I used to think the “th” sound is hard because it is uncommon in my language, we do not use our tongues to hit the top teeth like that. But then, it became 2nd nature after living abroad for almost 20 years.
Recently i happen to work with a lot of architects and designers and 1 word comes up which I think is the most difficult to pronouncr: AESTHETIC.
It sounds very simple but if you break down the syllables, your tongue needs to do a bit of work.
For the British English version, the “t” in tic is pronounced quite strong, as in “tick”. Mostly, your tongue only needs to worry about the “THE” sound, i.e. ES-THE-TIC.
In US English, the “t” is most often pronounced as a soft “d”. This means “TIC” will sound like “DIC”. So your tongue needs to flick up for the “THE” sound and then immediately flick down for the “DIC”.
This gets even harder if you consider the adverb: AESTHETICALLY. A lot of tongue gymnasium involve…
Any other words or phrase that you think is dificult?
Australian here and with my bigan arse accent I struggle to pronounce the word “regularly”
I break it up to much when I read it into reg-u-lar-ly
If i say it is just roll through the last have and get regurrrly
“Phthalates”
Everything is difficult (I’m from Spain).
Czech has this special Ř sound, which is somewhere between a rolling R and the S in vision (/ˈvɪʒən/). I’m learning Czech as a fifth language, so while I can pronounce it standalone or at the start of a word it takes all my focus to manage mid-word.
Non-native but spent a lot of my life living in English-speaking contexts. I know how to pronounce it, but my tongue seems to like tripping up over “hospital”.
February. I’m happy I don’t have to say it often.
UK native speaker. I tend to pronounce it “feb-ə-ree”
English speaker - corollary.
“Assthedick”
Now you’ll never forget.
As a native english speaker, obsequious.
The ones with “ch”, the laboratory coworkers laugh when I pronounce “chemistry”
How are you trying to pronounce it? At least in my accent, the “ch” is just pronounced like a “k”…
KEM-ist-tree
“probably” is awkward for me. I used to drop the b’s and pronounce it “pro’ly”, but now I make the effort to use “likely” instead
“Prolly” is how I pronounce it in speech, especially in the middle of a sentence.
I feel like one of the hardest things to master for non-native speakers, especially those who speak Romance languages, is the pronunciation of consonants that occur in the middle of phrases. It’s not a hard and fast rule, and depends on the speaker, but those said middle consonants are often very understated, especially in fast speech. I can always tell a Spanish or French native speaker because they would pronounce it: pro-Ba-BLEE, with the clear, distinct, staccato-like intonation of their mother tongues.
I’m from the American Southeast. I speak with a tarheel drawl. To listen to me speak, you’d think the word “rural” has four Rs in it. Rrrrl.
I have trouble with “sixths”.
and “twelvths”
Stumbled on this tongue twister in the wild. It’s freaking impossible.
Soldier shoulder surgery.
My children’s optometrist is a place called “Tropical Optical”. I can’t do it.
Unique New York
Ostentatious Austin, Texas
Months. The S after the TH as in THink vs THe, is difficult.
Its a lot easier if you think of it as the same sound you’d get at the end of badum tiss
Most native speakers do not really pronounce the “ths”. Typically you hear “mons”.
