Today we shall be learning 35 words that are commonly pronounced incorrectly, and how to correctly pronounce these.

Let's begin

1. Pronunciation
Although we pronounce the word, pronounce as /prə-nouns/, the correct way to pronounce the word pronunciation is /prə-nən-si-'ei-shən/.

2. Says
This word is commonly mispronounced by people learning English as /saiz/, but the correct way to pronounce the word is /sez/.

3. Etcetera (etc)
Although many people pronounce the word as /ek-'se-tra/, the correct pronunciation however is /et-'se-tə-rə/ or /et-'se-trə/ (this pronunciation is less common but it's ok).

4. Often
Now many people pronounce this word with the t. That is not wrong, but a more preferable pronunciation is /ɒ-fən/.

5. Women
Nigerians alike have perfected the art of mispronouncing words. Now although we pronounce woman as /wu-mən/, the correct pronunciation for the word women, is infact /wi-min/.

6. Police
The correct pronunciation is /pə-'lees/. shikenan

7. Vehicle
If you guessed /'vee-ə-kl/ then you are correct.

8. Genre
The correct pronunciation for this word is /'zhɒn-rə/.

9. Video
The important thing to note in this one is that the i and the e are pronounced as short i sounds. So it's /'vi-di-o/. Tan queue, Shola.

10. Comment
Most speakers in Nigeria will pronounce this word as /kə-ment/ or /koment/, but the real pronunciation is /'kɒ-ment/. The secret is in realizing that the stress is in the first syllable. You can simply watch this 9 seconds video for the vocals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLYU2hfzOyQ

11. Suite
This word is pronounced, /'sweet/ and not /'soot/

12. Restaurant
This word is not pronounced, /'rest-orant/ as many Nigerian speakers will make us believe, as a matter of fact the correct pronunciation for this word is /'res-tə-rɒnt/. You might hear some British speakers pronouncing this word as /res-trɒnt/. This is also correct

13 Sewage
I hear a lot of Nigerians pronounce this word as /'sea-wage/. This is incorrect as the correct way to pronounce the word is /'soo-ij/.

14. Breakfast
/'brek-fəst/

15. Vegetable
The e after the g is silent, and so the pronunciation is /'vej-tə-bl/

16. Cucumber
Ladies and gentlemen, it's not /'koo-koom-ba/. It is /'kyoo-kəm-bər/. Also make sure you pronounce the r

17. Lettuce
This vegetable is called /'letis/

Many word in the English language have silent letters or alphabets we don't pronounce. Take for instance

18. Receipt
Here the p is silent, and so the pronunciation becomes /ri-'seet/.

19. Debt
Here too the b is silent in this word, and so the pronunciation becomes /'det/.

20. Mortgage
This word that means a loan that a bank gives you to buy a house is actually pronounced /'mor-gij/ and you have to pronounce the R too. It's not there for nothing.

21. Subtle
How will you say this word? It is /'sə-tl/ because the b is silent.

22. Singer
In this word, the g is silent and so our end pronunciation is /'siŋ-er/. Other words like younger and finger have the G present but not in singer... no, it's not.

23. Plumber
The mistake that Nigerians make is pronouncing this word with the B in it and so replacing the R with an A. The correct pronunciation for this word is /'pləm-ər/.

In many words when you have the combination letters, m and b, the b is silent. Like comb or climb or even thumb and tomb

24. Bury
Apparently one of the words that Nigerians pronounce correctly is bury. It is pronounced /'beri/ as like berry. Forget those Nollywood actors.

25. Wednesday
This day of the week is pronounced without the first D. The pronunciation is /'wenz-deɪ/.

26. Sword
This word is pronounced /'sord/ with the R inclusive. So don't go pronouncing the word as so:d then that will just be absurd.

27. Arctic
/ark-tik/

28. Mischievous
I hear a lot of people pronounce this word as /'mis-chi-vi-yourz/, and that is wrong. The correct way is /'mis-chi-vəs/.

29. Tuition
The right way to pronounce this word is /tu-'wi-shən/. British call it /tyu-'wi-shən/. Both are correct.

30.Zoology
If you pronounce the word as /zoo-lo-ji/ or /zoo-a-lo-ji/ then you're wrong. The correct pronunciation for this word is /zo-ɒ-lə-ji/.

31. Develop
/di-vel-əp/

32. Photography
/fə-'tɒ-grə-fi/

3. Jewelry
Although it's spelt differently in American and British English, the pronunciation is the same. /'joo-əl-ri/

34. Quote
Often mispronounced the same as coat, the correct pronunciation for this word is /'kwot/.

35. Schedule
American pronunciation is /'ske-jool/ and the British pronunciation is /'shɛ-jool/ or /'shɛd-yool/.

36. Bonus lesson
Am is a state of being verb. I'm is a contraction that means I am. So how we came to a point where people use 'am' in place of 'I'm' is mind boggling.

Happy Sunday peepz.

why won't we wrongly pronounce them, didn't we borrow them?

not bad Mr. pussyisfood

Good to see

Very good of you brother.a least one or two things we change.
Especially, /det/.

very educative mr pussyisfood.

Oluwaseunsodiq:
very educative mr pussyisfood.

Sure. I always try to share information I find useful

My Yoruba accent yaf ruined me

See me see pronunciation

Blame non-teaching of oral English in primary and secondary school for this.

IFEOLUWAKRIZ:


My Yoruba accent yaf ruined me

See me see pronunciation

Lol. I was born in a town close to zaria. The only language I knew how to speak was hausa until 2001 when i moved to Jos, but today I speak fluent English. I've been speaking fluently since 2012. Although the American school I went through in Jos helped me a lot.

I really, really love saying "wed-nes-day", I dunno why
The old me would jump at the fact that she knows these pronunciations
However I just now know them for what they are,..mere English words...that belong to our language of colonisation (read, subjugation) and not that important to emancipated minds

So whether an African speaks English perfectly or butchers it, it really should not matter
Ndu ocha amaho asu Igbo after all

I have to thank you however for the education

Wow! Very educative especially sewage, says, restaurant, and lettuce

merahki:
I really, really love saying "wed-nes-day", I dunno why
The old me would jump at the fact that she knows these pronunciations
However I just now know them for they are,..mere English words...that belong to our language of colonisation (read, subjugation) and not that important to emancipated minds

So whether an African speaks English perfectly or butchers it, it really should not matter
Ndu ocha amaho asu Igbo after all

I have to thank you however for the education

Lol @bolded, but we all know that having a good command of this language is awesome.

@op, thanks for sharing

Op wot we nid is understand so far d person dat u re talking to understand what you re saying or wot u mean dat is ok by mi n dis is nt our language pls

I need a plum-BAA on nl

After putting in effort to get the spelling right, you still wanna teach me its pronunciation

Op wot we nid is understand so far d person dat u re talking to understand what you re saying or wot u mean dat is ok by mi n dis is nt our language pls ..

Nice

36. lalasticlala (etc)

Although many people pronounce the word as /lalasticlala/, the correct pronunciation however is /la-'la-stic-la-la/ or /laa-'la-la-st-cla-la/ (this pronunciation is common if you are a Nigerian).

^^^^^ Hian

op, wat of people like us wey go backyard school, i cant pronounce those symbols, dem no teach me oral engrish, how do i know d correct pronounciation

Na our language

Why we no go pronounced is wrongly

Other countries like China, Japan, even Indian Italy, and so on don't take english serious the way we do

debbycreamy:
op, wat of people like us wey go backyard school, i cant pronounce those symbols, dem no teach me oral engrish, how do i know d correct pronounciation

True talk. I remembered my early school days in kaduna before I moved to Jos. I was in primary three but couldn't even speak English. I mean I didn't even know what yes meant. But trust those oyinbo I learnt how to speak English in 1 year and because they have another course called etymology, I also learnt how to pronounce words correctly.

Practice makes perfect in the end. People tell me I sound like a native speaker. They don't know that's what happens when you've been trying to dodge the deadly detention hall for 8 long years.

I doubt if the top 100 most influential people in the world can pronounce 20 words in that list correctly.

Yet they are doing fine.
OP
Take your time

Seen

Finance

Hmmmm... Noted...
Informative educative also provocative

What should we call, money? Maane, huh?