20 Words you might pronounce incorrectly

Hello and welcome back to English Pro Tips. Today we'll look at 20

words

that are commonly mis

pronounce

d by advanced non-native English speakers, so this lesson is primarily aimed at high-level English speakers who want to take their English pronunciation to the next level. The level is also maintained because we will do a pronunciation test at the end of this lesson. The first word is this, how would you

pronounce

it? It's monotone, so you can see that the stress is on the second syllable, monotone, monotone, if it describes something as monotone. you're saying it's immutable boring repetitive We often use it to describe boring jobs, especially jobs where you do the same task over and over again.

However, I am always impressed when I hear this word in practices, oral exams, and conversations with my students. nine times out of ten the student will pronounce the word as monotonous instead of monotonous okay, try repeating these sentences after me my work is incredibly monotonous my work is incredibly monotonous he is a smart teacher but his classes are quite monotonous he is a teacher smart but his classes are quite monotonous washing the dishes is so monotonous do you hear the emphasis on the soul washing the dishes is so monotonous the second word is naughty we often use naughty to describe children or people who misbehave, so yes A child is being naughty so they are being naughty and behaving in a way that causes problems, although usually not in a harmful way. now the pronunciation is naughty, so the stress is on the first naughty syllable.

Try repeating these sentences. I have two naughty children. I have two naughty children when I was younger. I was a very naughty child when I was younger I was a very naughty child Why do you have such a naughty smile? Why do you have such a mischievous smile? So if someone has a mischievous smile, it means it looks like he's been doing something. naughty or have a secret that they enjoy keeping hidden the word number three is vulnerable vulnerable if someone is vulnerable then they are exposed to being hurt in some way now depending on the speed with which we say this word we change the pronunciation slightly when we say slowly we say vulnerable to you can hear four syllables vulnerable, however when we speak quickly we often shorten it to just three syllables vulnerable vulnerable repeat after me the charity helps vulnerable children the charity helps vulnerable children older people are more vulnerable to cold winters older people are more vulnerable to cold winters in my city tourists are vulnerable to robberies in my city tourists are vulnerable to robberies the next word comes from the French language is entrepreneur entrepreneur so an entrepreneur is someone who establishes her own business listen to the pronunciation entrepreneur then the first sound is o entrepreneur and the last sound is a longer listen entrepreneur you can hear the accent is on the last syllable no then entrepreneur repeats after me she knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur since she was Little she knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur since she was little.

Then we have this, how do you pronounce it? It's exaggerated now, although we have an e x at the beginning, we pronounce this like eggs, so exaggerate, now you will hear that there is stress. the second syllable exaggerates try these sentences don't exaggerate it wasn't that bad don't exaggerate it wasn't that bad I'm not exaggerating it was the worst meal I've ever had I'm not exaggerating it was the The worst meal I've ever had What is the month after January? How do you pronounce February right now? When we say this word slowly, we often say it with four syllables, February, however, say it a little faster, it becomes February, so three syllables are repeated after me.

I was born in February I was born in February I was born in February I go on vacation in February I celebrate my birthday in February Chinese New Year is sometimes in February the next word is rural so two syllables the stress is on the first rural if it describes an area like rural means it's in the country, not in the city listen again rural practice after me I live in a rural area I live in a rural area the area is still very rural and underdeveloped the area is still very rural and underdeveloped it's complicated that the day after Tuesday but before Thursday is Wednesday so, how many syllables does it have from Wednesday to Wednesday and where is the accent Wednesday? it's on the first syllable wednesday repeats after me i will meet him on wednesday let's go for a walk wednesday my exam is wednesday i don't need to pronounce the first d it's not wednesday it's wednesday just two syllables the opposite of this is now this is a very common word but actually many non-native speakers struggle with it there are two things that are complicated about this word the first is the th sound at the beginning when you make this sound you put your tongue between your teeth and if you put your hand here you will feel a vibration that the second thing people struggle with is that they forget the t sound at the end of the word, it's not that, so remember the t sound at the end, let me know in the comments section if there are any

words

that work for you difficult to pronounce in English the next word is horizons.

People often like to talk about how experiences like traveling abroad or learning a new language broaden their horizons, meaning they push the limit of their knowledge and experiences, however, we need to be careful with pronunciation. horizons are horizons, so the stress is on the second syllable. I often hear students put emphasis on the first syllable, so they say horizons, but the stress is on the second syllable. repeat after me traveling can broaden your horizons traveling can broaden your horizons learning a foreign language the language will broaden your horizons learning a foreign language will broaden your horizons this is a very common word, however, it is often mispronounced the correct pronunciation is society society the emphasis is on the second syllable society is usually the next word many people struggle with the sound that is usually stressed is on the first syllable that is repeated after me I usually get up at seven in the morning I usually get up at seven in the morning I usually go to bed before midnight I usually go to bed before midnight is your best friend usually so rude is your best friend usually very rude, how do you pronounce this word no and this word shelf now put them together no, it's not knowledge, is knowledge, so the o becomes an o sound, so knowledge, to be honest, most of the advanced students I talk to know this, but every once in a while Often one of them will say knowledge and it will really stick out, so remember that pronunciation is knowledge.

This word causes a lot of problems for many non-native speakers and their colleagues, so remember that there are only two syllables and the stress is on the first syllable. colleagues repeat after me I generally get along with my colleagues I generally get along with my colleagues I generally have lunch with my colleagues I generally have lunch with my colleagues this word is pronounced several several means more than one several remember that a is pronounced like a so several no several several there are several reasons why I want to live abroad there are several reasons why I want to live abroad a person from another country is called a foreigner so three syllables accentuate the first syllable foreigner a very common word these days is quarantine again three syllables and emphasis on the first syllable quarantine quarantine the next word is resume how many syllables do you hear resume there are four and where is the stress resume is on the second syllable resume next we have clothes now more advanced English speakers get the the pronunciation is correct , however, from time to time I will hear clothes if you make this mistake only remember one syllable and the z sound at the end closes the final word is regularly, so the four syllable stress is on the first regularly.

I often hear advanced students say regularly that it has three syllables but if you listen carefully it is four syllables regularly I swim regularly I cook regularly I study English regularly okay, it's time to test your pronunciation I will put a word on the screen and you will have to say it out loud and then I'll say it and I hope it sounds similar number one number two naughty naughty number three vulnerable vulnerable number four entrepreneur entrepreneur number five exaggerate exaggerate number six February February number seven rural rural number eight Wednesday Wednesday number nine that that number 10 horizons horizons number 11 society society number 12 generally generally number 13 knowledge knowledge number 14 colleagues colleagues number 15. various various number 16 foreigners foreigner number 17 quarantine quarantine number 18 curriculum curriculum number 19 clothing number 20 regularly regularly now if you want to see a speaking test with an IELTS Advanced student with a very high level of pronunciation, then watch this video.

Also let me know in the comments section if there are any English words that you find particularly difficult to pronounce. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next lesson. Bye bye. now you