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up vote 4 down vote favorite
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This question is mainly for all those that are not speaking English as their first language.

For me there has been some words that are difficult to pronounce correctly. Maybe saying word aloud gives you a feeling that you're doing something wrong.

It would be interesting to know which words you find difficult?

My favourites are squirrel, miscellaneous (plus I have to always check how is this written correctly) and murderer (it's mumbling when I say it)

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Maybe this belongs on community-wiki? – Robusto Feb 1 '11 at 12:33
Try pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis :D – user3444 Feb 1 '11 at 12:39
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I would rather say that this belongs closed, as every word is potentially difficult to pronounce correctly, depending on what one's mother tongue is. – RegDwighт♦ Feb 1 '11 at 12:41
but that is the interesting part of the question - what different speakers find hard. – mplungjan Feb 1 '11 at 13:25
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@mplungjan: I'm not saying that the question is not interesting to me, I'm only saying that it might be considered too broad, too localized, subjective and argumentative, and off-topic for the site. – RegDwighт♦ Feb 1 '11 at 13:37
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closed as not constructive by Robusto, RegDwighт♦, ElendilTheTall, Mehper C. Palavuzlar, b.roth Feb 1 '11 at 14:39

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3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Mine are refrigerator and budgerigar (I am Danish) I have no problems at all with your words :)

Do you know if your issues have to do with you being Finnish, would other Finns have the same problem?

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"Danish so-called 'pronunciation'". (^_^) – RegDwighт♦ Feb 1 '11 at 12:55
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I luckily do NOT have a Danish accent. Dey ar vari rekoknaisabel ven dey spik ainglis... – mplungjan Feb 1 '11 at 13:12
Good question. I haven't discussed with other Finns about this, but it seems that squirrel is "favourite" for many.. – Tx3 Feb 2 '11 at 12:06
Just called a Finnish colleague. He had zero problems with the words you mentioned. But he also told me there would be no words beginning with skw in Finnish :) – mplungjan Feb 2 '11 at 13:00
up vote 1 down vote

Many Frenchmen have problems with some phonemes that you do not find in French: /ð/ and /þ/ (this and mouth).

Reciprocically, many native English speakers may face difficulties with the /y/ (ü in German, u in French).

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up vote 0 down vote

Well, and what about:

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

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Piece of cake ;) Like onomatopoetic – mplungjan Feb 1 '11 at 15:03
Yikes, that's difficult one – Tx3 Feb 2 '11 at 12:07

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