What did you suddenly realize you'd been pronouncing wrong?

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Deinonysus
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What did you suddenly realize you'd been pronouncing wrong?

Postby Deinonysus » Wed Dec 05, 2018 12:20 pm

I recently learned that the ñ sound in Spanish (also gn in French and Italian) is spelled "nh" in Portuguese. Yesterday I came across the word "piranha" and realized that it should be pronounced like "piranya".

I was watching some German baking videos the other day and heard them talking about Hefe (pronounced HAY-fuh). I looked it up and saw that it meant "yeast". After around 20 minutes of baking videos, I realized that I'd been mispronouncing the beer style "Hefeweizen" all my life. I had been pronouncing Hefe with a short e (like heffe). I started learning German almost five years ago. :shock:

Last week I saw that my Vietnamese coworker was eating a sandwich on a baguette and asked if it was a banh mi, pronouncing "banh" as in Autobahn. He looked confused for a second and asked, "Oh, bánh mì?" I thought he was messing with me at first because it sounds just like the English phrase "bang me". He also informed me that bánh mì just means bread.
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Re: What did you suddenly realize you'd been pronouncing wrong?

Postby MamaPata » Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:01 pm

Most of my native language.
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Re: What did you suddenly realize you'd been pronouncing wrong?

Postby Random Review » Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:17 pm

Deinonysus wrote:I recently learned that the ñ sound in Spanish (also gn in French and Italian) is spelled "nh" in Portuguese. Yesterday I came across the word "piranha" and realized that it should be pronounced like "piranya".

I was watching some German baking videos the other day and heard them talking about Hefe (pronounced HAY-fuh). I looked it up and saw that it meant "yeast". After around 20 minutes of baking videos, I realized that I'd been mispronouncing the beer style "Hefeweizen" all my life. I had been pronouncing Hefe with a short e (like heffe). I started learning German almost five years ago. :shock:

Last week I saw that my Vietnamese coworker was eating a sandwich on a baguette and asked if it was a banh mi, pronouncing "banh" as in Autobahn. He looked confused for a second and asked, "Oh, bánh mì?" I thought he was messing with me at first because it sounds just like the English phrase "bang me". He also informed me that bánh mì just means bread.


LLama. Conversly these days, having studied Spanish, when people talk about llama meat, pronouncing it with an initial /l/, I always get a fleeting thought of them eating Tibetan monks.
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Re: What did you suddenly realize you'd been pronouncing wrong?

Postby garyb » Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:12 pm

I had been learning Italian for over a year before somebody pointed out that I was mispronouncing "periodo" and the accent should be on the i, not the o after it. Fairly minor mistake since it's still understandable and doesn't sound like anything else, but shows how long one can make such an error with a common word without being corrected or noticing it alone despite conversing regularly and hearing the correct form often through listening.
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Re: What did you suddenly realize you'd been pronouncing wrong?

Postby Random Review » Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:42 pm

garyb wrote:I had been learning Italian for over a year before somebody pointed out that I was mispronouncing "periodo" and the accent should be on the i, not the o after it. Fairly minor mistake since it's still understandable and doesn't sound like anything else, but shows how long one can make such an error with a common word without being corrected or noticing it alone despite conversing regularly and hearing the correct form often through listening.


Reminds me of one of my embarrassing moments, although it isn't really pronunciation. I got well into my second year in Spain saying "que aproveche" to one person eating and "que aprovechen" to two or more before someone put me out of my misery. Some people claim that corrections are unkind; but I definitely wish someone had corrected me earlier!
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Re: What did you suddenly realize you'd been pronouncing wrong?

Postby Philipp » Wed Dec 05, 2018 3:48 pm

Hyperbole. I always thought it’s pronounced hyperbowl, like a really awesome bowl. When I read the word I still always have to remind myself that the e is not silent.
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Re: What did you suddenly realize you'd been pronouncing wrong?

Postby zjones » Wed Dec 05, 2018 4:44 pm

This one is from my native language. I always thought "milk" was actually pronounced "melk". When I was a kid I just thought it was a particularity of the English language (like just about every other word that isn't pronounced as it's spelled). Someone pointed it out to me after I moved out of my parents house.

Also... epitome. I learned this word through reading, so I didn't know its correct pronunciation. Of course, I pronounced it "epi-tome". Whenever I see the word I'm tempted to pronounce it incorrectly, but if I use the word in everyday conversations then I don't have a problem with it.
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Re: What did you suddenly realize you'd been pronouncing wrong?

Postby smallwhite » Wed Dec 05, 2018 4:48 pm

When I was little I thought it was spelt venhicle so I pronounced it ven’hikko.
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Re: What did you suddenly realize you'd been pronouncing wrong?

Postby NIKOLIĆ » Wed Dec 05, 2018 5:04 pm

I used to pronounce "iron" /aɪrʌn/ (I run) instead of /ˈaɪərn/(I earn). Don't know if my IPA is on point. My native language could be at fault here because we pronounce it "ajron", as in "Iron Man" (Ajronmen) and "Iron Maiden" (Ajron Mejden).

In Serbian: "kontraverzan" instead of "kontroverzan" meaning "controversial".
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Re: What did you suddenly realize you'd been pronouncing wrong?

Postby Speakeasy » Wed Dec 05, 2018 5:06 pm

Many decades ago, my uncle gifted me his copy of “Danger Trails of the Sky” the first word which, despite my father’s patient attempts at helping me, I insisted on pronouncing as “Dang-ger”, I was about 5 years old at the time. Although I eventually worked it all out, as befitting the stubborn little brat that I once was -- I’m still stubborn, but I’m no longer a brat -- I never acknowledged my error.
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