Germans HATE These SUPER EASY English Words

[@Novalarke]

Try this: In "Pacific Ocean" the "c" is pronounced 3 different ways in 2 words. That'll keep you up at night.

[@JohnSmith-nz4bn]

Mercedes has the same thing with the "E".

[@ClemensKindermann]

@@JohnSmith-nz4bn Not true, Mercedes is a German marque, and in German all "E"s are pronounced (almost) the same way (like the "E" in "pet"). "Mercedes" is pronounced "mɛɐ̯ˈtseːdəs". To clarify this I will spell it now for a native English speaker to pronounce it correctly: Mare - tseh - des

[@TJStellmach]

@@ClemensKindermann You may be unfamiliar with the fact that "Mercedes" was a feminine given name before it was a car brand (from the Old Spanish for "mercies," shortened from the Virgin Mary's titles "lady of mercies"). So, how the brand name is pronounced doesn't really bear on the point here.

[@JohnSmith-nz4bn]

@@ClemensKindermann I'd have to hear it sorry. Even when you kindly put it phonetically it still sounds like I think it does. My feeble brain!

[@kennethflorek8532]

I hear people pronounce the word "specific"as "pacific" quite a bit. I think it happens because "specific" is a lesser used word, and people hear it as pacific (which is often heard in "Pacific Ocean") so they think that "pacific" is what it is. That, combined with the fact that everyone, unless they speak for a living, slurs their words to the maximum they can get by with. The distinction between "specific" and "pacific" gets lost.

[@HerbertLandei]

"It is hard to understand English, you can learn it through tough thorough thought though." (anonymous)

[@gertraba4484]

chek her eye blnks it's messages in MORSE CODE

[@evandrochaves9596]

brazillian portuguese is not so far away, ´´why´´ and ´´because´´ are written almost the same, and each one have a slight variation, becoming four words almost identical that no one ever writes it correctly (por que, porque, porquê and por quê)

[@joryadamson7854]

And other "ough" words such as cough, rough ect. Or words like bass

[@Girruuth]

"... And that's just cheating at Scrabble"

[@joschafinger126]

@@evandrochaves9596 Same in Spanish.

[@EASYTIGER10]

Don't worry Trixi, a lot of native English speakers struggle with the difference between "affect" and "effect"

[@konstantinkunz2256]

Strange. Mayby as an austrian I find it super easy.

[@michaelburke750]

along with their and they’re... 😂😂😂🤣

[@HALberdier17]

I don't have a problem with it now. I use to because they sound exactly the same with my accent. I also had trouble with Accept and Except because they sound exactly the same with my accent.

[@Damons-Old-Soul]

From where I live in the States, "affect" and "effect" in common use, sound the same. I can pronounce them differently when purposely doing so, but in conversation they sound identical. My bigger issue is with the proper usage of each when writing. They are akin in meaning, yet not identical.

[@religiohominilupus5259]

@@michaelburke750 Along with "your" and "you're." Edit: I think the most confusing for Americans is"it's"/"its." Lol

[@andrewgould6689]

'advice' has the 'ss' sound in 'essen' 'advise' has the 's' sound in 'sonne' English words can have both voiced and voiceless consonants at the ends of words, German can only have voiceless, which is probably why they sound the same. But if you try really hard to pronounce 'advise' with the 'sonne' s rather than the 'essen' s, you'll probably notice the difference

[@extofer]

Andrew Gould excellent advice!

[@РоксоланаГрабко]

exactly! the same with "lose" vs "loose" :they are not pronounced identically as Trixy said. "to lose" has the 's' of Sonne and "loose" (adj) has the 'essen' s

[@Fafner888]

The worst part is when your spelling is so bad that even the spell checker can't figure out what you are trying to write!

[@sq_paradox]

For what it's worth, google is usually better at figuring out the word I'm looking for than spellcheck, it's noticeably better than even google's own spellcheck.

[@JoeFromDetroit]

Ain't that the truth!!! My Mother in law was just going through some old books and I took a dictionary. Now I have to have reading glasses use that damn thing!!

[@jimforehand7571]

The struggle is real all of us bad spellers must fight the battle together

[@thurin84]

i often just choose another word because of this.

[@jamesslick4790]

@@jimforehand7571 I no rite?!

[@the1gip]

"sink, think, same sing" needs to become a GIF :D

[@hughjazz4936]

@Jonathan Parks You've figured out the joke. Good for you.

[@vladtepes4346]

@Jonathan Parks you really don´t understand ?

[@HotelPapa100]

@@vladtepes4346 This really is funny only to Germans or English native speakers who are familiar with thick German accents.

[@vladtepes4346]

@@HotelPapa100 is enough ^^

[@elle-iza]

My daughter's pet peeve: flower - flour. Drives her nuts all of the time... 😂

[@TheZapan99]

Beach, Bitch, Beech.

[@TheZapan99]

@Alisson Pinheiro which makes it even more confusing.

[@Vodhin]

@Alisson Pinheiro - Beech is a type of tree. Beach is where a body of water meets land in such a way that the water overlaps the land.

[@talideon]

Do you want to know what'll annoy her worse? They used to be spelled the same way, and share a common etymology. Somebody just though it'd be a good idea to distinguish the two in spelling.

[@XYpsilonLP]

Still hate flower and flour. IS there even a difference in pronunciation?

[@DeathByStupidity9]

English sailor: "may day, may day, we are sinking!" German coastguard: "What are you (s/th)inking about?"

[@douglasgreen437]

Sounds like a joke by Zsa zsa Gabor...Darlink, what are you sinking about...

[@gjbtube]

I saw that advert!

[@yamimotonokamina4759]

I had a friend who was in a class with a Cuban professor. One day the professor said, "I am sinking on a Caribbean Island."

[@Loreman72]

Took me a while...

[@datnguyenthe8300]

I remember the joke as "singing" - from a german ad for english language courses

[@pyrosshitpoststudio8715]

These are actually the reasons why english speaking countries have spelling tests/ competitions Because even native speakers struggle with these

[@DanDownunda8888]

I think that you are over generalizing. I have never seen, or even heard of, spelling competitions here in Australia. Spelling Bees seem to be an entirely American phenomenon to me. For what reason, I have no idea, but I would guess that Americans are so extremely competitive that they have a desperate need to show who is the best. They should really chill out. Or more simply improve their education standards. :)

[@nlangenfeld7891]

English is notoriously hard to spell; we have spelling bees for a reason.

[@jamesslick4790]

English is harder than math (maths?). In routine mathematics, there at least is logical consistency.

[@totaldramagamer5521]

@@jamesslick4790 Well... you can literally prove math. You can't 'prove' language. Language is merely a matter of gradually agreed upon meanings and mannerisms. It's why speech constantly changes, but math stays the same. You can trace language, language has history and origins, I'd argue there is a lot of logical consistency in language. However, it is not provable. It's not constant. Consistent and constant aren't interchangeable. Language is made. Math is discovered. That's the difference.

[@jamesslick4790]

@@totaldramagamer5521 No argument. (And that's not a pun) LOL.

[@thomashatcher522]

Hallo Trixi.. I am U.S born but, I was raised by my Deutschen Grandparents when I was very young. So now that I am older, I have kind of a English/ German Accent. Meaning that I still use the "V" sound when there is the letter "w" in a word. And the " F" sound when there is the letter " V" in the word. And I too, still to this day have the same problems with pronouncing the simple English words that most German speakers have.. So thank you for Taking the time to make your funny, but very informative videos.. And buy the way, I love your Accent!

[@belg4mit]

Enjoy this lovely poem, "The Chaos" by G. Nolst Trenite: Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Tear in eye, your dress will tear. So shall I! Oh hear my prayer. Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word, Sword and sward, retain and Britain. (Mind the latter, how it's written.) Now I surely will not plague you With such words as plaque and ague. But be careful how you speak: Say break and steak, but bleak and streak; Cloven, oven, how and low, Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe. Hear me say, devoid of trickery, Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore, Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles, Exiles, similes, and reviles; Scholar, vicar, and cigar, Solar, mica, war and far; One, anemone, Balmoral, Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel; Gertrude, German, wind and mind, Scene, Melpomene, mankind. Billet does not rhyme with ballet, Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet. Blood and flood are not like food, Nor is mould like should and would. Viscous, viscount, load and broad, Toward, to forward, to reward. And your pronunciation's OK When you correctly say croquet, Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve, Friend and fiend, alive and live. Ivy, privy, famous; clamour And enamour rhyme with hammer. River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb, Doll and roll and some and home. Stranger does not rhyme with anger, Neither does devour with clangour. Souls but foul, haunt but aunt, Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant, Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger, And then singer, ginger, linger, Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge, Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age. Query does not rhyme with very, Nor does fury sound like bury. Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth. Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath. Though the differences seem little, We say actual but victual. Refer does not rhyme with deafer. Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer. Mint, pint, senate and sedate; Dull, bull, and George ate late. Scenic, Arabic, Pacific, Science, conscience, scientific. Liberty, library, heave and heaven, Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven. We say hallowed, but allowed, People, leopard, towed, but vowed. Mark the differences, moreover, Between mover, cover, clover; Leeches, breeches, wise, precise, Chalice, but police and lice; Camel, constable, unstable, Principle, disciple, label. Petal, panel, and canal, Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal. Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair, Senator, spectator, mayor. Tour, but our and succour, four. Gas, alas, and Arkansas. Sea, idea, Korea, area, Psalm, Maria, but malaria. Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean. Doctrine, turpentine, marine. Compare alien with Italian, Dandelion and battalion. Sally with ally, yea, ye, Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key. Say aver, but ever, fever, Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver. Heron, granary, canary. Crevice and device and aerie. Face, but preface, not efface. Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass. Large, but target, gin, give, verging, Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging. Ear, but earn and wear and tear Do not rhyme with here but ere. Seven is right, but so is even, Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen, Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk, Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work. Pronunciation -- think of Psyche! Is a paling stout and spikey? Won't it make you lose your wits, Writing groats and saying grits? It's a dark abyss or tunnel: Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale, Islington and Isle of Wight, Housewife, verdict and indict. Finally, which rhymes with enough -- Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough? Hiccough has the sound of cup. My advice is to give up!!!

[@od1452]

Thank you.. That is Magnificent !!!!!!

[@horsemadlanguagenerd453]

belg4mit this poem is an absolute gem 😂😂😂 i do so love it 😊

[@alienorfrei6867]

Oh my, I hate that. It's so hard to read as a non-native speaker!

[@seegee7728]

@@alienorfrei6867 As an english speaker i see and speak all those words correctly without hesitation but seeing them written like this in a poem i had not realized just how strange the spelling is and how many words should sound the same but are not. Sorry for our weirdness.

[@TheMartianGeek]

But "cough" doesn't rhyme with "enough"...

[@davidwebb4904]

“Pro-testers”. 😁

[@hornkraft9438]

She must be a Protestant! ;-)

[@RawTopShot]

Pro test ers Pro tes ters

[@NelsonBrown]

PRO tes ters

[@JustyHakubi]

Yeah, 'Pro' as in 'professional'. The 'o' sound is the same as 'slow'... 'mow'... but not like 'how' and 'cow'.

[@RainingPiggies]

@@hornkraft9438 She did say her local church had a pastor in the Christmas episode.

[@Justin-bn7ze]

"I'm German! Sink Think Same Thing" made my morning!😂 As a native English speaker, I was taught that affect is the verb & effect is the noun. I need to do some backwards thinking, (even as I write this), by remembering that there is one E in 'verb' as in affect. But, I never knew the two also had flipped definitions until today.

[@hornkraft9438]

Close, but not true. Not that simple ... they are both verbs and they are both nouns. They mean two different things and you just have to memorize them in a sentence to understand the difference.

[@rhystilford8884]

Hi Trixi, I am a 17 year old native English speaker and I just started using affect and effect correctly this spring.

[@Jabawongky88]

this>zees the>ze think>zink Capt : "..mayday... mayday.. we're sinking... " German coast guard : "vhat are you zinking about. ..? "

[@darthcalanil5333]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 Made my day

[@死神ファビアン]

lol, I remember zees add. It's was for english courses, I sink. XD It was hilarious then, and it's hiarious still.

[@johnhoare1055]

Just imagine what fun we English speakers have trying to get our heads around German. Words like Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften? Or trying to figure out whether you would be offended if I addressed you as using instead of Sie (given that you don't know me and I'm old enough to be your grandfather you might find it condescending). Keep making videos! John

[@perfectallycromulent]

"proof" and "proven" are a relic of the old system of open and closed syllables similar to the system that is still used in Dutch.

[@benjimw]

Thanks for the perspective! Even for a native speaker like me who practically memorized my entire high school grammar books, most of these can be confusing (and I've caught myself using most of them incorrectly now and then). The sounds can be quite similar, and I just realized that I actually pronounce the word pronunciation as if it were spelled pronounciation. I enjoy how you share your linguistic journey! Keep it up.

[@MarkGrand]

Here is a sentence to hate: The tough coughed as he ploughed through the dough

[@Tetraxenonogold_II]

Don't forget to mention that stress accent is often different on noun/verb pairs with otherwise identical spellings, so that they are pronounced differently: permit, insert, reject, conduct, there are dozens more like this

[@pwbmd]

I would say the majority of English speakers misuse affect and effect, so many likely won't notice if you misuse them too. I struggle with getting the genders of German nouns right. I've been told I have near native pronunciation if I'm reading something aloud, but when I make elementary errors like misgendering nouns, I probably come off sounding like a total moron. I enjoy your videos!!

[@katikat9410]

Personally, I find learning the noun and the gendered the before it together, as if it's one word, really helpful with learning the gender of the noun.

[@Paul_Halicki]

We had a very nice Italian lady that lived next to us in Michigan. She was Nona (Grandma) to our sons. She messed up gender all the time, like she would say, "My son, she told me..." It's actually pretty easy to get around once you hear the person say it a few times.

[@aaronmorris1513]

The word “businesswomen” has four vowels pronounced like a short i, except for the i, which is not pronounced at all.

[@KevinSmithGeo]

That depends on dialect. I'd pronounce both 'e's as schwas and some people pronounce the 'i' in 'business' as a short 'i' or a schwa

[@kimrocksthetrees]

No it doesn't. 'Biznesswhimen.' Just 2 soft i sounds.

[@dsabre4990]

Pronouncing the word like most native speakers..."wi man" is plural, singular is "wuh man."

[@kimrocksthetrees]

@@dsabre4990 That is how the singular version is pronounced, not the plural.

[@casper14301]

@@kimrocksthetrees well, maybe you just don't pronounce it the way someone else would for it to have four short i sounds.

[@TheDarkWiiPlayer]

Ugh... so I'm also German, and yes, it's hard to hear the difference, but maybe this helps: advise = adweis; advice = adweiß

[@janfluitsma8274]

I am Dutch. I don’t hear the difference between advise and advice neither do I between adweis and adweiss.

[@darthcalanil5333]

@@janfluitsma8274 doesn't the ß exist in Dutch ?

[@janfluitsma8274]

Darth Calanil No, and did not know so quickly how to add it from my iPad keyboard. Might need to install the German language.

[@craigbenz4835]

The difference in American pronunciation is that in advise the "i" is drawn out, but in advice it is barely made and "ce" is stressed.

[@billybobjoe198]

@@craigbenz4835 No, the difference is literally just a Z vs an S.

[@saschaschneider9157]

There is this poem called The Chaos (don't remember the author), which is point out the most of those weird special things in the english language.

[@oslier3633]

English speakers learning german be like sie, sie, und sie.

[@geofreycrow9663]

Don't forget one of the sie's is capitalized because why the hell not

[@mwestholder1259]

“Personal pronouns and adjectives are a fruitful nuisance in this language, and should have been left out. For instance, the same sound, sie, means you, and it means she, and it means her, and it means it, and it means they, and it means them. Think of the ragged poverty of a language which has to make one word do the work of six -- and a poor little weak thing of only three letters at that. But mainly, think of the exasperation of never knowing which of these meanings the speaker is trying to convey. This explains why, whenever a person says sie to me, I generally try to kill him, if a stranger.” - Mark Twain on the German language

[@alexysq2660]

...aber: ,,sie, sie und Sie" eigentlich, nein...?

[@alexysq2660]

@@mwestholder1259 ... ({; D /

[@davejoubert3349]

As a reader I hate it when writers do not understand the principal principle of when to use principle or principal

[@Wehawk0311]

I was waiting for you to list, "they're, there, and their"

[@randomuser5443]

To too two Or oar ore Do due and I wanna die

[@cindyariko605]

Most of the confusion with the spelling of English words is due to the fact that since English was influenced by many other languages on its way to becoming the English we know today, it lost some of its old pronunciation, but unlike other languages that underwent a series of reforms in spelling to reflect the changes the also went through (all languages have gone and continue to go through this process still nowadays), English spelling was never truly reformed, so we have words like " knife" which k is mute nowadays but back in the day used to be pronounced "k'nif". And the list goes on and on.

[@PixelatedH2O]

There's also exorcise / exercise. They mean drastically different things.

[@hrdkor79]

Unless you're talking about a evil ex you saw at the gym! Lol

[@joshina4497]

Why would you write it with o anyways? It doesn't even sound alike? (I have no idea if I wrote this sentence right, there might be some mistakes 😅)

[@religiohominilupus5259]

@@joshina4497 Because "exorcize" originated from Latin (exorcizare) and found its way into Middle English through Anglo-French (exorciscer).

[@PixelatedH2O]

@@joshina4497 Exorcise means what priests claim to do to get rid of evil spirits.

[@friedrichwilhelmvonsteuben7952]

not if you're fat and trying to lose weight

[@Beery1962]

An Austrian friend of mine always had trouble pronouncing the word "Vacuum" until I advised her to say "Wackjum" as if it was a German word. Since then, she pronounces vacuum perfectly.

[@loopshackr]

Criticise/criticize: Brits spell it with an "s", not a "z" (zed). To muck things up further, Americans spell it with a "zee", not a "zed".

[@vanessaleimbach5651]

oof

[@I_leave_mean_comments]

I can help you. I guarantee this will help you hear the difference. You can use the "cover your ears" or "hand on throat" methods. They both help in hearing the difference between voiced and unvoiced words. I'll explain: Advice is like "rice", with an "unvoiced" sound; and advise is like "rise", with a "voiced" sound. What that means is just that, with "advice", say the last "ce" part by JUST blowing air, make no sound other than the air... while "advise", you say the last "zze" part by BOTH blowing air AND making sound with your voice box. Does that make sense? All of the words you have trouble with are two versions of "voiced" and "unvoiced" sounds. They're all exactly like the advice/advise" example, so just try that. One word uses just air, the other uses air and voice box. When you get used to it, they sound COMPLETELY different. One great trick, if you hold your throat/voice box when you speak, you will feel the vibrations when you say the last part of "advise", "prove", "believe", etc correctly... but you will feel nothing when you say "advice", "proof", "belief", etc correctly. Or put your hands over your ears (or put on big headphones), then, when you say "advise", "prove" or any voiced words, you can hear your whole head "buzzing"... but when you say "advice", "proof" or any UNvoiced words, the lack of buzzing is really apparent. Does that help? Learning to say and hear voiced vs unvoiced words is a big step in getting a perfect English accent. German doesn't have many words with that specific difference, so practicing hearing it and saying it will really help your accent.

[@WWTormentor]

What makes the English language hard to learn (at least it was for me when I moved to America) is exactly that. There are too many words that sound the same but spelled differently and mean different things. A basic on is to, too, and two. But my most hated one was principle and principal. Now I need to watch more of your videos so I can start to speak German again. I use to speak it fluently but over the years have forgotten it. So I’m subscribing to your channel.

[@theohiotexan]

How about to lead and Lead, the metal?

[@pattystomper1]

I thought you were going to tell us how hard it is to pronounce "squirrel".

[@sarco64]

Or thistle, or a squirrel thinking about a thick thistle.

[@ryanroberts2734]

The English pronunciation of squirrel is still one of my favorite words. "Skwee werrel". If you see the movie "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" from about 1970, you'll hear it :)

[@ApoIogeticsMan]

Don't forget produce and produce. One is a noun, one is a verb.

Or polish and polish… lots and lots and *lots* like these.

[@darryljorden9177]

This is why robotic readings will tend to fail. "Could you read for me again what you just read?"

[@maccaj6565]

This video made me feel much better about not being able to consistently hear the difference between "hard sounds" and "soft sounds" in Russian. Sometimes it's clear as day and others I think, "nope, you're just saying the same word over and over!" I know it's just a matter of exposure, but man it's frustrating. As far as English goes, I'm a pretty good speller but "bureaucracy" and its derivatives gets me *every* time. I've probably written and typed it hundreds of times, and it still won't stick in my head.

[@Farmer_El]

I find it rather charming to hear Trixie pronounce protester.

[@benkrake3678]

I’m surprised that you didn’t mention: There Their & They’re I’d imagine they would be one of the most confusing for people learning English. Some people who have spoken English their whole lives still can’t get it right! 😂

[@e.antoniog.flores9721]

As a german, surprisingly, I can't tell why it should be so difficult.. .-.

[@benkrake3678]

Edwin Flores as a person who has spoken English my whole life, as a child I had a lot of difficulty with those three words. Mind you I could tell you a very embarrassing story of mine from early primary school...but I’m not going to! 😂

[@e.antoniog.flores9721]

Ben Krake I guess it's because as a child, you just speak and don't write, so you may think you're using the same word, as their, they're and there sound very similar and you learn to write them like a few years later in school, but here we learn how to write and keep them apart from the beginning.. But that's just a theory- _A FIIILMM THEEOOORY_

[@johnugly2540]

Your right

[@Rathori]

Actually they're not confusing to non-native speakers at all, because those are among the first words you learn, and unless you've got some extremely unconventional English course, you learn how to spell them, what they mean, and when to use each of them before you start using or hearing them in a conversation. So each time you hear a there/their/they're you already know which one it is. It's the same thing with "should of" and "would of" - it's just a native speaker thing.

[@VNNZTC]

I teach English and was laughing during your video...A lot of your examples are daily problems I have to deal with...Some words we have are from German that have been adapted for English, another thing is the written English was was printed in Belgium, the Belgians didn't like some of our words so they changed the spelling of some words during the printing process...

[@gabosampallosaez5296]

Since the time I spelled "schocked" instead of "shocked" in an essay I can't seem to stop misspelling it 😂💔

[@knutdergroe9757]

I like your spelling better.

[@Sifferlif]

In danish its spelled 'chok' and I always thought it was a very english looking word, so I was shocked (lol) when I realized that it wasnt the case!

[@charlies.5777]

Schöcked would be even better IMO.

[@geofreycrow9663]

How schocking

[@Blazingstoke]

I don't know if this helps, but as far as ADVISE vs ADVICE goes: the "s" in "advise" sounds like the "s" in "singen" or "sommer", and the "c" in "advice" sounds like the "ss" in "essen" or "wissen".

[@thk.g00fy]

Turning on captions proves that even English native AI systems get confused by those pronunciations... x'D

[@jimoday2078]

My hat's off to you for learning to speak English so well! Like the other commenters say, English is difficult for everyone. By the way, can you say "Squirrel" five times, really fast?

[@kyleward3914]

"Affect" and "effect" throw native English speakers off, too. It's definitely not just you.

[@kevinbyrne4538]

The distinction between "affect" and "effect" confuses so many native English speakers that nowadays the word "impact" has replaced both "affect" and "effect". "How will these new regulations impact [instead of: affect] business?" "What will be the impact [instead of: effect] of these new regulations on business?"

[@jamesslick4790]

@@kevinbyrne4538 YEP!

[@HotelPapa100]

It's worse with a German accent. Germans tend to pronounce affect with the fist vowel spoken too much on the closed side. Which makes is sound almost like effect...

[@cvpgame7267]

+Kyle Ward As a Canadian who has only ever known English (I sucked at French), I can say that those two words were probably the last words (that I know of) that I kept messing up in proper usage. Maybe I still do, I don't know. I can honestly say it was probably Minecraft that helped me finally distinguish the two. As "Affect" never worked as "Effect" in Minecraft Command Blocks lol

[@bluezitrone9731]

Trixie is so done! Here are some words I can't spell: Lonely Lovely Necessary I've been learning English for over 10 years. So don't worry, you're not alone!

[@hashtagdag]

My least favorite word that I misspell all the time is lisence... licence... lisense... LICENSE! GHAAAAAA!!!

[@AFrogInTheStars]

David AG it’s Licence in the UK

[@shardsofnarsil-official]

There are 2 key differences between how "advise" and "advice" are pronounced in Am. English: 1. the s in advise is pronounced like a z, and the c in advice is pronounced like an s 2. the "i" diphthong is subtly different: in advise it's an "ah-ee" while in advice it's an "uh-ee" These are tricky! Keep it up :)

[@bobriemersma]

Ahh, I was expecting envy over "remote" vs "Genuchtifingerflingenboxen."

[@vinny9868]

"I'll just remember one is a verb and the other is a noun, right?" "...No!" Got me 😂

[@benrast1755]

As you know, to a native English speaker’s ear, many of the things that sound the same to you sound different to us (such as the soft S in lose versus the hard S in loose). I feel your pain. When I was learning Arabic while in the military, the Arabic words for bathroom and pigeon sounded identical to us. Our native Lebanese instructor kept repeating the words trying to get us to hear the difference, but we just couldn’t hear it. As a result, many of us excused ourself to use the pigeon in that class. 😂

[@craigbenz4835]

What make lose and loose additionally difficult is that the spellings may make one expect the pronunciations to be reversed. Lose has that long O, and loose is almost a U sound.

Link an actual normal speech (news, movie, whatevs, but *no* pronunciation vid) that shows the sound diff between lose and loose. I'm waiting… It's not for nothing that those two are among my pet peeves. Another: breath and breathe. Is that really so hard for *native speakers*?

[@benrast1755]

Jürgen Erhard I disagree with Craig about the vowel sound. They both have an u sound. But the s sounds are different. I’m not going to search for a video for you hoping to find one where the speaker happens to use both words in the same sentence. But loose has a hard s sound, like in horse. The S in lose is a soft s, rather like a z, as in maze.

[@craigbenz4835]

@ : Breath and breathe are easy for native speakers, because the final e in breathe changes the pronunciation of the first e from short to long. Finding a clip of some one saying lose should be fairly easy, but not so much with loose.

[@craigbenz4835]

@@benrast1755 : Dialect may be the source of our disagreement.

[@rickc2102]

Before the video starts, I'm just gonna say, "Squirrel."

[@rickc2102]

The c in advice is unvoiced (like an s); the s in advise is voiced (like a z).

[@rickc2102]

Same with loose vs. lose. The former has an unvoiced s, the latter has a voiced s.

[@PrimeCircuit]

my endboss is "definitely" (definetly...difenetely...deffinately...deafenettedly....argh)

[@Damons-Old-Soul]

I would add "Business" (correct) and "Busness/Buisness" (both incorrect) It is the pesky "I" after the "s". I remember it by pronouncing it in my head "busy(i)-ness".

[@joshina4497]

I never know if it's definitely or defenetly or definetly...

[@origineo]

"Deafnely"

[@mrroams5812]

Just remember that definitely has the word 'finite' in it.

[@P-Mouse]

Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Tear in eye, your dress will tear. So shall I! Oh hear my prayer. (form ''The Chaos'' by Gerard Nolst Trenité)

[@LeifNelandDk]

"I may be a teacher But I'm also just a girl Standing in front of a boy Asking: How can your language be so inconsistent?!?"

[@christophersmith8316]

That's easy. For the most part it is because we are being consistent with the original source we stole the words from, possibly with some simplifcation. For example the reason 'lose' hasn't drifted to a double o spelling is that 'loose' already exsists and resists elimination.

[@BoylenInk]

It’s pretty funny that the language with the most inconsistencies and rule exceptions has become the most widespread used language for international affairs.

[@ScreamingManiac]

The inconsistencies and exceptions you're referring to are a result of the combination of about 20 different languages. English has the largest vocabulary of any language because of that. That is why its used everywhere. Angle/Dutch, Saxon/North German, Pict/Scottish, Celtic/Ireland but also welsh Celtic, French, Jute/Also Dutch, Norse/Norwegian, Modern German, Ancient Greek, Latin, Indian, Chinese, Arabic etc. I could probably keep going but these would be the main contributors

[@maksphoto78]

There was that one time when a rough cough caught my throat like a plough.

[@danclay8229]

Plough? Do you mean plow? :)

[@ELaschBro]

These are great examples that English speakers also struggle with. The fact that you can identify all these examples shows that you do have knowledge of the problems with these words and the reason why there are problems. You are doing great. I, on the other hand, have not been able to even make simple sentences in German.

[@gunjfur8633]

From my understanding many native speakers do say "pronOUnciation" I do it anyway

[@SebAnders]

Every time somebody says pronOUnciation all English people feel a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced...

[@paulayamhilsinghlopez3868]

The word "often" i thought that sounds exactly how you read it, ofttten, but my Deutsch teacher told me that it sounds "offfen" and i was like *Brain explode*

[@stewartnagle6776]

As you seem to have learned, the English language doesn't have rules, only coincidences

[@alexysq2660]

... ({; D ...!

[@evancolby2274]

Awesome video, Trixi! Two things I wanted to say: 1. It's really interesting to me that you can't hear the difference between pairs like [gɹif] and [gɹiv]. I think the reason for this is that in German voiced consonants always become voiceless in the word final position, so phonemes like /f/ and /v/ are always realized with the same surface representation at the end of a word, making it difficult for German speakers to hear the difference between the two in this context. 2. When it's used as a noun, the word usually means "facial expression," and it's pronounced ['æ.fεkt].

[@gregsmall5939]

English is an "Indo-Germanic" language. Regarding the oddities in spellings, blame the French for their Latinate influences. It's the Teutonic thing to do..

[@ChanceUriahMiller]

Trixie, as a native speaker of American English, some of the words you talked about having confusion with are words I had confusion with when I was a child. Don't feel so bad. Having watched your videos, I feel you're doing well. I'm struggling with German, but I'm not going give up. Keep up the good work and thank you very much for the lessons and insight you have provided.

[@gabosampallosaez5296]

Don't you know the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)? Maybe that can help you with "proof" and "prove" for example ❤

[@EM-df6mo]

Trixie, this is your version of how much trouble I have conjugating German verbs. I still find the German language Beautiful and challenging. The study becomes a joy since I both love the beauty of it and enjoy the Challenge. Have a lovely journey learning, there is humor along the way. My wife is German and always laughs as I continue to leran the language and constantly miss correct usage of verbs.

[@rfbyrnes]

Let’s all agree that the jacked up spelling in English language is due to the French influence....

[@frankupton5821]

A rule seems to be that the verb has a voiced consonant and the noun has the corresponding unvoiced constant: z > s, v > f etc.

I'm *certain* there are "exceptions". (Often more than obey the rule, see "i before e"…)

[@erikpasman2220]

I always struggle with 'live music', 'my life' , 'I live' etc. Same words, different pronounciation. Or same pronounciation, different words. Wraaaah..... Nice video though.

[@laurencefraser]

Yeah, there's that stupid "no word final V" rule ruining things again. In a sane world it would be: "Live music" "My life" "I liv" But liv is forbidden, and so becomes live... Except by the Standard rules that should force it to become livve, except Double V is Also Forbidden! Which is just... Really, really​ dumb. C has the same rules, but cheats by subbing in s or k. V has no such cheat. So we end up with live (as in music) which follows all the rules perfectly and live (as in the opposite of die) which breaks them due to English's unresolvable contradictory rules regarding the letter V. The "official" position on the matter (in as much as any such thing exists) being "just pretend it works and move on".

[@David_Casas]

Great video! As usual, a pleasure to listen your explanation.

[@Beery1962]

The S in "advise" is vocalized like a Z. Advice is unvoiced like an S. They sound completely different.

[@jdg9999]

Right, on that one she was pronouncing advice like you're supposed to pronounce "advise"

[@leoagaw]

She just can't get it. Lose and Loose dont sound the same either.

[@Beery1962]

@@leoagaw Yeah, and for the same reason. It's strange because German words have the same voiced and unvoiced S sounds, as in "Süden" (with a voiced S) and "Essen" (unvoiced S).

[@Wuffskers]

They sound completely different to native english speakers, but learning a language is more than just learning new words and sentence structure. After a certain age your brain literally starts losing the ability to distinguish minute differences in similar sounds according to what is required for what language you're learning. There is no actual meaningful distinction between the "ssss" sound and the "zzz" sound in german so her brain doesn't bother trying to distinguish the two, but there is a difference in english so we pick up on it very easily. The same thing happens with L and R in japanese, L and R sounds do not exist as separate sounds in Japanese, in fact they exist as a sort of fusion of L and R. There's also no distinction of B and V in Spanish, so their brains don't bother trying to distinguish the sounds and it becomes hard for them to tell the difference. The same thing happens going from english to other languages, there are several "d" sounds in Hindi that the average english speaker is not going to be able to differentiate but sounds clear as day to a native hindi speaker.

[@Beery1962]

@@Wuffskers ZZZ and SSS sound completely different to every German speaker. One is voiced, one is unvoiced. German has this distinction too! Are you seriously suggesting that a German speaker can't distinguish between the sound in the word "Süden" (with a voiced "ZZZ" sound) and the sound in "Essen" (with an unvoiced "SSS") in his/her OWN LANGUAGE? Nonsense!

[@crazymic79]

because, as someone once said, "English isn't a single language, its' 3 languages dressed in a trench coat acting like one..."

[@VictorLepanto]

"Prah-testers?" Heh.

[@eaterdrinker000]

She was pronouncing "protesters" in the vein of the word "Protestant."

[@CrazyAna1983]

Oh my gosh! That eye twitch at 07:27 is spot on! :) I've seen a video made by an english native speaker once, where he admitted that the english is one of the most selfconfusing languages that he knows of. :)

[@elle-iza]

"...but English has quite some traps and obstacles as well." Yep. Like every single damn word with R following TH. through. (And the very hungry caterpillar has quite a bit of those suckers. '-.- ) thread/t. three. WHYYYYYYYYYYYY???!!!!! 😫

[@nero7469]

We love the th and r

[@lamegoldfish6736]

Welcome to English! 😆. I have been speaking and writing English for decades, and still have a hard time. 😃. Enjoyed your video much.

[@Jay-in-the-USA]

"loose" and "lose" is one that still confuses me...doesn't make any sense 😂

[@jeffkreider5985]

Your pants are loose. Don't lose the game.

[@algrafe7919]

“Loose” means extra space, so it gets an extra “o” so it can take up more space.

[@Reactordrone]

Loose like a moose.

[@darryljorden9177]

Then we throw in "loss" and "lost" to really f**k with your mind.

[@friedrichwilhelmvonsteuben7952]

"hey rabbits" has become one of my favorite things to hear

[@cheeseduck400]

Instead of saying effect and affect i just say impact :p

[@drewpav5253]

Impact just dosen't have the same effect.

[@acesmak]

I really encourage you to look into an English poem named "the chaos" But be careful it could melt your brain!

[@groenase3261]

For Portuguese speakers this is a bit easier: To Affect = Afetar The Effect = O Efeito

[@Liansuo_Lv]

But then there are the ão endings so it evens out.

[@nero7469]

That is because affect & effect are borrowed from Old Norman French

[@normanmanning6735]

Loose also exists: something not tight or refers to a wiggling piece. The expression "turn loose" means to release or to set free

[@zachsquach]

The way you said protesters it sounds like prod-este-tsers to me. Though as a native English speaker affect vs effect is a real pia for me and a few others, Though i can hear prove vs proof very easy i am interested in that it might be similar to how native Japanese speakers have a hard time deliniating R from L.

[@thisismissem]

For Protesters, the only way I can think of explaining it to make sense is pro-testers, as in they are testing to gain something, they're "pro" it

[@garymcgregor5951]

Zachsquach I heard "pradesters".

[@pierreabbat6157]

It's "pro'tester", but "'Protestant". That's probably what messed you up.

[@joshuahillerup4290]

The ending of advice as in "giving advice" sound like the ending of edelweiss. The ending of advise as in "I advise you to" sounds like the middle consonent in shizen. Oh, and effect/affect is very very common to get mixed up by native English speakers.

[@DogWalkerBill]

The one that bugs me is "chose" and "choose."

[@casper14301]

Why?

[@DogWalkerBill]

Cause whatever I've chosen I find I choosed the wrong chose unless I look it up every time.

[@casper14301]

@@DogWalkerBill choosed is not a word :) Just think of choose as something you're doing right now, and chose as something you chose yesterday :)

[@DogWalkerBill]

@@casper14301 Yes. "Choosed" is a made up word I choosed to use.

[@casper14301]

@@DogWalkerBill I choose to choose chose when choosing chose or choose when using past tense. :)

[@RuthieBC]

English, the language where even native speakers have contests to see who can spell the words.

[@thisismissem]

Can I annoy you more and point out there's also exorcise. As in, to rid of demons.

[@drewpav5253]

Fat demons

[@VoIcanoman]

It's difficult to remember the difference between advise and advice sometimes (from a spelling perspective anyway), but it's not exactly the same sound (though it is quite similar). Advise rhymes with "eyes," "buys," "cries." It's a longer "i." Advice has a shorter "i", like "ice," "nice," "rice." Two other words of similar meaning that illustrate this sound change are the nouns "die" and "dice" (die, in addition to its commonest, verb meaning, can also mean the singular version of dice).

[@jackhydrazine1376]

But is she able to say the word, "squirrel," correctly?

[@TBreezy17]

To be honest. I’m only watching this Bc of your personality. Your patience and humor are worth the sub. Best of wishes to u and you’re channel

[@darienford860]

I don't see a rabbit in the background. I'm offended

[@hannahbaker2795]

Native English speaker here. I ALWAYS spell exercise wrong, confuse effect and affect and just in general find most of these things confusing too! My only tips: Lose- misplacing something, sounds like /luz/ if you know IPA ending with the z sound. Loose - to make something less tight has an s sound. So it’s /luz/ versus /lus/ Also I have a trick for one other spelling thing. desert (place with no rain) versus dessert (a sweet treat). You would prefer to have 2 desserts instead of one. So the word for the sweet treat is dessert with the double s. :)

[@occultaveritas77]

"Advise" sounds like "advize". "Advice" sounds the way its spelled.

[@talideon]

Though Germans are used to the final consonant sound in a word being unvoiced, so it's understandable that the /z/ at the end of 'advise' might end up sounding like the /s/ at the end of 'advice' to them. 'Belief' and 'believe' are the same, which end in /f/ and /v/, but to a German speaker, they're just hearing /f/.

[@matthewodonnell6906]

Keith Gaughan That, and there is definitely a different vowel sound in the first part of the diphthong in the second syllable of the two words that could easily be misheard as the same thing.

[@LeifNelandDk]

@@matthewodonnell6906 Quite early in childhood the sounds are getting mapped into phonemes(?), and if two sounds which sounds somewhat the same doesn't have different meanings, they get mapped into the same, and later in life you can't hear the difference. So if nobody is using /z/ when you are very young, you hear /s/ and /z/ as the same. Like the stereotype of (some) asian people can't hear /r/ from /l/. "We hope you will enjoy jour fright with Acme Airlines", "When did you have the last general erection".

[@matthewodonnell6906]

Leif Neland I know. I’m saying that is also happening with the diphthongs in advice and advise. Ad vuh ees vs ad vah eez It’s not exactly IPA, but you get the point.

[@TheMartianGeek]

I wouldn't consider the vowel sounds different. Must be a dialect thing. I guess the diphthong is slightly longer in "advise"?

[@djsmithification]

You have learned (if not yet mastered) most of the toughest inconsistencies of the mongrel language of English. I would say you are doing better than many native English speakers (if not most). I am immensely entertained by this litany of frustrating English words however. You would make a great English teacher.

[@heidirichter]

It wasn't until I started learning Deutsch that I understood how illogical my native language of English really is. English is, as we say in English, "a dog's breakfast" - a horrid mix of other languages and pronunciation changes since the written language was somewhat set in stone with the advent of the printing press. Part of the difficulty for me trying to learn German is unlearning some of the illogical things I've grown used to in English and trying to remember the more logical German versions.

[@kaitan4160]

Oh dont worry we Germans have some "wtf" things in our Language too.

[@hihu7200]

Language is a living entity. Deal with it. Languages combine, change, go through phases, &c.

[@heidirichter]

@@kaitan4160 Oh yes, absolutely, one of those that come to mind is of course hast/hasst, and there are some others that Trixi has covered in previous videos, such as Nacht/nackt (a tricky one for us English speakers to hear the difference sometimes). But I do find myself preferring the German language over English, even if I find some of the differences difficult to get used to.

[@heidirichter]

@@hihu7200 Oh believe me, I know and understand that. Like how the meaning of "gay" and "literally" have changed within my mothers lifetime. That doesn't mean I can't prefer one language over another, as that's a personal preference.

[@kaitan4160]

@@heidirichter Dont forget Nouns that change Genus. And only the Genus. You know the Typical "Das Auto" becomes "die Autos" like in most cases. But then there are the exceptions that only change Genus. "Der Krankenwage" becomes "die Krankenwagen". No way around those exceptions but to jsut learn them all. The plural rules dont apply anymore.

[@ryuuakiyama3958]

A few things that may help: When you have a noun and verb spelled and pronounced differently, generally the voiceless f/s/th form is the noun advice (n.) / advise (v.) - /æd'vais/ v. /əd'vaiz/ grief (n.) / grieve (v.) - /griːf/ v. /griːv/ proof (n.) / prove (v.) - /pruːf/ v. /pruːv/ wreath (n.) / wreathe (v.) - /riːθ/ v. /riːð/ Also... house (n.) / house (v.) - /haus/ v. /hauz/ (yes, they're pronounced differently). This will not make things much easier, but as for why "prove", "grove", and "love" are all written with the same -o- vowel, as with "come" and "home", or "done" and "bone", is because of conventions developed to help people cope with archaic handwriting, and also a few historical sound changes. English once had two long-o sounds, one written "o" or "oo", and the other written... "o" or "oa"... The "oo" sound was pronounced roughly as in German "Boot", but it later became the sound in English "boot", while the "oa" sound (originally roughly as the "aw" in "law") shifted to sound like the older "oo" sound. *Usually*, sequences of "o" + consonant + "-e" were this second "oa" sound, but a few of them were the first one, the one that became the "boot" sound. The use if -e to mark a preceding vowel as being long has its root in another sound change: the -e was probably once pronounced as it now is in German at the end of a word, and this usually made the preceding vowel longer, and, if the consonant were f, s, or th, usually also changed its pronunciation. Then the -e ceased to be pronounced, but it was seen as useful for pointing out that a preceding vowel was long, and that the consonant was maybe different if it were -s- or -th-. The "boot" and "boat" sounds were close enough that some people didn't really notice they were different, or didn't care to distinguish them, and so voilà, "move" and "prove" sounded enough like they rhymed with "stove" and "grove", why bother writing "moove" and "proove", or "stoave" and "groave"? So, why the love/dove/done/come? That's because of ancient handwriting! Because of the way Norman scribes wrote, u, m, and n tended to have very similar stroke patterns, so they used "o" simply because it was more visually distinct. It represented a vowel rather like the one in modern "put". Does this help you remember anything? Probably not, but now you know a little bit more about why we spell words in this rather absurd fashion. Also, notes on "pronounce" v. "pronunciation": During the early modern period, just before the Great Vowel Shift, in the third-to-last syllable, vowels tended to contract, hence: "divine" /də'vain/, but "divinity" /də'vɪ.nə.tiː/ (also "sublime, sublimity" follow this pattern) "pronounce" /prə'nauns/, but "pronunciation" /prə.nʌn.(t)siː'ei.ʃən/ (also "denounce, denunciation" follow this pattern) This is most frequently observed in pairs of verbs, and nouns derived from them; the words are usually Norman or Latin in origin, and will attach a Norman or Latin suffix. This does not, however, usually apply in compound words where both elements have discernible independent meanings (as in "homecoming"), or when a word is derived from a native English root by applying native morphemes (as in "homelessness"), probably because they're both etymologically transparent, and also later coinages. A few words were missed in certain varieties (such as "dynasty", US. /'dai.nəs.tiː/ UK /'dɪ.nəs.tiː/). This is also probably not helping your memory. Hopefully it was, however, informative.

[@dougwyman3190]

I have to protest! at 4:30.. protesters = "Pro Testers" [not prod-esters] ❤️ the 🐇

[@MatthewSuffidy]

Can be protestant tho.

[@alexysq2660]

Well actually, she'd been pronouncing it somewhat similarly to the way the word "Protestant" is correctly pronounced; so rather understandable 'error', actually.

[@schoolingdiana9086]

Affect is generally an external thing. Effect is out towards the world. That’s one place where English shows Latin influence. The rest . . . English developed from Old Norse. And the spelling “irregularities” stem from differences in UK and US pronunciation. Great video! I was taught to read English via phonics only, so I break down the words that way when I’m spelling. It resolves most issues. z.B.: Some nuances are slurred when you speed it up, like Wed-nes-day ends up sounding like Windsday because the /d/ is barely heard when speaking at-speed.

[@frostyw]

P.S. I have always stressed "test" in proTESTers.

[@jamesparson]

I hear that one too.

[@charlies.5777]

I'd DEFINITELY Go with PRO-test.

[@DarklordZagarna]

That's not correct. Ironically it is yet another word whose pronunciation varies based on the part of speech. Test should only be emphasized when using the verb "to proTEST".

[@danclay8229]

A southern US pronunciation sounds more like PRO-TESTer. Where both syllables are hard.

[@SBFay01]

Terrifically entertaining video. I liked that you touched upon American versus British English, at least briefly. I grew up, and so was educated, in America. However, at age 45, I lived in the UK for 5 years; first Leeds, England and then Glasgow, Scotland. During this "visit" I worked with Brits, Scots, Kiwi's (New Zealand), and Aussi's. In this way, I had to adjust my American ears to a kind of generalized Commonwealth English with regional idiosyncrasies. One funny saying we learned is that "England and America are two countries separated by a common language'. There are huge frustrations over differences of : * spelling (flavor versus flavour, tire versus tyre), * pronunciation (controversy), * both spelling and pronunciation (aluminum versus aluminium), and lastly, * Use (Americans wear their underpants or panties on the inside and pants on the outside, while Commonwealth-ers wear their pants on the inside and trousers on the outside) or (Americans wouldn't think twice at swatting a child on the "fanny" or wearing a 'fanny pack', but in the commonwealth, swatting someone on the 'fanny' is being entirely inappropriate with the WOMAN, and they wear 'bum bags'). Among my friends, the biggest gripes focus upon incorrect word usage in social media: + Your/You're + There/Their/They're I also hate how homonyms are confused by voice recognition software on smart phones and computers: + Lair/Layer + Hour/Our + Fare/Fair + Bare/Bear + Flair/Flare + Auto/Otto + Heard/Herd Lastly, the difference between American & Commonwealth conventions for date formats MM/DD/CCYY versus DD/MM/CCYY drove me to adopt a format that cannot be misunderstood , which is DD Mth CCYY (i.e. 25 Dec 2019). However, as a programmer, I really prefer CCYYMMDD as being hierarchically correct for sorting. LOL Thanks for this video installment.