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I used to think the "th" sound is hard because it is uncommon in my language, we do not use our tongues to hit the top teeth like that. But then, it became 2nd nature after living abroad for almost 20 years.

Recently i happen to work with a lot of architects and designers and 1 word comes up which I think is the most difficult to pronouncr: AESTHETIC.

It sounds very simple but if you break down the syllables, your tongue needs to do a bit of work.

For the British English version, the "t" in tic is pronounced quite strong, as in "tick". Mostly, your tongue only needs to worry about the "THE" sound, i.e. ES-THE-TIC.

In US English, the "t" is most often pronounced as a soft "d". This means "TIC" will sound like "DIC". So your tongue needs to flick up for the "THE" sound and then immediately flick down for the "DIC".

This gets even harder if you consider the adverb: AESTHETICALLY. A lot of tongue gymnasium involve...

Any other words or phrase that you think is dificult?

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[-] sushiatnight@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 months ago

I have trouble with "sixths".

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 6 points 2 months ago

and "twelvths"

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 11 points 2 months ago

My children's optometrist is a place called "Tropical Optical". I can't do it.

[-] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago
[-] Nemo@midwest.social 3 points 2 months ago

Ostentatious Austin, Texas

[-] bonoisatwat@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago

Months. The S after the TH as in THink vs THe, is difficult.

[-] blackbrook@mander.xyz 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Most native speakers do not really pronounce the "ths". Typically you hear "mons".

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[-] its_prolly_fine@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago

Stumbled on this tongue twister in the wild. It's freaking impossible.

Soldier shoulder surgery.

[-] JakeSparkleChicken@retrolemmy.com 7 points 2 months ago

Native English speaker here. Aside from catching crap for regional accent differences, I didn't have any noticeable, repeating problems until COVID. I can't, for the life of me, properly pronounce comorbidity. Even when I really concentrate on it, it tends to come out as comorbibity. It really makes me sound stupid as hell.

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago

I'm from the American Southeast. I speak with a tarheel drawl. To listen to me speak, you'd think the word "rural" has four Rs in it. Rrrrl.

[-] sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)
[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

We'll eventually give up and thesaurus it.

Rrrrl. Rrrrl. RRRRL. Out inna woods.

[-] DrSoap@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

My sister can't say sea minerals without it sounding like semen roll.

You could always claim you learned English from Irish English speakers: they commonly substitute dental frictives with the plosives, so /th/ with /t/ or /d/.

[-] Miller@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

And the nimmins are replaced by addabs.

[-] yopyop@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

February. I'm happy I don't have to say it often.

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[-] Zelaf@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 months ago

When I was younger I read and listened to a lot of English but didn't speak too much. It took me years to get a better hang of "Three" and "Free".

[-] mangaskahn@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Thats ok, there are entire regions of London that have the same problem.

[-] slazer2au@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

I can not wrap my tounge around ambulance while in a sentence.
So as an Aussie I just call them ambos.

[-] KumaLumaJuma@feddit.uk 4 points 2 months ago

Grew up in the US (the Deep South)… moved to England, have been here for like a bajillion years and unfortunately still sound American 😕

But for me it is crisps. Why do we have to say this word when it is so awkward?!?

[-] Truffle@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago

You are not alone on this one.English is not my first language so I have to make a conscious effort with words that have STS sounds like: Ghosts, forests, dentists and crisps. Lol.

[-] KumaLumaJuma@feddit.uk 2 points 2 months ago

Glad to know I’m not alone, I don’t really understand why humanity has made things so hard for humanity at times… surely this can’t also be linked to greed like so many other issues?!? 😅😅

[-] AcornTickler@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

Any combination of "th" and "s". Like "months", " clothes", etc.

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[-] TabbsTheBat@pawb.social 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I used to find words that had the letter R followed by an L difficult. Like girl, world, etc. They're still a bit tongue twisty tbh

[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

Those 'r's are silent. The previous vowel just gets lengthened.

[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 2 points 2 months ago

Just drop the “r” English-style - “guhl”, “wuhld”. Easy!

Or you could go the other way and roll the “r” like the Seventh Doctor.

[-] TabbsTheBat@pawb.social 1 points 2 months ago

You know, a funny thing with the rolled R is that as a young kid I couldn't do it, so in 0th grade I basically had to take additional special classes to practice it, but then a couple of years later when we started 2nd grade and thus started english, I had trouble unlearning to roll my R's as it was so ingrained in my brain by then lol :3. So I basically flipped my problem around

[-] ThomasWilliams@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

English speaker - corollary.

[-] siha@feddit.uk 1 points 2 months ago

It means to have the property of being a Toyota Corolla

[-] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 2 points 2 months ago

Australian here and with my bigan arse accent I struggle to pronounce the word "regularly"

I break it up to much when I read it into reg-u-lar-ly

If i say it is just roll through the last have and get regurrrly

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago

In my tarheel accent, a consonant Y often gets sanded to an uh sound. Especially when speaking quickly it's not uncommon to hear a Carolinian say "REG-uh-lurr" rather than "REG-yew-lurr".

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[-] MrWrinkles@leminal.space 2 points 2 months ago

"probably" is awkward for me. I used to drop the b's and pronounce it "pro'ly", but now I make the effort to use "likely" instead

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[-] cheeso@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 months ago

non native here

girl, world, rivalry

in ascending difficulty, i generally find soft Rs hard to say, tho after a few years, it became easier

[-] KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

"Assthedick"

Now you'll never forget.

As a native english speaker, obsequious.

[-] milliams@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago
[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

That's not an English word, that's a space catholic word.

I have a disdain for technical latin, Stop telling me I have hypernatremia; high blood salt is exactly as detailed and like 54 syllables shorter.

[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 1 points 2 months ago

I have pretty much no split between four and thaw. Can’t even hear the difference when someone else does it.

[-] Chaser@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago

+1 for "th". I'm from germany and it's like impossible to pronounce for me.

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I am becoming more convinced that I should have been a voice actor......

[-] gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 months ago

Paw and Poor sounds like the same word in my dialect, so I have to put in effort to switch to Received Pronunciation when I need to differentiate

[-] zikzak025@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

For me, probably "specific" and "interdisciplinary"

[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 2 points 2 months ago
[-] Ibuthyr@feddit.org 1 points 2 months ago

I know most Germans struggle with the word "squirrel".

[-] currawong@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago

Hierarchy...

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this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2026
42 points (97.7% liked)

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