How to pronounce curry, courage, hurricane

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
Martin

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