How to write and pronounce metre (meter)

The word metre (the American spelling is meter), the name of the unit of length, only has five letters. Because we use and hear this word so often, we are well aware of the correct pronunciation: [ˈmiːtə] (BE) or [ˈmiːtər] (AE); you can listen to it here. Things become more complicated when we consider words

Read More

Ironic iron – how to pronounce iron

Iron appears to be mispronounced by almost all non-native speakers of English. I don’t remember learning the correct pronunciation in school and most people presumably never notice that there is a right and a wrong pronunciation. I have heard numerous, highly-trained scientists with otherwise excellent English skills who spend their day working with iron consistently

Read More

How to pronounce pseudo, psychology, pnictides

There are a number of words in the English language that start with a silent p, such as psychology (and psych, psycho etc.) pseudonym pneumonia pneumatic psalm Ptolemaeus The fact that the p is silent is often ignored or missed by non-native speakers. This is surprising, because the correct pronunciation appears to be easier. In

Read More

Wordpress Social Share Plugin powered by Ultimatelysocial