# Struggles and Support > Frustration and Struggles >  >  [Poll] Do You Mispronounce Lots of Words?

## HypnoticTrance

I'm willing to bet that lots of socially anxious folks -- even those with large vocabularies -- mispronounce lots of words. And that's largely because we seldom interact with anyone in person. 

I'm like this and I had an extremely intelligent girlfriend some years ago who was like this. I've a larger-than-average vocabulary, yet every once in a while I'll embarrass myself by mispronouncing quite common words.

Edit: damn, I meant to add a poll to this. Looks like now I can't add one . . .  ::'(:

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## lethargic nomad

This happens when you read a lot but don't have much of any intellectual conversations where you would hear those words.

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## Otherside

Yes, I've never been very good at telling how words are pronounced though just by looking at them.

(Odd ,don't seem to be able to add polls after you've posted. Sorry)

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## HypnoticTrance

Some months ago I got anxious after using the word 'via', thinking I may have mispronounced that super common word. Turns out there are two correct ways of saying it:

*1.* v-ē-ə

&

*2.* v-ī-ə

I felt dumb over Googling that . . .

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## lethargic nomad

*Caveat* is a weird one.

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## HypnoticTrance

> *Caveat* is a weird one.



'Tis. Funny thing though is that I don't think I've actually ever spoken out that word.

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## Cuchculan

I am good with words. I read a lot and have done crosswords most of my life. Like to write as well. Think it can all help with words. If you are around them and use them a lot. Play games were you have to look for words as the answer.

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## lethargic nomad

Learning foreign languages has made this worse for me.  Often when I encounter a word I have never heard before I automatically approach the vowels as how they are in Japanese or Spanish.  English spelling is such a mess.  

https://www.rocketlanguages.com/span...spanish-vowels

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## Otherside

> Learning foreign languages has made this worse for me.  Often when I encounter a word I have never heard before I automatically approach the vowels as how they are in Japanese or Spanish.  English spelling is such a mess.  
> 
> https://www.rocketlanguages.com/span...spanish-vowels



I'm the same with German. 

"Au" is one I commonly mispronounce. English pronounces it "Ore", German pronounces it "Ow".

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## Koalafan

Oh yeah. I have a pretty bad stutter that can really trip me up when it comes to pronouncing things >_<

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## Lunaire

I try not to pay too much attention to the way that words are pronounced, and it doesn't really bother me if someone pronounces a word 'incorrectly'.

My motto has always been that if the listener understood the message that the speaker was trying to convey then there was nothing 'incorrect' about the way the speaker said it. \_(ツ)_/

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## Antidote

Yeah I've done this a fair bit. I don't normally say words out loud if I'm not sure how to say them, but I'll often notice I don't know how to pronounce something when I'm reading... And then go Google it. I also occasionally notice other people mispronouncing stuff. Subpoenaed is a common one to mangle. 





> Learning foreign languages has made this worse for me.  Often when I encounter a word I have never heard before I automatically approach the vowels as how they are in Japanese or Spanish.  English spelling is such a mess.  
> 
> https://www.rocketlanguages.com/span...spanish-vowels



Yeah I'm the same with Spanish. I remember when Wikipedia started to become a mainstream thing, I kept calling it the Spanish way, pronouncing the e in pedia, like the e in red. I did this during a presentation too (we were allowed to reference it). They must have thought I was pretty odd. I pronounce encyclopedia the normal way, but I had just come back from Latin America and was obviously still in Spanish mode.

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## L

Yes...I'm dyslexic. The way I see and hear words is often very different. New words often become pictures for me. I link how a word looks to how someone says it....so when I read (which I do a fair bit of) and I come across a new word unless I hear it spoken, I don't have a sound for it....I don't know if that makes sense?

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## HypnoticTrance

I should've mentioned in my original post that I've found the Google Chrome extension *English Dictionary Translate Pronunciation* to be of enormous help for this problem.

I do much reading online. Whenever I come across a word I'm not 100% sure how to pronounce, I simply double-click on it and a voice speaks it out for me (and, as a bonus, I also get the definition of the word!). Super helpful.

I'm convinced that many of my fellow Anxiety Spacers could find this useful.

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## L

> I should've mentioned in my original post that I've found the Google Chrome extension *English Dictionary Translate Pronunciation* to be of enormous help for this problem.
> 
> I do much reading online. Whenever I come across a word I'm not 100% sure how to pronounce, I simply double-click on it and a voice speaks it out for me (and, as a bonus, I also get the definition of the word!). Super helpful.
> 
> I'm convinced that many of my fellow Anxiety Spacers could find this useful.



I use a kindle, were it doesn't say the word but I can always get the meaning...that is super helpful!

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## Antidote

I just found out I've been saying omnipotence wrong. Also swathe.
Also, earlier today I heard heinous said in a different way to how I say it, so I had to look it up, but looks like what I heard was the British way and I say it the American way.

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## lethargic nomad

I didn't know heinous rhymed with anus.

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## Antidote

''Slough''; only found out how to pronounce it today. It has several pronunciations actually, depending on which meaning of the word you are using. Confusing af.

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## 1

Mostly certain medical terms

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## Cuchculan

It can depend on your country. In the US they say and spell words as the word should sound. Like Check. Were we use the word Cheque. Just one example of many that I could give. Big words make me smile. I read a lot and do a lot of crosswords. That doesn't mean I would know what every word out there meant. We will all, at some point in time, come across that one word that will stump us.

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## Otherside

> It can depend on your country. In the US they say and spell words as the word should sound. Like Check. Were we use the word Cheque. Just one example of many that I could give. Big words make me smile. I read a lot and do a lot of crosswords. That doesn't mean I would know what every word out there meant. We will all, at some point in time, come across that one word that will stump us.



Crosswords can be fun when you don't realise that the crossword is in American English rather than British English. : 

Sent from my G3121 using Tapatalk

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## Cassie

I use terms in the wrong way so well saying a sentence I can sometimes say things backwards or incorrect also because I  needed speech therapy my entire elementary school years I still tend to not pronounce words correctly depending on the letters in the words 



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## CeltAngel

No, but then I guess it just depends on your accent as to whether you think I do, really.

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