Pronunciation Problems

Pronunciation problems plague all of us. Difficulty arises from the fact that the way a word is pronounced has little to do with the way it is spelled, or the accent may fall on a syllable where you wouldn’t expect it. Are you pronouncing these words correctly?

Abdomen. Put the accent on the first syllable. AB-duh-mun (NOT ab-DOE-mun)

Applicable. Pronounce the first a as in apple.  A-plih-kuh-bul (NOT uh-PLIH-kuh-bul)

Athlete. This is a two-syllable word. ATH-leet (NOT ATH-uh-leet)

Genuine. JEN-yuh-win (NOT JEN-you-wine)

Jewelry. JOO-well-ree (NOT JOO-luh-ree)

Often. AWF-fen (NOT AWF-ten)

Picture. PIHK-chur (NOT PIT-chur)

Preventive. Do not insert an extra syllable. prih-VEN-tiv (NOT prih-VEN-tuh-tiv)

Pronunciation. pruh-nun-see-YAY-shun (NOT pruh-noun-see-YAY-shun)

Recognize. do not overlook the g. REH-kug-nyze (NOT REH-kuh-nyze)

Veterinarian. veh-tuh-ruh-NAIR-ree-yun (NOT veh-tih-NAIR-ree-yan)

How well did you pronounce the words?  Since there is no national standard in the United States, feel free to pronounce a word your way.