Tongue-tied? The 15 words South Africans most struggle to pronounce

Have you ever found yourself hesitating before saying a word out loud because you’re not quite sure how to pronounce it?

You are not alone. Thousands of South Africans have been turning to Google to find out how to say some of the country’s most commonly mispronounced words.

A new study has found that Porsche, Shein, and Worcestershire (sauce) are the three words South Africans struggle with the most, attracting more than 320,000 Google searches between January 1 and November 9. The research analysed Google Trends data using searches such as “how do you pronounce” and “how to pronounce”.

Researchers also used the online research system Ahrefs to establish search volumes, adding together 110 variations of pronunciation-related searches to determine the most commonly searched words.

Porsche topped the list with 121,200 searches, followed by the online fashion retailer Shein with 102,000, and Worcestershire with 97,200.

According to the research conducted by word-finding experts at Unscrambler.com, the findings show that even familiar brands, food items and everyday words could leave people unsure of how to pronounce them.

The study found that other commonly mispronounced words included:

• charcuterie, which attracted 94,800 searches;
• schedule, with 85,200 searches;
• croissant, with 81,500 searches;
• the Irish name Aoife, with 80,400 searches;
• Curaçao, with 72,000 searches;
• Saoirse, with 68,400 searches;
• Huawei, with 48,000 searches;
• Dachshund, with 46,800 searches;
• jalapeno, with 44,400 searches;
• acai, with 43,200 searches;
• quinoa, with 42,000 searches; and
• spaghetti, with 36,000 searches.

For anyone who has ever stumbled over these words, the study also provided a pronunciation guide.

Porsche is pronounced POR-shuh, Shein is SHAY-in, while Worcestershire sauce is pronounced WUSS-ter-sheer sauce.

Charcuterie is pronounced shar-KOO-tuh-ree, schedule is SKEJ-ool and croissant is pronounced kruh-SAHNT.

The research also revealed differences in provinces, with residents in Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape most frequently searching for the pronunciation of schedule.

In Gauteng and Limpopo, Shein was the word people struggled with the most, while Worcestershire sauce topped the searches in the Northern Cape.

Residents of the Free State were most interested in how to pronounce burgundy, while those in North West searched most for daiquiri.

In the Western Cape, jalapeno was the most mispronounced word, while people in KwaZulu-Natal searched for the pronunciation of allow.

The study found that the Free State, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape were the top three provinces searching for word pronunciations, followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Randoh Sallihall, spokesperson for Unscramble Words, said the findings showed that pronunciation difficulties were not limited to one particular type of word.

“Academic research shows that the main causes for people to mispronounce words are irregular spelling, words borrowed from other languages, regional variation, mishearing and unfamiliarity,” said Sallihall.

“Irregular spelling is a common cause for all types of mistakes in English. Word length, however, seems to have no effect on the difficulty level.”

Sallihall said some of the biggest pronunciation challenges came from English words, foreign words, names, food and drink, place names and brands.

The most difficult English words included Worcestershire sauce, schedule and Dachshund, while charcuterie and croissant topped the list of foreign words.

Saoirse and Aoife were among the names people struggled with, while Curaçao was the most searched place name.

Sallihall said mispronouncing words could sometimes lead to embarrassing situations, particularly in professional environments. “Best avoided in work settings, especially if the work is related to communication.”

He encouraged South Africans to remain curious and improve their verbal communication skills.

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