Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette and today's video is about 22 English words you're
likely mispronouncing.
As you probably know, I'm not an English native speaker but my dad's from Brazil and my mom
is from Germany where I grew up.
So how can I tell you how to pronounce something in English?
Well, first of all, I made all of those mistakes I mentioned in the video but I had to learn
consciously how things are pronounced and I realized there was no particular rule to
it.
If you're a native speaker, you're just used to things the way they are pronounced and
you probably learned them from your parents and you never gave much thought to them and
how they're pronounced.
So why is it important to pronounce things correctly?
Well, people make assumptions about you and they judge you all the time.
It starts with what you wear and the clothes, they send a signal and even though people
might think they don't judge subconsciously, they do.
The same is true when you open your mouth, it's about the volume, what you say, but also
how you pronounce it.
Pronouncing words properly even as a foreigner will help you to get more respect and people
will automatically think of you more highly.
So the first word has to be pronunciation.
We say I pronounce, you pronounce, or mispronouncing, but is pronunciation; there is no noun in
that word.
The second word that's quite difficult for foreigners is salmon.
There is an L but it's silent so it's not Salman or Salmon, it is simply salmon.
Three, niche.
This word is French and it's pronounced niche.
Most Americans still call it NITCH some even call it NISH and all three of them are correct
according to Merriam-webster.
Personally, I prefer niche.
Four, mischievous.
It's not misHchievous as you might think it sound if you just read the word.
Five, kibosh.
It's not ke bosch and it's meant to put a stop or a check on something, like put the
kibosh on that.
Six, sherbet.
Some people say sure-bay because they think about sorbet or other similar things, they
are sweet they are desserts but the one is called sherbet and the other one is called
sorbet.
Seven, Antartic.
It's pronounced the way it's written with a C, it's not An-artic.
Eight, prestigious.
It's not prestEEgious or anything else it's prestigious
Nine, banal.
It means as much as boring or interesting and it's not pronounced bay nal it's banal.
Ten, peremptory.
It's not preemptory, it's peremptory.
Eleven, realtor.
This can be a false friend for many foreigners because you see the O and think it's called
real-tor but it's not, it's realtor.
Twelve, we deal with computers or any kind of memory you've probably ran into the word
cache.
It's not called cage or anything else it's called cache.
Thirteen, if you read it, you might think it's called epitome, however, it's called
epitome.
So very unusual but it's called epitome.
Fourteen, espresso.
It's pronounced the way it's written there's no X in there.
so it's not expresso, it's espresso.
Fifteen, it's a latin way to mean and so forth, it means etcetera.
It's not exsetera, it's etcetera.
If you're in German, you probably pronounce it, et cetera.
Sixteen, affidavit.
It's not avi david like the name, it's affidavit with a T.
Seventeen, cavalry.
It's not caval-ry or Shaval-re.
It's cavalry.
Eighteen, dilate.
It's not de-late or dial-late, it's dilate.
Nineteen, if you are taking animated pictures with your phone, it's called a jiff, not a
gif, a jiff.
Twenty, it is not called olbeit, it's albeit.
Twenty-one, that one can be different for foreigners, it's not called COOP, it's called
a coup with a silent P.
Twentytwo, debris.
It's a silent s.
It is not DEBRISS or da-bris.
Alright, if you're ever unsure about how to pronounce a word properly, I suggest you can
go to google type it into the dictionary and it usually gives you a little sound button
so you can specifically listen to what it's called.
Some words in the English language can be very difficult such as devastating.
I remember the first time I read it, I thought it was De-Vas-Tating because I just didn't
know how to pronounce it but using Google dictionary is a great help.
I'm personally a big fan of reading how it's pronounced.
Yes it can help but actually listening to the way it's pronounced is much better.
If you enjoyed this video I suggest you check out our etiquette series on our website simply
because everything you do the way you dress the way you behave and the way you pronounce
things reflect on you positively or negatively and ultimately you can decide how you are
perceived by others
in today's video we're a more casual combination consisting of a kind of a green linen Safari
jacket paired with a long sleeve polo shirt in white I'm skipping the neck wear instead
I'm wearing a pair of jeans with a brown leather belt that matches my brown leather loafers
I added a dash of color with my teal and purple shadow striped socks from Fort Belvedere which
you can find in our shop here.
If you learn more about classic clothing and see how I usually dress please check out our
other videos here