A short YouTube lesson by Hadar Shemesh teaching correct pronunciations for six commonly mispronounced food names (Quinoa, Açaí, Gnocchi, Bruschetta, Hummus, Salmon). The host gives phonetic breakdowns, example sentences for each word, and shares brief personal anecdotes (restaurant training story and a humorous bagel-shop anecdote) to illustrate common errors and encourage learners.
Chapters
Hey guys, it's Hadar. And this is the accents way. And today we're going to talk about the six most mispronounced food names, especially by non native speakers. The reason why I'm super passionate about today's video is because as a non native speaker working in many different restaurants in the U.S. i had to mess those words up so many times until I got them right. Until people stopped looking at me like this, waiting for me to explain what I just said. So let's begin. The first word is.
Quinoa. Quinoa.
Not quinoa.
Quinoa.
Two syllables. The first one is a k sound and then a high E. Keen ended with an N. That's the primary stress. And then it's a W sound. W and the ah as in father.
Quinoa. Quinoa.
Would you like some steamed quinoa with vegetables?
Quinoa.
Then we move on to Brazil with a nutritious and delicious acai. We begin with ah. That's the ahs in father. Then sa, that's the s and the ahs in father. Asa. And the third syllable is just e. It's the primary stress. So it's going to be higher in pitch. Asahi. And when we connect the sa with the E, we get a little bit of a Y sound. Asahi with granola and honey and banana. Acai. The next word is gnocchi, that tasty Italian dish. So I'm kind of like embarrassed to share the story with you, but I will, because it's all about openness and communication over perfection. So when I was 20 something, I was training in this restaurant and the owner was a real jerk, right? Really mean. He would humiliate the waiters and waitresses. So on my first day, he calls me to his table and he's like, what are the specials? So I'm kind of like shaking and shivering looking at the page. And I'm like, we have onion soup and porcini ganoche with cream. And he's like, what? Porcini ganoche. What are you talking about? He was Israeli. What are you talking about? And I was like, look, it's on the board. There's like porcini ganoche. And his girlfriend, she was sweet, she's like, gnocchi. Of course. Gnocchi. Porcini, Gnocchi. No, I just.
Sweet.
Sorry about that. Anyway, gnocchi. So the spelling has nothing to do with the pronunciation. And the pronunciation is nyo. It's an N sound. And then the O is in go nyo. And then a k and a high E gnocchi we have another Italian word, and that is bruschetta. Bruschetta. It's not bruschetta. It's bruce. KE da. The first syllable is bruce. It's a B sound. An R Round your lips. For the R, it's not bruise, but Bruce. A tense oo and an S, like the name Bruce, as in Bruce Springsteen or Bruce Willis. Then the second syllable is K. It's a K sound. And then the E as in red. And then it's a T sound and an schwa. But since the T is between two vowels, it's a flap T. Bruschetta. Bruschetta. Can you get a bruschetta with tomatoes and garlic and olive oil and a little bit of salt, please? How should you pronounce this word? So a lot of Americans pronounce it like this. Hummus. Hummus. But the closest pronunciation to the original word would be hummus. It's an H sound, then the oo, as in food. Who? And the second syllable is whomus. Hummus. But you can also say hummus and everyone will understand you. Hummus. Or you can just go for hummus. Now, the next word is the accent coach's favorite, the word salmon. And if you want to hear a really funny pronunciation story about this word, then stick with me until the end. Let's begin with the simple fact that there is l in the word salmon. Now, don't try to convince me that there is an l and you just can't hear it or that you swallow it because it's a dark L. There is no L. Okay? It's an S sound, then the as in cat. But when the as in cat appears before an m sound, which is the next sound, because there is no l, the turns more into an. The second syllable has an m sound, a schwa. So there is no o and an and so it's not mon. It's. The primary stress. So it's going to be higher in pitch. Salmon. Now, I have a really funny pronunciation story about the word salmon. And I hope my husband forgives me for sharing this story with you guys. But hey, it was one embarrassing story about me, one about him. It's only fair. So when we were in New York a few years back, my husband went to a bagel store looking for salmon cream cheese, because he loves it. I don't know why. So he remembered that there is no l sound from all my videos. And I always talk about it, but I guess he forgot what vowel comes before. So he walks up to the guy at the counter asking for Poppy's bagel with semen, cream cheese, tomatoes and onion semen. Now the guy at the counter was probably thinking, okay, this guy did not just ask for semester cream cheese. He probably meant cinnamon cream cheese. So he prepared for him a Poppy's bagel with sweet cinnamon cream cheese, tomato and onion. Now my husband Gil was kind of like, okay, this is not what I asked for, but I'm just gonna take it and say thank you. Salmon. So the word salmon has no l, so it's not salmon and it's definitely not semen. That's it, guys. Thank you so much for watching. If you like this video, consider subscribing. Let me know in the comments below what other foods give you a hard time. And I'm not talking about digestion. I'm talking about pronunciation. Have a wonderful week and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.
