from your native
language, if you have tried any of these foods,
if you like them, if you don't like them,
if you'd like to try them, just talk to me
in the comments.
I love reading your comments.
Tell me in the comments.
I just want to hear from you.
I love you guys.
I hope you have an amazing day.
And I hope that this lesson was helpful.
Keep going, don't stop with your learning,
because life is better when you're learning.
Thank so much for watching.
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for English as a second language learners.
Bye for now.