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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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[-] Ibuthyr@feddit.org 1 points 15 hours ago

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

[-] KumaLumaJuma@feddit.uk 4 points 2 days 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 days 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 days 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?!? 😅😅

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

[-] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 2 points 2 days 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

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".

[-] sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 days ago

Is your accent the one where "oh, no!" sounds like "ohr, nohr!"

[-] milliams@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days 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.

[-] sushiatnight@lemmy.ml 16 points 4 days ago

I have trouble with "sixths".

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 5 points 3 days ago

and "twelvths"

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

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

[-] yopyop@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago

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

Is there anywhere on earth that pronounces the R? FEB-you-air-EE.

[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

In India, it's usually feb-ru-(v)a-ree. Our languages write words as they are pronounced, and we're too lazy to make an exception for English.

Yeah English phonics is a garbage fire. Just look at that last sentence.

[-] ukcreation@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

UK native speaker. I tend to pronounce it "feb-ə-ree"

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

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

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 10 points 3 days ago

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

[-] bonoisatwat@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 days ago

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

[-] blackbrook@mander.xyz 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days 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 3 days ago

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

Soldier shoulder surgery.

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 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

We'll eventually give up and thesaurus it.

Rrrrl. Rrrrl. RRRRL. Out inna woods.

[-] ThomasWilliams@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

English speaker - corollary.

[-] siha@feddit.uk 1 points 21 hours ago

It means to have the property of being a Toyota Corolla

[-] dawcas@scribe.disroot.org 1 points 2 days ago

Everything is difficult (I'm from Spain).

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.

[-] ignominous_wombat@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago

Comorbibbity babbity boo.

[-] PetteriPano@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Czech has this special Ř sound, which is somewhere between a rolling R and the S in vision (/ˈvɪʒən/). I'm learning Czech as a fifth language, so while I can pronounce it standalone or at the start of a word it takes all my focus to manage mid-word.

[-] KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago

"Assthedick"

Now you'll never forget.

As a native english speaker, obsequious.

[-] MrWrinkles@leminal.space 2 points 3 days 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

[-] Cheesus@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

“Prolly” is how I pronounce it in speech, especially in the middle of a sentence.

I feel like one of the hardest things to master for non-native speakers, especially those who speak Romance languages, is the pronunciation of consonants that occur in the middle of phrases. It’s not a hard and fast rule, and depends on the speaker, but those said middle consonants are often very understated, especially in fast speech. I can always tell a Spanish or French native speaker because they would pronounce it: pro-Ba-BLEE, with the clear, distinct, staccato-like intonation of their mother tongues.

[-] communism@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

Non-native but spent a lot of my life living in English-speaking contexts. I know how to pronounce it, but my tongue seems to like tripping up over "hospital".

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/.

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[-] DrSoap@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

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

[-] AcornTickler@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago

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

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[-] slazer2au@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

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

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this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2026
39 points (97.6% liked)

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