Aw yeah guys! What's up? I'm Ethan, your RealLife English Fluency Coach
and in today's lesson we're taking a look at How to Correctly Pronounce Celebrities Names.
Now, recently we did a lesson on How to Correctly Pronounce Brand Names in English
and this is kind of a similar lesson because if you pronounce either one incorrectly
people probably won't understand you. Now, this has happened to me a lot with
my students from all around the world that they're talking about some different celebrity
and I can't tell who they're talking about until they actually write it down for me,
and I can give them the correct pronunciation of that person's name.
Now you can actually probably think about this, if there's some celebrity from your country
that people from other countries might pronounce their name wrong. Like here in Barcelona,
for example, if I were to say the actress Penélope Cruz the same like that that I
would say in the United States, people might not understand who I'm referring to. Now,
this is also really important because people's names is really the most important word for them
in the entire universe so you want to make sure that you're saying that correctly. So you're not
kind of creating some distance between you and that other person now this happens to me a lot
because my name is a little bit difficult in other languages, like people call me Eitan or Itan or
Athon, or anything like that and actually it should be pronounced Ethan, Ethan. And our other
Fluency Coach is often called Andra or Andrea and let's see how she would actually say it.
My name is pronounced as Andrea, Andrea. And another way that you can look at this
is trying to think about how an American would pronounce your name it would probably
be quite a bit different than how you would say it in your native language, right?
Now this is going to be a really useful lesson to practice your pronunciation
to do a little bit of vocal training with some of the different sounds, and so before we jump in,
I want to let you know that if you're new here every single week we make lessons like this one
so that you can understand fast speaking natives, be understood by anyone and connect to the world.
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All right, so now let's jump into the Top 10 Most Difficult Names for English Learners to Pronounce.
And actually you can get another three exclusively over on our Instagram after you finish this
lesson. So after you watch this be sure to head over to @RealLife.English and check those out.
Now something really interesting about names in the United States is that almost all of us are
descended from people from other countries. So you'll find a lot of surnames that originally
come from other languages. However even if you see a name that might seem like it is
from your native language, you probably should still try to pronounce it like an American,
because normally that's how we will pronounce it. It kind of loses its original pronunciation.
So that said, how would you pronounce this famous singer's name?
Let's take a look at how some different learners might say this.
All right so she would say her own name as Rihanna. Now you'll find a lot of Americans
that also mispronounce this by saying Rihanna. Now the correct way is with that a sound but
either way you'll definitely be understood. Just make sure that you're not pronouncing the h
and that you are saying the r as an American or Brit would, so it's that roof sound
not a tap r or a rolled r. Now the difference with this if you want to
be sure is that your tongue should be down when you're saying that r sound, so it's...,
see that my tongue isn't going behind my teeth at all as it would in some latin languages.
Moving on this isn't a real person but it's a super difficult name
from the popular book series and movies Harry Potter. Now, how would you say her
name? Let's take a look at how some different learners would actually say this incorrectly.
Now, don't feel bad if you didn't say this correctly because it was difficult for me
even before the movies came out, and I heard tons of different people say this a different
way. But now we tend to accept the way that it was pronounced in the movies,
so this is pronounced as Hermione Granger. Hermione granger. Now in the last name
Granger you should say that a as if it were like in the word rain, so it's a not ah so it's not
grandeur it's Granger. I'm Hermione Granger.
And actually the most correct way that you can say this would probably be how they say it in the UK,
because of course this book takes place in the United Kingdom. So let's actually take a look
at the way I would say it compared to how Andrea would say it. So I would say Hermione granger,
and Andrea would say Hermione Granger. Hermione Granger.
All right so the really big difference there is with the r sound
so I say it as a strong r and she actually says it as more of that soft British r.
So next is definitely one of the most popular actors that we see all over the internet,
and how would you pronounce his name?
Now let's take a look at how some learners often mispronounce this one.
So you should say it Keanu Reeves. Keanu Reeves. Now the last name a lot of people
might see how long this is and think that it should actually be said as like
Reevz or something like that, but it's just one syllable, like the word leaves.
Leaves-Reeves. So you can remember that and it'll help you pronounce that correctly.
And hey, by the way, if this is difficult for you, if you find native pronunciation tricky,
then we have a really fun way for you to master native pronunciation. And that is with our 3-Part
Masterclass, which is 100% FREE. Now, you will be learning with the TV series Friends,
which various academic studies show is one of the best series out there for learning English.
So not only will you master pronunciation, but you also learn about the other two keys to
being able to understand fast speaking natives. And that is vocabulary and cultural context.
So you can learn more and sign up for FREE by clicking up here or down the description below.
All right, have you ever heard of this actor? So in the US and the UK we have many Irish
names as is this actor's first name. So how do you think that we would pronounce this?
Now let's take a look at how some learners often mispronounce this one.
Alright, so as I said this is an Irish name and when we see Irish names they are not pronounced
anything like the way they are spelled. So his first name we would not say
Seen or Sein. We actually add in some extra sounds there, so it's pronounced Sean. Sean.
Now you can actually think of some other people that have this name, for example Shawn Mendes, who
spells it more like it sounds. So if that helps you at all you can just think that these are two
different spellings of the exact same name. And by the way this sound is an ah sound not an o or
an ah, so make sure that you're really opening up your mouth with that one. The same way that in the
United States we would say dog or how I say often "aw yeah," so it's not "oh yeah" it's "aw yeah."
Now we absolutely love this comedian because we've done a lot of different lessons
with her talk show. Now she has a really difficult last name. How do you think
we would pronounce this? Now let's take a look at how some people pronounce this one.
All right, so first let's take a look at the first name which is easier,
so it's got two short e sounds. So it's not Aylin or Allen, it's Ellen. So those
short e sounds are e e, now that can be kind of difficult if you don't have that in your language
so be sure to practice that one a lot: Ellen. And then her last name which is really tricky.
Now maybe if you're French you might want to pronounce this like it would be in French, but
we would actually say this Degeneres, Degeneres. So that has two schwas and two short e's
just like her first name. Now that schwa is that a sound and then the short e that we saw before
and her first name is e. So it's de gen uh res. Next how would you say this actor's name who
played the Joker? Now let's take a look how some other learners pronounce this.
Now this one is probably really difficult for you because there's so many strange letters in here,
when you actually hear the way that we pronounce it. So it's Joaquin, Joaquin. Now a good way to
remember this is that it sounds like the verb walking but the difference here is that that
ng is a bit of a nasal sound in walking, and the n at the end of Joaquin, the name, would
be just a regular end. So it's not as nasal, it's actually got a tap at the top of the mouth whereas
the tongue is neutral when you say the verb. So Joaquin-walking. And then his last name also
has some sounds in there that you might have not expected, so do you know how we pronounce
that ph first of all? You've probably seen this in other words. Now we pronounce that as an f,
so we actually say this Phoenix. Now this one is really tricky because there's a silent o
in that name now we don't say that oh at all, it's just Phoenix. And you can actually remember this
because it's a real word it's a mythological bird, and it's also the capital of the state of Arizona,
so Phoenix, Arizona. And if you love this actor then you're definitely going to want to check
out the lesson that we made with the movie Joker. You can check that out in the description below.
Alright this actor has a super fun name to say but I would bet
that it's going to be a little bit tricky for you to say correctly.
Now how would you say his name? Let's take a look at how some other learners think it's pronounced.
Now, Benedict is kind of an old name, it's not so common nowadays. There is a really famous
plate that I love for breakfast when I'm in the United States, and maybe you've had it before
it's called Eggs Benedict, so that's a really good way to remember this. So it's a Benedict, so it's
not a sounds like you might think seeing those e's in there, it's actually an e and a schwa, so it's
Benedict. And then his last name is actually easier than it looks.
So first we have Cuhm, so that's got that uh that schwa sound. Cumber, and that's probably a little
bit tricky, probably the most difficult part of that name, because the r sound. So Cum-ber-batch,
and then that last thing is like a batch of cookies, it's like a group of things
you would bake a batch of cookies. So all together Cumberbatch Cumberbatch.
Now he's British so the more correct way to say this would be like Andrea would say it,
so I would say Benedict Cumberbatch. And she would say: I call him Benedict Cumberbatch.
All right so the big difference there again is that r sound.
Okay so we only have two names left but I wanted to let you know that after you finish this lesson
I would highly recommend that you watch this other lesson that I made,
that teaches you all about connected speech. Now this really is the secret
to being able to understand natives when we speak fast. So you'll be able
to find that by clicking up here or down the description below after you finish this lesson.
Now let's take a look at the actress who played Black Widow. How do you think you would say her
name? Let's take a look at how some other learners think that this is pronounced.
So the first name is pretty easy. It's Scarlet, so make sure you're saying Scarlett and not Scarlet.
It's a short I sound: Scarlet. And then the more tricky thing that people usually mispronounce is
her last name, so it's Johansson. You should just say one of those s's there,
and then what a lot of people mispronounce here is the j. So this actually comes probably from
some Scandinavian language where the j would be pronounced as y, so that would actually probably
be more correct saying Johansson, but she says it as an American would, so she says that jay as
je Johansson, and if you love this actress then you'll definitely want to check out the lesson
that we made with her movie called Lucy. You'll find that linked down the description below.
Okay let's take a look now at an Australian actor. How would you say his name?
Let's take a look at what some other learners thought.
All right, so his first name is really common. Chris, you probably have this even in your own
language, or some variation of it. So it's Chris, you just ignore that ch and just say it as a c.
However his last name is a lot more tricky, it's actually just two syllables so it won't be so bad
for you to practice. The first syllable is easier so it's hems you just need to make sure that
you're pronouncing that h and that s is actually pronounced as z. So Hemz, but then the next one is
a lot trickier, it's actually said like the word worth. Like "how much is this worth?" What's the
value of something. And so that's a word that you might actually have to use sometimes so
it's worthwhile practicing this. So it's really tricky because it's got a w, it's got an r, it's
got a th, which might not exist in your language. So make sure that you're saying that w as a...,
not a... And make sure that you're pronouncing the r correctly. So worth and altogether Hemsworth.
Now this is another one that because of that r, Andrea would probably say a little bit
differently. So how would you say that, Andrea? I would say Chris Hemsworth.
And last but not least we have an actor that I'm sure you've seen
in plenty of movies. How would you say his name?
So this is probably the hardest name on this list. Both his first name and last
name are pretty tricky. So his first name we would actually say Matthew,
so it has two t's but we only pronounce a th sound there: math, like if you study math. Matthew.
Now let's switch over to his last name so first off we have this Mc. Now that actually comes from
Irish and it's really common in Irish names, which as I said before we have a lot of in
the United States, so we would actually say that as mick, but then in the case of Matthew's name
we have another c coming after the mick, so we actually link those together and just
say one c. So it becomes meka, so make sure you're not saying mika or miko, it's Mih-Caw.
And then in that syllable na the gh is actually silent, so this is kind of like in the word
"thought," we just say na. And then finally hay, so all together McConaughey. McConaughey.
All right guys that's it, thanks so much for joining me today and remember that if you've
had fun with this you can get three more names over on our Instagram, so be sure to head over
there and learn about those. And I want to hear from you
which of these names did you find most difficult or did I miss any names that
you find super challenging? Tell me down in the comments below.
And now it's time to go beyond the classroom and live your English. Aww yeah!!