Episode 377 of the Influency Podcast (hosted by Hadar Shemesh) teaches listeners how to pronounce the 15 English words Hadar’s students most often struggle with. The episode is instructional and demo-driven: for each target word (reporter, entrepreneur, jewelry, strength, powerful, literature, anesthesia, comfortable, theory, winery, turtle, words beginning with "thr-" (e.g., three/through), fifth/sixth, and Saturday) Hadar gives step-by-step phonetic breakdowns, common variant pronunciations, practice prompts (hold the sounds, relax tension, flap T explanations), and example sentences. The episode also contains engagement prompts (subscribe, rate, DM on Instagram at HadarAccentsWay) and a short personal anecdote teased for the episode end.
Questions this episode answers
377
February 6, 2024
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Welcome to the Influency Podcast. I'm Hadar, and this is episode number 377. Today, I'm going to teach you how to pronounce the 15 words my students hate to pronounce the most.
Hey, everyone, what is up?
So when it comes to pronunciation, especially in a second language, there are words that you actually like to pronounce that roll off your tongue and are kind of sweet sounding. I like the word cat. This is why I always use it as an example for the ah sound. I also like the word office ah because it has that nice rounded, hazelnut flavor office ah sound. But sometimes you will come across words that you absolutely hate to pronounce. Rural, for me, is one of them.
I just don't like the sound of it.
And there's, you know, all these R's and L's there. And one day I decided to ask my students what they hated to pronounce the most. And I got a lot of really, really good answers. A lot of good examples of words that people just don't like to pronounce. So some of them I could anticipate. I knew it, because they always ask me about those words and some words were actually new to me.
So I selected the 15 most hated.
Words to pronounce by my students and.
I recorded an episode about it. So I'm going to tell you what.
Those are and I'm going to teach you how to pronounce them. Okay? So I hope you don't feel itchy when you hear the pronunciation of these words. And actually it's going to simplify some words that you might find confusing as well. And when you are done listening, if you enjoy this episode, please consider rating the podcast and subscribing. If you haven't subscribed to my podcast just yet, because I'm going to start sharing and a new corner on my podcast that I think you're going to really, really like. And I'm only going to talk about it on the podcast, so make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you listen to the podcast. All right? So if you enjoy this episode, rate and review it. And you can also send me a DM on Instagram. You can find me at Hadar Accentsway and tell me what you think and tell me if you have any additional.
Words that I haven't talked about today. All right, my friends, enjoy this episode. Here we go. What is a word that you absolutely hate to pronounce? Because today I'm going to Share with you 15 words that my students voted as the most hated words to pronounce. So I wonder if you are going to know what those words are. And. And at the end, I'm also going to share with you what word I used to hate to pronounce when I was studying and practicing English. So stay until the end. The first word is reporter. Reporter. And specifically every word that has the R. Flap, T or D. And then R. Reporter. Order. Border. Shorter. So let's start with the word reporter. You start with an R sound. R. And then a lax I. R. R. Then we have pour. That's an or vowel sound. You drop your jaw and then you lift the tongue up for the R Repor. Then as you pronounce the R, you want to shoot your tongue forward for the flap T. Report. That's the flap T. And then back to the R. Reporter. Reporter. Reporter. You have to really release all tension in your mouth to be able to pronounce this correctly. Reporter. And as a bonus, let's practice a few more similar words. Order. Even though it's a D, it sounds exactly the same.
Order.
Order. Border. Quarter. Yeah, it has the same ending. Order. Starter. And harder. All right, the next word is entrepreneur. Entrepreneur. Here. It's easier to say it than to write it. I guarantee it's not that hard. It's just a long word, but it's not hard. So let's break it down on like. Turn it on. Tr. There is a schwa here. Tr.
Tr.
It actually sounds like a ch sound when you pronounce them together. Tr. Entre. And then we have pr. That's easy, right? Entrepr. And then ner. Nur. It's an n to the R. Ner. It's a stir sound. Entrepreneur. Entrepreneur. The primary source is on the last syllable. Now, some people might pronounce it as or nor. Nor even nure. Nure. Nure. So it can either be entrepreneur. I think that's the easiest way to say it. Entrepreneur or entrepreneur. Whatever is easier for you. You choose it. I say entrepreneur. The next hated word is jewelry. Jewelry. And yes, it is hard. There is like an L and there's a W in the spelling. And it's like. Do you even need to pronounce it? So let's break it down. The first part is jewel. Jewel. It's a J sound. Then the oo, as in food round your lips. Jew. And then it's a dark L. Jewel. Some people might even break it down into two parts. Jewelry. Jewel with a schwa. L. But the easiest way to say it is just jewel. And then Re. Jewelry. Jewelry. It's a dark L, so the l sounds a little hollow. It sounds a little bit like a w. Jewelry. Jewelry. A new piece of jewelry. Jewelry. The next hated word is strength. And probably because of the ending, let's break it down.
Str.
Str. Stre. Stre. Some people might pronounce this cluster as stre, but I recommend to stick to the s. Stre. And then it's an ng sound. Streng. And then th strength ng sound. And then push the tongue out for the th strength. Strength. You can also pronounce it as a k. Strength. Strength. And sometimes people would drop all the messy consonants in the back and just say strength, N and th Strength. All of these are valid pronunciation. You would hear people pronouncing it this way, but if you want to be on the safe side, just go with streng ng and then a th strength. And as a bonus, let's add in length.
Length. Same thing.
The next word is powerful. The p and the w and the l and the r. Powerful. You start with pa and then it's a wr. Were and then full dark l. Powerful. She's so powerful. The next hated word is literature. Literature. You have two ways to pronounce this word. Luh with a flap t, r, another reduced syllable, and ch with a ch sound. Literature. Literature. But you can also say lit. So here we don't have the flap t because we drop one syllable. Lit rachure. So either literature or lit rature. The next hated word is anesthesia. A lot of tricky sounds here. Anesthesia. Anesthesia is a medical process that induces a temporary loss of pain or feeling or consciousness. Anesthesia. So you start with a, then n, then th, and then it's a j sound. J. Anaesthe primary stress. J. Anesthesia. You got this. The next hated word is comfortable. Comfortable. It is very uncomfortable to pronounce the word comfortable. There are two different pronunciations here. Either com fur t ball and the T is flapped in American English. So comfortable, comfortable. Or an easier way to say it is comfor bull. Comfortable. Comfortable. Comfortable. Comfortable. The next hated word is theory. Probably because of the th. Thee stick the tongue out. The the. And then we have a schwa sound. Thee. And when you transition from one vowel to another, especially if the first vowel is a front high vowel like the e, the what happens is that you get an intrusive sound between those sounds. Listen. The. It's a y sound. The. The re. The stick the tongue out. But even if you pronounce it as the theory probably everyone would understand you, so don't worry about it. The next hated word is winery. Winery. This is exceptionally challenging for people who struggle with pronouncing the w and may replace it with a V sound. So for the W round your lips, make sure there is no contact between the lips. Wa. Wa. Wine. So we do have the word wine in it. Wine. N. So there's a schwa in the middle. Winery. Winery. We visited a fantastic winery. I just can't remember much from the visit. Winery. The next hated word is turtle. Turtle. You start with a T sound, then it's the er, as in stir, Ter, Ter. And then a flap T. L, which is a tricky transition. And I'm saying it objectively. Tur. You flip the tongue and you pull it in for the dark L. Roll, roll. You find it in bottle. Or Seattle. And turtle. Turtle. Turtle. The next hated word is actually a group of words, and that's words with thr at the beginning, for example, three. Or throat or through. So here you stick the tongue out for the th and you pull it in for the r really quickly. And you want to hold the r a little bit th round your lips. Th. And then you move to the vowel right after the R.3.3. So to practice it, hold out the th and hold out the R. It's going to help you. 3. Sometimes your tongue is going to want to touch the upper pellet.
Three.
That's okay. It's actually pronounced like that sometimes even in the US but pull it in for the practice th. 3. Throat. Through. And we also have 30. Here it's a little different, but practice with me. Thir. Thur. 30. All right, we have reached the final two most hated words. The first one is fifth.
Fifth.
Because of the th and the cluster at the end. So here, when you have a cluster, just be clear about what sound you're pronouncing. Here we have f and then the t. So you stick the tongue out while pronouncing the f. Fifth. Fifth. Some people might even drop the f and pronounce it as fifth.
Fifth.
But for the sake of practice, practice the transition. Fifth.
Fifth.
And we also have sixth. Sixth. Here. It's like a tth. I wanted to add that because that was also a runner up. Sixth. Sixth. You say the word six, then you stick the tongue out for a T and then release it to a th. 6th. 6th. And the last hated word is Saturday. Saturday. You start with the syllable sa. That's the primary stress. Then we have a flap T and a schwa. Sadder.
End.
It with an R. Sadder and then day. And that's an easy word. Saturday. Say it slowly, break it down syllable by syllable and you will be fine. Saturday. Saturday. It's a Saturday. I love Saturdays. So now I'm going to tell you what is a word that I hated to pronounce when I was in acting school. And that word is choreography. Choreography. I always got stuck with pronouncing it correctly because of the stress. I used to say choreography. Choreography and every time I would say it I would get stuck. So for choreography, the primary stress is right before the end. Correa Graphy. Now I feel pretty confident pronouncing it. Okay, what is your most hated word to pronounce? Let me know in the comments below. I hope you found this helpful and fun and you got to practice some words that you might even struggle with as well. And that's it. If you like this video, please consider sharing it and liking it. Subscribe to my channel to get a notification whenever I release a new episode. And you can also check out my website, hadarshemish.com where you'll find a ton of pronunciation lessons, mindset lessons, fluency strategies, and so much more. All absolutely free. So again, check out hadarshamesh.com that's hadarshamesh.com have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day and I will see you next week in the next video.
