How to pronounce curry, courage, hurricane
Have you ever asked yourself why words such as curry, courage, and hurricane are pronounced differently by different people? Well, I did, and I recently learned that there is a very simple explanation for this phenomenon: the two different versions represent the British and American pronunciation. In my experience, even advanced non-native speakers have difficulties choosing the correct pronunciation for the accent they are trying to speak. For example, you can hear people with a rather strong American accent who pronounce current as [ˈkʌrənt] instead of [ˈkɜːrənt]. Below, you can find a hopefully useful (but incomplete) table with more examples, their pronunciations and links to the Oxford Dictionary.
Word | British Pronunciation | American Pronunciation | Listen |
courage | [ˈkʌrɪdʒ] | [ˈkɜːrɪdʒ] | link |
current | [ˈkʌrənt] | [ˈkɜːrənt] | link |
curry | [ˈkʌri] | [ˈkɜːri] | link |
derby | [ˈdɑːbi] | [ˈdɜːrbi] | link |
flurry | [ˈflʌri] | [ˈflɜːri] | link |
hurricane | [ˈhʌrɪkən] | [ˈhɜːrəkən], [ˈhɜːrəkeɪn] | link |
hurry | [ˈhʌri] | [ˈhɜːri] | link |
worry | [ˈwʌri] | [ˈwɜːri] | link |