For years now one Spanish word beat up on me regularly; I could never pronounce it properly. I learned to hate it, even avoided using the word. This lasted for years until last week when my girlfriend (a Puerto Rican native Spanish speaker) walked me through the pronunciation a couple times. It now rolls off my tongue without a second’s hesitation.
How she and I worked through this is a reminder that if you are stuck on a word’s pronunciation, return to Spanish 101. Namely, pronounce each syllable separately. While in English this is a little more difficult since letters may have more than one pronunciation, in Spanish it is easy. Each letter has only one way to pronounce it.
What was this difficult word? The photo at the beginning of this post is a hint.
A second hint is that the English word is otorhinolaryngologist. Yeah, not much of a hint, I know. Nobody uses this word in English. The more common term is ENT which refers to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor.
Since I suffer from allergies, I’ve had to deal with this word for years in Spanish, always ducking and dodging to avoid pronouncing it. Until last week.
Now, otorrinolaringólogo shoots out, without a single hesitation.
What is the hardest word for you to pronounce? Leave it below in the comments. Have you mastered it? How?
I just discovered this site...so fun!
Anyway, as a hertiage speaker my accent tends to be near native. But one word that I can NEVER manage to say like a native speaker is 'verde.' The transition from the 'r' to the 'd' I find sooo difficult and frustrating!
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