As you may remember from school, the bell-shaped curve that plays a key role in statistics, often referred to as a normal distribution, is also called a Gaussian. I have noticed that there is a lot of confusion and variation regarding the pronunciation of the word Gaussian, in particular among German native speakers. The reason
The Latin phrase et cetera (usually abbreviated as etc.), which may be translated as “and so forth” or “and other things”, is commonly used in the English language. While listening to this video, I remembered that I had previously heard a number of people pronounce et cetera in an unusual way. The correct pronunciations (there
The German word Kindergarten has become part of the English language in the form of kindergarten. Interestingly, many native and non-native speakers instead use kindergarden. However, the dictionaries I consulted only include the word kindergarten. Moreover, there is no official support for pronouncing kindergarten like kindergarden. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary provides the British and the
Inspired by a mistake just heard on German radio, I thought I’d discuss the correct pronunciation of Arkansas. The correct British pronunciation is [ɑːkənsɔː], whereas the correct American pronunciation is [ɑːrkənsɔː] or the less common [ɑːkənsɑː]. You can listen to the first two variants here. Importantly, in all of these variations, the s at the end
The word route has two common pronunciations, namely [ruːt] and [raʊt]; you can listen to both forms here. However, it is not so clear which version is used by whom and in which context. In particular, it is not a simple matter of British vs. American English. According to Longman’s Pronunciation Dictionary, [ruːt] is used
If you are over 30 and live in the non-English speaking part of Europe (also known as the Continent in the UK), there is a good chance that you remember the times when the Twix candy bar was called Raider. The name was changed to Twix in 1991 (see here), but Raider bars have recently
Christmas is coming up soon, and most of us are so busy that they can only find time to use the term Xmas instead. First, it seems that only the form Xmas but not X-mas or xmas are acceptable. Moreover, Xmas can be pronounced either as [ˈkrɪsməs] (just like the word Christmas, note that the
Apart from the different spelling in British (defence) and American English (defense), there are some interesting points to be mentioned about the pronunciation of the word defence. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary only mentions the pronunciation [dɪˈfens], both for British and American English, listen here. However, in practice, you will also encounter the variant [dəˈfens], as
The verb to bury generally means to hide or put something in the ground. It is of course often used in the context of funerals, and less frequently in the context of hidden treasures. The pronunciation of the words bury and buried (the simple past of bury) is less straight-froward than expected. The standard (British
The chemical element copper has an enormous number of applications in every-day life and in science. I have noticed that there is a bit of a confusion concerning its correct pronunciation. The correct British pronunciation is [ˈkɒpə(r)], whereas the correct American pronunciation is [ˈkɑːpər], see here. The key difference between these two pronunciations is that