Saturday, 15 November 2014

14 Places You're Probably Pronouncing Wrong

Are you sure you booked a trip to Mon-tree-awl? Or are you instead headed to Muhn-trawl?

Pronouncing the correct name of a city or country can make it sound like a whole new place. Accurate accentuation can also really help you jive with locals.

Study a few place names you may have been saying wrong all this time, and just remember: there's always time to change before your next flight. (As a note, just remember that pronunciations aren't hard-and-fast -- they can differ from person to person and from neighborhood to neighborhood, too.)

If you’re in America...

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Louisville, Kentucky

You may be saying: Looey-ville

But actually, it’s: Loo-a-vull or Loo-a-ville

Schenectady, New York

You may be saying: Ski-nek-tay-dee

But actually, it’s: Skuh-nek-ta-dee

Mackinac Island, Michigan

You may be saying: Mak-in-ak

But actually, it’s: Mak-uh-naw

Poughkeepsie, New York

You may be saying: Po-keep-see

But actually, it’s: Puh-kip-see

Spokane, Washington

You may be saying: Spoh-cane

But actually, it’s: Spoh-kan

New Orleans, Louisiana

You may be saying: New Oar-leenz

But actually, it’s: New Oar-lee-uh-nz, New Oar-luh-nz OR New Oar-leenz*

The good news is that there are many ways to say NOLA’s name -- and none is considered definitively correct, not even in the dictionary.

Or Canada…

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Toronto

You may be saying: Tuh-ron-toh

But actually, it’s: Traw-no

While most American English speakers will throw in the second “T,” Torontonians tend to drop it in their pronunciation. As one local says, “If someone pronounces that second T, it's a tipoff that they're not from here.”

Montreal

You may be saying: Mon-tree-awl

But actually, it's: Muhn-trawl

Remember that, for many locals, the first part of Montreal is "muhn," as in "money." While popular, this may not be the absolute correct way to pronounce it -- you can also harken back to the classic French dialect.

Quebec

You may be saying: Kwi-bec

But actually, it's: Keh-bec or Kay-bec

Whether you use the local pronunciation or the proper French, one thing's for sure: there isn't a "W" going on here.

Or if the islands are more your style....

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Seychelles

You may be saying: Say-chee-les

But actually, it's: Sey-shel or Sey-shelz

She sells sea shells by the... Seychelles?

Antigua

You may be saying: An-tee-gwah

But actually, it's: An-tee-guh

When a place is this beautiful, you're gonna wanna say it right.

St. Croix

You may be saying: Saint Craw-cks

But actually, it's: Saint Kroi

If you want to sound refined -- or if you want to sound normal, really -- ditch the "x."

And in France...

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Nice

You may be saying: Nahys

But actually, it's: Nees

You may already know the correct French pronunciation, but it sounds much nicer.

Aix-en-Provence

You may be saying: Aches-on-pro-vanz

But actually, it's: Ek-sahn-praw-vahns

Between the town's endless boulangeries and patisseries, you'll have plenty of time to "chew" on this fact.





Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/10/city-names-pronounced-wrong_n_6133368.html?utm_hp_ref=travel&ir=Travel and provided by entertainment-movie-news.com

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