It’s easy to mispronounce difficult words, and it turns out there were some that people just couldn’t seem to get right in 2024.
The language learning platform Babbel has teamed with The Captioning Group to reveal its annual list of America’s most mispronounced words, and it seems that even being in the spotlight doesn’t help people say your name correctly.
Famous names landing on the list this year include Vice President Kamala Harris (COM-a-la HAR-iss), as well as Challengers star Zendaya (zen-DAY-a) and Saltburn actor Barry Keoghan (BARR-ee key-OH-gin). Other well-known figures making the list include Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (peet BOOD-ih-judge) and singer Chappell Roan (CHAP-uhl ROHN).
Then there are the words that people struggled with in 2024, which include the clothing company Shein (SHE-in); the Dutch dog breed Kooikerhondje (COY-ker-HUND-che); the Paris Olympic mascot Phryge (FREE-je); semaglutide (sem-ah-GLOO-tide), the active ingredient in the weight loss drug Ozempic; and the exoplanet Speculoos-3b (SPEK-yuh-lohss three bee).
“This year has been filled with moments that brought diverse names and words into the spotlight,” Esteban Touma, linguistic and cultural expert at Babbel, shares. “Mispronunciations are often the result of unfamiliarity with other languages, but they also offer an opportunity to learn. The key is to approach these words with curiosity and a willingness to try – a skill that’s invaluable not just for pronunciation but for learning about new languages and cultures altogether.”