Common Mistakes in English Pronunciation

Common Mistakes in English Pronunciation

-Published on 19th March 2022 by Oxford School of English-

The first step in learning a language is to learn the alphabet. After all, alphabets are the most basic elements of word formation, thereby making them the very foundation of all communication in the language. In other words, once you have successfully learned the alphabet, it should be a smooth ride, right?

With English, not so fast.

We’ve all been taught at the very beginning of our English lessons that A is for Apple, but what we often tend to forget about English is that pronunciation rules are very inconsistent. In words like ‘apple’, two of the same letters should logically mean an emphasis on the letter that has been doubled, right?

Sadly, in English, it becomes very confusing all too often. The word ‘apple’ has only a single ‘p’ sound, despite being spelled with two p’s. Similar words that have consonants repeated but have only a single sound include: puppy, happy, mummy, chubby, scruffy, buggy, funny, bully, muddy, mossy. In each of these words, the correct way of pronouncing them is with the repeated letters pronounced as if they were used only once. So the word ‘funny’ sounds exactly the same as ‘money’.

Consonants too have their idiosyncrasies. The same letters are pronounced differently depending on the word. Here are some classic examples: gum and gem, core and cite, salt and sugar, whole and where, hot and hour, thick and there.

Moving on from consonants, we all know English has five vowels, namely A, E, I, O and U. However, while there are only five vowels, there are several more vowel sounds corresponding to each letter. Let’s take a look at some of them:

A - car, bake, ball, ago, act, wary

E - egg, economy, barber

I - igloo, ice, idiom

O - ox, oval, for, one

In each of these words, the respective vowel has a distinctly different sound.

We finally come to the letter Y. While it is technically not considered as a vowel, it most of the time functions as one. It too can be confusing sometimes, such as with words like yacht, try, plenty, tryst, tray, among others.

These are just some of the mistakes that a lot of non-native English speakers tend to make while learning English. Don’t worry, the intricacies and rules of the English language baffle even the most fluent and native speakers.

Keep these examples in mind when you come across new words, and it is highly encouraged that you speak and read more. This will help you gain a greater exposure to English and it will help you to gain a strong command over the language. Do not be afraid of making mistakes - after all, you will only learn from them and benefit as a result!