Friday 20 February 2015

A few pronunciation tips for foreigners (Lithuanians, Romanians, Nigerians, etc).


                                  

Many foreigners have trouble with English pronunciations. They almost strangle themselves over such tricky ones as Worcesscesstershyerre; so here are a few common town and family names, the pronunciations of which are worth noting.

Cholmondley.... Chum-lee

Marjoribanks.... Marsh-banks

Farquhar.... Far-ker

Magdalen.... Mord-len

Marylebone.... Marl-abone

Shrewsbury.... Shrows-bree

Grosvenor.... Grove-ner

Beaulieu.... Bew-lee

Cholmondeston.... Chum-sten

Leominster.... Lem-ster

Raleigh.... Raw-lee

Beauchamp.... Bee-chum

Caius.... Keys

Home.... Hume

Kerr.... Car.

I do hope this has been of help, and in case you'd wondered, Magnon is pronounced Man-yern (not Magg-non), although I answer to almost anything.


26 comments:

  1. Blimey, I've been calling you Maggnon all these years!

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  2. I don't know why you've addressed this just to foreigners I didn't know how to pronounce half of these myself. How did these weird spellings come out as something totally different when spoken - beats me.

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  3. I'd dispute Shrewsbury though - native Salopians favour 'shroo' :-)

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  4. I knew it is CRO- MINION as we call the "real" Cro M, but in my thoughts I call you Cro magnon. Did you see the Trelawnyd prounonciation?

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  5. Close to home for me is Warwick.....worrik...not war wick.....or shopping in fennicks not fenwicks........

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  6. Loughborough……Luffbra.
    Belvoir……Beaver.
    Leicester……Lester.
    You can see which part of UK I am originally from!

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    Replies
    1. Liecercesscesstershorre is another US favourite.

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  7. Folk always have difficulty with my surname (Thistlethwaite) as the pronunciation round here misses out the middle th. Ah the vagiaries of the English language. I suppose all languages have them.

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  8. I'm Suffolk and often get asked if I'm Australian! Though could be worse I could be from either county attached to us.

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  9. Laugharne, where poet Dylan Thomas is buried, is pronounced Laan.

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  10. A very handy guide... I could have done with this 14 years ago when I landed on this Green and Pleasant Land. Perhaps you can solve the great Bath mystery... is it pronounced 'Barrrrrrth' or 'Baaattthh', officially? ;-)
    Ditto Fowey... Foiy or Foweeee?

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    1. Bath is pronounced Barth, and Fowey, Foy. Hope this helps.

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  11. And Bicester is Bister. That threw me.
    We have a Marjoribanks St here in my city and it drives me nuts when everyone pronounces it like it is written. Such a clunky sounding name!

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  12. of course it all depends upon which language the name is derived from in the first place !! ;-)

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  13. We mustn't forget 'sex' of course, it's what smart people have their coal delivered in.

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  14. I've been saying your name wrong, albeit silently.

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  15. It does, we butcher names every time we come over.

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  16. Hmmm. So I've been pronouncing your name wrong, too.

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  17. Great post helped me tremendously. Belvoir is another pronounced beaver I believe.

    Jean
    x

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  18. If I see you on the road to confusion I will just yell Hay Yew……..Hey You.

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