Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Lesson 360. The title of today's lesson is the five
of the most common mispronunciations by students that are learning English as a
Second Language. So students that are studying you know ESL English as a
second language. Okay. Let's look now the first grouping, or the first group of
them is words that we get that have a CC combination. So let's look at the note
here. The combination of CC is pronounced like KS if it is followed by an" E " or an
"I. " Now this is where students make the most mistakes. I have often corrected
students about this. And this one always eventually comes up by some different
students. Even the same students sometimes will forget and they will
repeat it. So this one you should really pay attention to. First let me pronounce
it the correct way. Remember this one should have a KS sound. So we should say
success. So the first C is pronounced like a K and the second C is pronounced
like an S. Just like access. Okay. vaccine. Okay. So the CC followed by an
"I" or an "E" has that sound. Now what are most students do when they do it wrong. They
usually pronounce it as almost like a double "S. " They usually say success. He has
a lot of success. No he has a lot of success or you know I have access to his
computer. Not access or you know vaccine. You know
somebody doesn't want to get a vaccine. Something like that. Okay.
Let's look at number ... Well let's, let's continue in with the CC because you do
come across some other CC combinations that's pronounced a little differently.
So the combination of CC or if the combination is anything other than an "E"
or an "I" it is pronounced like a hard "K. " So if you get a CC combination and
there's no ... it's not followed by an "E" or an "I" then it's pronounced like a hard
"K. " Okay. So again, let me give you the
correct pronunciation first. So accuse. so almost think of it like the first C
is silent and the second C is just like a K or a hard "K. " So, so the correct way
would be accuse, occur , occupy , accurate, zucchini. All right. Zucchini we'll come
back to later because this is where we borrow from Italian. I'm going to explain
that soon as well. All right. Good. So all right. Let's look at the third part of a
cc combination. Pronounce CC like CH in some words borrowed from Italian. Yeah. So
I studied Italian I know this. I know "C" before an "I" or an "E" is pronounced like a CH.
You might see this often in you know, a very very common word. We say ciao. It's
become an international word for like goodbye. Although in Italy it actually is
both hello and goodbye, but most people know it as goodbye. We say ciao , ciao.
So and remember you know when people see this in English sometimes they always
think why is this pronounced ciao ? It should be like "see ow" or something.
No. It's ciao because "C" before an "I" or an "E" in Italian is pronounced like the CH.
All right. So here's some you know, very common examples. Most people know cappuccino.
You know coffee is very, very popular these days. So most people
already know that that is pronounced cappuccino. Fettuccine you know that one
another type of Italian noodles. So these words are borrowed directly from Italian.
All right. So going back to zucchini. There's another rule in Italian too. iI you, if you
have if you have a CH before an "I" or an "E" that's pronounced like a K. So that's why
this is zucchini. It's not so much the hard K rule. It's actually also from
Italian. Again the first C is kind of silent but the CH before an: I" and "E" in
Italian has a "K" sound. So these type of noodles are zucchini. Oh no. This
vegetable is zucchini. Yeah. Sorry about that. But we do get that word from
Italian. Okay. So let's continue. The, the next one that's, that's really
really common is to do with you know, between photograph, photographer and
photography. And I think what confuses students is ... most students have no
problem with photograph. But because of photograph I think it confuses them
about the other ones because the way the syllables are broken up in photograph is
three syllables. pho-to-graph and they kind of follow that same sort of way of
pronouncing it when they see photographer. So they
usually say photographer and that's wrong. It's not photographer , it's a
photographer. See it's pho-tog-ra-pher. but again the second syllable now when it becomes four
syllables, the TOG sound goes together. So where before it was TO and the graph
was all one syllable. Now it's photo ,pho-tog-ra-pher. So, so
photographer. Photographer so photographer not a photographer. And the
same problem is with photography. Photography is correct but students will
often say pho-to- graphy. which is also wrong. So be careful about that one. All
right. Let's look at number three here. A lot of students have problems between
the word snake and snack. Okay. So probably one of the best ways to try to
do this is forget about the SN sound. Because that is exactly the same
in both and focus on the end of the word. Of course in snake you should be
just focusing on "ake" and snack you should just focus on "ack" So in this case
it makes it easier. It's easier to see the difference between "ake" and "ack" so you
can do this right. So again, we have one common example here. Like somebody might
say, I want a snack. Okay, but if the student pronounces it wrong. If they say I want a
snake , you know, it could sound pretty funny. Most people don't. Even though in
ages sometimes people do eat snake . Years ago I had eaten snake soup. I think you know
it's a common thing people say it tastes like chicken.
But in most cases people would say snake ? You want a snake ? You want to eat snake ?
Are you sure you want to eat snake ? Where most people really just simply say
they want a snack. A snack is very common. Okay. So let's look at the third.
No. The fourth one here. That's a big problem for a lot of ESL students. I
often noticed that when a lot of students see the word imagine. I-M-A-G-I-N-E.
spelled out, they often they often pronounce it as image. You know,
image is a real word. Image means a picture, but they both have something to
do with like you know photos or seeing pictures. But they're, they're completely
different words. The the noun of imagine is actually imagination. These are the
pictures you see in your mind. Image is more like a real photograph or some sort
of drawing is actually an image. So again we give an example here. Somebody might
say you know I cannot imagine it and students will you know, often incorrectly
say I cannot image it. And that would confuse a Westerner, You can image it ? What ..
what are you trying to say ? But imagine means you can't, you can't , you can't see
the pictures. You can't even think of it. You can't imagine it. You can't even get
those pictures in your head. All right. So be careful of that one. All right
and let's look at the last one. Which could also you know cause possibly an
embarrassing situation if you pronounce it wrong. The difference between version
and virgin. A lot of students have problems with this. Again, I would probably
focus more on the end because that the beginning sound the "ver" sound is the
same in both. That's what probably causes most confusion. So version meaning you
know another type or style of something similar, especially a movie you know,
maybe they could have a new version of that movie. And virgin you know has a very different
meaning. This means somebody who you know, has never had sexual relations. Yet
either a boy or a girl doesn't really matter which one. Either one can be a
virgin. So again here's the example sentence. You know. I like the other
version. All right Meaning you like , you know, maybe there was two versions of a
movie. And you like this one better than that one. But if the student accidently... you
know, you know, says I like the other virgin, it has a very different meaning. And
it might even get you in trouble. Or somebody might actually laugh at you.
They'll figure a virgin. How many virgins do you know, you want ?
You only want to have virgins ? I I like the other virgin. You, you , you're just
trying to have virgins ? So it could cause an embarrassing or possibly even a funny
situation. Hopefully the Westerner would figure out that you don't really mean
virgin. You might get some strange looks if you say this one wrong. So anyway just
be careful. Again focus on the end of the word. So the "sion" and "gin. " You know, if you
look at it that way, it sounds very different Version, virgin. So "sion", "gin"
That sounds pretty different. That hopefully will help. Okay. Anyway I hope
you got it . I hope this was very informative and useful for you. Thanks
for your time. Bye-bye.