The Chaos Of English Pronunciation by Gerard Nolst Trenité

This is different.
Even a native English speaker has to find this interesting. English must be a very old language, because how else could one explain the random way we pronounce words? I guess the one good thing that has come out of the chaos: spelling bees! ;)

[@dmanakell]

As a non-native speaker, this poem gives me headaches.

[@xbqchm]

As a non-native this poem encourages me to give up and to do it for good.

[@dmanakell]

don't give up. learn it by heart and have fun with it at parties when people are drunk.

[@MisteriousDarkMoon]

As an English teacher in México, this poem gives my students a migrane. Proper English pronunciation usually gives them a headache. as it is ...

[@hajouralouttes7983]

Ohhhh same here !!!!!

[@vladimirortega5846]

As a non native speaker this video was cake lol

[@Raven-ti6tf]

I’m a native speaker but even this shit had me thinking I’m trying to learn another language LMAO

[@mayacold8263]

Heck I also had my head spinning smh xD even though English is my first language

[@stonecat676]

say 'gunwale"

[@catazanoni1455]

😂 spanish is not like that In spanish you pronounce everything how it's written, and every letter always sound the same xd

[@defa8033]

@@catazanoni1455 dutch pronunciation isnt that hard either😁😁 just making the "ch", which is the spanish "h" sound (but then worse), is driving foreigners insane😂

[@catazanoni1455]

@@defa8033 h in spanish doesn't sound 😂 Is the only letter without sound (and sometimes "u" because we use it to change g pronunciation, for example in "guitarra" the g doesn't sound the same than "gitana", and with "q" xd) You mean the english h (that sounds like spanish j)

[@jasminlattimore4616]

The fact that I speak english and I still question how to pronounce some words. I honestly don't know why english is written this way. To whoever is learning english. Good luck and remember dont give up. Im trying to learn korean so i get how u feel

[@Kleo3392]

Jasmin Lattimore The reason is that English was not a standardized language for most of its history, including after it was invaded by Normandy and started borrowing French words. When it did become a literary language, spellings from some dialects merged with pronunciations from other dialects. Sounds merged and their spellings stayed different (hear, ere, bead, read, heed, meat, meet), and vowels were also spontaneously and inconsistently shortened before dental obstruents (head, lead, and bread, but read, lead and beat nevertheless) Pronunciation of borrowings also evolved with the language, depending on time of borrowing, sometimes the spelling changing with it, sometimes not. Also, words were re-spelled to reflect their Latin roots (indict used to be endyte). Honestly, there are so many reasons for individual words being inconsistent. This is not uncommon in vulgar, mongrel languages like English.

[@bawlstars7857]

You mean Korean*

[@jasminlattimore4616]

@@bawlstars7857 lol yea thanks for correcting me. I didnt even realize i spelt it wrong

[@bawlstars7857]

@@jasminlattimore4616 no probbu

[@kristinae.3941]

the korean way of writing and spelling makes more sense than english, there are sound change rules but they all make sense unlike english that's so random. best of luck learning

[@alexborghi3587]

For a foreign student like me it's good to hear the correct pronunciation of each word, in a funny way like you do. I really apriciate it

[@purpleanex]

Alex Borghi ..it's only useful if you want to speak American English, not English.

[@lewist7576]

purpleanex Precisely, we need some similar videos on REAL English.

[@anglomania4659]

I'm British, the pronunciation here is pretty similar in British and American. The point is that many of these words would be pronounced completely wrong by a non-native, and this is a good guide on how to pronounce these words correctly, even if it is in American English.

[@XXRolando2008]

@@anglomania4659 the R pronunciation at the end of words would be different though.

[@jonahs92]

@@purpleanex The largest population of English speakers worldwide is the United States. Most native English speakers are American. There are nearly 200 million MORE native speakers of English in the US than all other native English-speaking populations combined. So who are you to say that American English isn't English? The numbers are not on your side, my friend.

[@seigeengine]

And if that's not enough, pronunciation can differ by region, and group.

[@Yutoli0]

Careful, someone might think that rhymes with coup!

[@serasilva8214]

Yeah. I disagree with quite a few of these pronunciations, and I am a native English speaker. It really depends on where you live, or how people you grow up with pronounce it.

[@rochellealansmithee7966]

like muave. some people say “moowauve” and others say “mouve” and some say “mwave”

[@geraldobrien7323]

English pronunciation is not random. English spelling is random.

[@Phosphoric]

Explain that to me pal. Bare in mind how the majority of English words follow spelling rules. Its only modern day colloquialisms that occasionally do not.

[@jameslouder]

Phosphoric "Bare" in mind, eh? Wouldn't that be a bit immodest? I suppose it's allowed on certain philological beaches...

[@Phosphoric]

Meh, homonyms...

[@lorena0987]

both are!!

[@Julavo]

are you deaf or what dude?

[@Lamasticroute]

And English speakers say that French pronunciation makes no sense.... lol

[@Alltorn-N56]

+Lamasticroute Well some of the words in the poem are borrowed from French!

[@nathanhebert3891]

Okay but French pronunciations do make no sense it's just that English is also ridiculous

[@PsyX99]

+Lamasticroute If you know the rules in French (such as "o", "au" and "eau" have the same pronunciation) and that some letters are not pronounced (such as a "e" or"x" at the end of words) you can read French. It's not an easy language, grammar is horribly complex -I'm 24 and I'm still doing a lot of mistakes- but if you know the rules you can read and pronounce French with ease. (write what you ear require you to know the grammar and the orthography). You cannot do that in English. You cannot pronounced what you read if you never heard the word before. And the opposite is true : you cannot write a word by just listening to it - even though I agree you can be right about the orthography most of the time if you write it as it sound. I do think we, French, should do something to simplify our language. We already do know why it is complex (it's a good way to know if people are from an elite group or not, it has always been). Also this complexity require us to spend more time learning something basic, time we do not spend doing other things (such as Mathematics - more important).

[@niamor314]

+PsyX99 Toi t'as vu la vidéo de Linguisticae sur la réforme de l'orthographe, je me trompe ?

[@castleblack6941]

English speaker don't really understand Masculin and Féminin (e.g. why a chair is a "she" in french). My sister was struggling hard with that notion when she joined the family in France. *Edit*: fixed grammar

[@66flamer]

As an English major and writer I just want to say that was a damn good reading of this poem. All of the inflection just you read it perfectly. You read it now I hope someone will read my comment. Thank you thank you.

[@carultch]

English needs 13 vowel sounds. And the letter Eth brought back from the dead.

[@MikeFuller-ok6ok]

Well, did he recite it from memory? It took me 3 days just to learn a 6 line poem by Thomas Shadwell.

[@theorangeoof926]

@@MikeFuller-ok6okI would need the damn syllables for this entire poem next to the transcript in the slim chance I even get it right

[@MikeFuller-ok6ok]

@@theorangeoof926 OK. Thanks for the reply. Have a Great New Year!

[@chaosisblond]

He mispronounced some though, like chaise.

[@alxndrj.2573]

I'm glad Finnish is a phonetic language, meaning we can just look at a word and instantly know how to precisely pronounce it. Even if we haven't heard that word before.

[@andres_dev]

+Alxndr J. like Spanish

[@HARDTEKETAMINE]

+André$ not at all, Spaniards have a lot of problems with English pronunciation. our language is not a phonetic language, I mean, of course it is, all language are, but generally we pronounce the words the same way they are written, and English language is an extremely phonetic language because there are a lot of differences between the oral form and the written form of the words. in addition, English language have a lot of phonems that does not exist in Spanish language.

[@n0b0d1]

+HARDTEKETAMINE Indeed Spaniards have a tough time with English but I think he meant that Spanish also works like that. If you see a Spanish word you instantly know how it is pronounced.

[@HARDTEKETAMINE]

+n0b0d1 true, I missunderstood the comment. I thought he was comparing English language with Spanish language. greetings.

[@eduscapes3005]

Turkish is the same, if you know the pronunciation of the accented words, then the whole language is immediately demystified... it is what I am learning now anyway :)

[@agustinalem1390]

That's why I love spanish, we have only 5 vowel sounds, you can't commit mistakes. And a lot of words have marked accent. So you can not mistake accentuation/stress either.

[@qwertytypewriter2013]

Commit and "cometer" are false friends ;) In this case one would say "to make mistakes." Commit is more like "comprometerse." Saludos desde México ;)

[@denisebranquinho2377]

Portuguese too!!!!

[@BernardoPatino]

@@qwertytypewriter2013 But you can also _commit_ a crime

[@peregrinusmundi5372]

As a non-hispanic who has learned spanish language , I should say that spanish accentuation system is totally pointless, and has no benefit for the language at all and I am sure it will someday be declared obsolete , Spanish as an indo-european language depends on its grammatical morphology -syntax unlike " agglutinative" languages such as Hungarian or " tonal " such as Chinese that the words need symbols to show the tone of the words.

[@qwertytypewriter2013]

@@BernardoPatino Touché

[@KajSeVai]

I am supposed to present this poem as a speech flawlessly in my english class.... I am german and in 10th grade... I am kind of terrified by this thought xD believe me... my pronunciation is good compared to my classmates but that is a hell of a task. Anyway I will accept the challenge... ^-^ speaking English as well as natives do is a goal I hope to reach sometime in the future even if it is a lot of effort. please correct my writing mistakes ^-^ I want to improve myself.

[@robertfernandez3746]

only thing i saw wrong in there was not adding 'the' in front of future, otherwise great :p

[@christiansoza4234]

Good Luck my firend!! Our teacher said that she will give 5 points!!! to anyone who memorizes and says this poem correctly by the end of the term (in 2months) I HAVE TO LEARN IT!!, But i will do it with American accent cuz British is dififcult, Hope she still give me the points tho ?D

[@arunakanda4781]

Hey! Best of luck! BTW There are three mistakes in your comment: a. there should be a 'the' before future. b. it should be 'compared to' instead of 'compared with'. c. it should be 'terrified by this thought' or 'terrified of the thought that'. Otherwise everything else is ok.👍👍

[@farahlovesmitski]

Kaj Sebastian Väisänen I know this is old but same 😂

[@anglomania4659]

and english should be with a capital letter - English! (and German)

[@BrunoGenov]

Amazing how little sense the English language makes :)

[@isaacevilman7586]

Hey, it makes sense through tough thorough thought, though...

[@ottolehikoinen6193]

With republicans in charge, even less.

[@haferman92]

OMG I never realized that. How will I ever communicate again?

[@gavinsunderland4392]

Otto Lehikoinen what?

[@FF-wg3pd]

Though it is one of the easiest languages to learn

[@SinkaCsilla]

I was reading the comments below and I noticed that a particular person doesn't like this mans way of reading poem. I'll tell you that THIS way is easier to learn the pronunciation of these words, which is important for me ( first year student at English Language and Literature) since I study phonemic transcription. Like someone said, this is like a longer tongue twister, not a peom by Shakespeare ( although this poem is also a form of art and needs to be appreciated).

[@yummyorangefinch]

As I already explained, this is not a tongue twister. Also, my criticism was about all metric poems, not just this one. I don't know what studying phonemic transcription has to do with the way this poem is read. I also don't see how this way of reading the poem would make it easier to learn the pronunciation than reading it any other way.

[@SinkaCsilla]

It's simple :) The WAY he says them is unique, and sometimes he even points to them ( for example, when he points at his shirt "Your dress will tear"). That's why it's easier to learn it. E.g. Arkansas. I didn't know it's pronunciation until I saw this video. "How did he say it?" Boom! Then I know the pronunciation. By the way, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or such. I just said my opinion :)

[@yummyorangefinch]

Okay, so hearing it out loud and seeing a reference with the word is helpful, but he could just as easily have done that without the excessive facial expressions and annoying intonations and pauses. You didn't hurt my feelings or offend me, I just don't think what you're claiming makes sense. I think the way I prefer it to be read would be just as easy for you to learn from.

[@mickthenick1]

I don't think that what you are claiming makes any sense either. People can decide for themselves which way of narratiing a poem is pleasant or helpful to them. I happen to like this narrator's version, and am not at all impressed by your arguments that a) you don't like it (good for you!) and b) your preferred way is assumedly 'just as easy to learn from'. Even if it was, it still is nothing but your personal preference, with which you are fully congratulated, but it does not mean a thing to other people.

[@rinhato8453]

"Your way of learning is wrong and redunant, learn my way instead." is so incredibly condescending. Good job.

[@thahanchaiyen]

I won't give up to learn English pronunciation, not after this video. :) I like the way the poem is presented, it delivers a lot of cultural empathy by emphasizing (with gestures) those words that are pronounced in the most counter-intuitive ways. Thank you from Switzerland.

[@myyellowlabfan]

So true... we have no idea how difficult English is to comprehend by non-native speakers...

[@michaelns9887]

Izi. Nuthin difikult

[@newchap7670]

english is very ezi

[@LazierSophie]

English is one of the most difficult languages to pronounce correctly.

[@kevinsantos5050]

And it clearly doesn't help that the spelling of the word doesn't really reflect on how it is pronounced nor were the accent is placed. For example, in Spanish you can have 2 words spelling the same but the meaning change on where the accent is placed just like English. but here is the kicker Spanish have this symbol ' above the letter that has the accent, that way you can know when reading where the accent is going. In English there is no such a thing so you have to guess where the accent is going or at least to have listened to the word before so you can know where the accent is going, so yeah , also vocals have different sounds depending on the surrounding of the letter but that rule can be broken like tear and tear. So yeah, is kinda hard, I could say even harder than learning spanish.

[@kormendymatyas8667]

it's pretty easy tho, the internet is flooded by english and we also learn it in schools from age 8

[@priyanshimiglani]

2:01 no that's pronounced yanny:D Nice video well

[@izzythetrashposter5710]

wow original

[@kunstderfugue]

@@izzythetrashposter5710 I laughed. Did you? Cuz that's what's important

[@elisesimone613]

Oh c’mon I was about to comment that.

[@freefirex86gamer25]

Didn't understand

[@artman40]

@@freefirex86gamer25 There is a sound that, in lower pitches, sounds "Yanny" and in higher pitches, sounds like "laurel". At what pitch does one start to sound like the other varies per person.

[@Nanaosaki77]

the problem is not English pronunciation itself, the problem is its spelling. I think that the latin alphabet is not for English, this language needs its own writing system!! My first language is Spanish and every time I read a new word, I always know how to pronounce it. The same happens to French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, etc, because this alphabet was created to be used by us, the romantic-languages-speakers.

[@markiec8914]

I have to correct you on this note. The Latin alphabet had developed from the Greek Cumae alphabet which itself was evolved from the non-indoeuropean Phoenician alphabet. Ultimately, when Christianity gained foothold in the British Isles in the 3rs/4th century (before the Saxons) the Latin alphabet had been used for hundreds of years. Once the Anglo-Saxon elite became converted to Christianity themselves they continued to use Latin as the language of liturgy and learning, To preserve their written language (Old English) they had to abandon their runic script and adapt a variation the Latin script. This was the same for many other non Romance languages such as those of the Baltic-Slavic group (i.e Lithuanian or Polish) or other Germanic languages (i.e Dutch, German or Swedish).

[@Polbeer91]

FerrJiménez I don't think it has much to do with the alphabet. The dutch (or other germanic languages) were not made for the alphabet either, that is why we have so many vowels (a, e, i, o, u, aa, ee, ie, oo, uu, ei, ij, au, ou, oe, ui, and that's just the spelling, many of them can be pronounced differently depending on the letters around them.) But here in the Netherlands we have a commision that changes the spelling every 10 years or so to make sure it (sort of) keeps up with the changing pronounctuation. Ofcourse the major downside of this is changing the spelling. Another reason spelling is often incosistent is the origins of the word. In both English and Dutch, many words come from French for example, sometimes keeping french spelling and pronounctiation

[@Nanaosaki77]

Marc-antonio Henry Polbeer91 Hello, what I mean is that English is difficult to much people because we don't really understand its writting system. Look how the same "ea" may be pronounce in many different ways!

[@thaleslinke]

FerrJiménez I understand your point and it makes sense, but bro, if you always know how to pronounce a word in portuguese just by reading it then you probably don't know enough portuguese.

[@baileybussiere5216]

There have actually been several alphabets made specifically for English but they never caught on because that would mean a lot of signage would have to be changed. You can probably find them on wikipedia. I really liked one called Quikscript. Some others are the Shavian Alphabet and Deseret.

[@JimmmyJams]

Don't be discouraged! Many of the words in this poem are uncommon and many native speakers don't know the proper pronunciations. Keep working! :)

[@Ubeogesh]

pronunciations? how about meanings?

[@oneandonlysw1tch]

For the meanings Google lol

[@user-jd3tv6cn1o]

At least they know their meanings 🥲

[@ablurida]

very surprised at your pronunciation of 'job' 🤔

[@linguaphile9415]

Anglophones, listen: Your writing system is fucked up.

[@jessep3079]

blame the great vowel shift en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift

[@msotil]

German pronunciation is straightforward (easy to learn, few exceptions), but the syntax is too complex. It is not easy to learn proper academic German.

[@xbqchm]

Neither is it to learn proper academic English. I think it is not easy to master any langaugae that's not one's mothertongue to a proper academic elvel.

[@yarmo28]

Actually, it is not easy to learn proper academic English, French, Spanish, etc. German is no different; it's just easier to spell.

[@twifanly]

English was my second language, but I learned English at such a young age that my first language was put on the back burner. I think what helped me learn English quickly, and even now, was associating words with images and definitions, so I have something to associate the word to - a sound, an image, and the pronounciation. A big thing that was taught to me learning English when I was 5 was the definition of words, so I always thought about what a word meant and connected it to an image rather than an abstract word that's only a collection of letters. Even now, learning bigger words and more abstract words, abstract sentences, on the cusp of university, writing down words and their definitions helps a lot.

[@markushalfmad]

Despite the respite, even Stephen Philips thought the plough was tough through the thought, though reading about Reading he saw that Nice was nice So show no brow and have a row in the front row cloth for both boats, those whose hull is full of roe and ore and row with oars For four heirs needed air and kneaded dough to feed a doe and hear a bear here and there I guess the reason there's this chaos in spelling vs pronunciation is that the Enlish language (as we know it today) originated fom several different languages and at the same time people tried to keep the original spelling of the words, they aslo tried to keep their original pronunciation .

[@sharonhall5901]

This is an excellent rendition. Speaking UK English I pronounce some words differently - I'd say mauve to rhyme with grove, plait to rhyme with cat, granary to rhyme with planner-y, leisure to rhyme with pleasure. I think there's an alternative pronunciation of housewife in old English as well. Something like huhziv. Still - your animated telling with the poem on the side still makes this the best version I'm seen.

[@davebilson]

I didn't know Americans pronounced Job as Jobe though?

[@talissonpedro9694]

80% those words I even didn't Know lol

[@denielkailabine6614]

Me rn

[@echobounce2945]

And 90% of those words, I did know. :p

[@rogerwilco2]

I think that this is the reason that when English native speakers see a word in a foreign language they proclaim: "I don't know how to pronounce that!" Most languages pronounce words like they are written and have regular spelling reform to keep the written en spoken word in sync. English hasn't had a spelling reform since the middle ages, and is a mix of Germanic and Romance languages to begin with. The result is that English pronunciation has to be learned by rote learning each word, unlike most languages, where you can read a word and know how it's pronounced.

[@Elsenoromniano]

This makes me remember what a coleague germanist said to me : " When they learn to write properly, then maybe we start comunicating in their language" (said in german) (I'm a spaniard, he is dutch)

[@ChrisAbbott]

Try this after a few Rums....

[@TheMurlocKeeper]

It'd be a nasty drinking game. :P You'd die from alcohol poisoning by line 10. :D

[@ChrisAbbott]

TheMurlocKeeper Ha haa yes you would :)

[@claudiopolonia7854]

But where is the rum gone ?

[@jrcarrillo7791]

After a couple coronas you will speak perfect English 😂

[@frouk62]

And some says that French doesn't spell as it sounds :)

[@NetAndyCz]

I like Italian (and Japanese). There might be some exceptions or additional rules but once you know them you know how to read what is written. And when you hear something you knwo how to write ti down. I hate this in English most, when I heear somethign I do not understand it is so hard to know how to write ti down.

[@watchmakerful]

French is MUCH more regular than English. If you know that "eau" sounds like "o", it will sound "o" almost everywhere. Compare with "eau" in borrowed words in English, like "beauty"...

[@Wolfeur]

@@watchmakerful should be spelled "biutih"

[@watchmakerful]

@@Wolfeur Or simply "buty".

[@Wolfeur]

@@watchmakerful I'm afraid they would manage to pronounce it "buhty"

[@coolstorybro6154]

This poem sounds so much better in the british pronunciation, and most importantly, read in a poetic pace makes it so much more catchy

[@TheFinalPlace]

Yep, totally agree

[@kevkevin1555]

coolStoryBro agree :)

[@doowoppyify]

Exactly, because the guy in the video sounds like a complete dickhead. LOL

[@gisesa]

This poem sounds so much better in the British pronunciation

[@SanaSamaha]

I did not know how to pronounce "victual."

[@SanaSamaha]

***** Okaaay...

[@watchmakerful]

It's "vittles", another word (but closely related and borrowed much earlier)...

[@patrickcarlmacario932]

Me too

[@Meijimack]

@Jules Moules Interesting, because I first heard the word watching 'The Beverley Hillbillies' back in the 1970's and I thought 'vittels' was their Ozark Mountains type mispronunciation. The Dickens reference is new to me.

[@jauxro]

Me too. And apparently "terpsichore" isn't pronounced "terp-si-core", who knew

[@Boris-uz1kw]

As a French speaker, I've to say your pronunciation is both terrifying and wonderful!

[@Voltorb1993]

Me before watching this video: "I am not a native speaker but I am pretty good at English!" Me after watching this video: "I know nothing."

[@sirhenrypatschislewsky5248]

Haha,me too

[@leviackerman7226]

Yes me too 😭

[@user-jr4js3zb1w]

*brain.exe has stopped working*

[@RichardGoldwaterMD]

I grew up in Boston, where we pronounced 'aunt" to rhyme with 'font"; to call my mother's sister 'ant' compared her to an insect. Life changed when we moved 200 miles to to New Joisey, where everyone sounded like an insect, and I was laughed at for sounding pretentious. All this testifies to the DIVERSITY of the English language, which begins with the merger of Anglo-Saxon (German) with Norman (French). Note that 'lower-class' expressions have German feet, while sophisticated or intellectual lingo trace back to Latin and Greek. Each idiosyncratic pronunciation has a unique origin story that concatenate into the most inclusive, hence most expressive language on earth.

[@Unascuantasporfavor]

+Richard Goldwater (Doctor Whom) agree +1

[@kayl456jenna]

+Richard Goldwater (Doctor Whom) I read once that English came about from Norman soldiers trying to pick up Saxon barmaids, and the result was as similar legitimacy.

[@RichardGoldwaterMD]

+Tom Carman Gee, you make history sound so.. so.. human. Of course, all the Normans knew about was wine -- Charlemagne's vineyard is still in business. So, I guess to score they had to learn about beer.

[@abuomar975]

How are you doing. Possible communicate with me Watts 00966542222975

[@hornyak12]

*New Jersey... I don't know anyone who pronounces it Joisey.

[@arianaanazco660]

El verdadero evento canónico de los que estudiamos inglés fue aprendernos esto

[@Ph4n_t0m]

A most excellent rendition! Thank you for doing justice to a beloved poem! (My mother was an English teacher and had this on the wall of our house, so it has been with me my whole life. I refer so many people to it; living here in Switzerland. Mostly, I use it to console my colleagues by showing them that even I, a native English speaker, trip over certain combinations in this poem)

[@goldwinger5434]

We all know that English is chaotic because it has roots in Latin, Greek, Hindu, Arabic, German(ish), French, Italian, Spanish, American Indian (many nations), Tagalog, a few African languages, Chinese, Japanese, and Australian Aborigine.

[@CalliKira]

Fantastic job on this. Thanks for taking the time to do it!

[@genericbotface]

An excellent reading for my English learners! You speak so clearly and at a good pace, so they'll be able to follow you, think about the words and hopefully memorize chunks at a time. Thanks for this!

[@alh.21]

EVEN THOUGH I ONLY SPEAK ENGLISH, THIS ANGERS ME

[@ahmadalenzi1985]

MY English teacher brought me here😊

[@hopefulrecords]

same!

[@ilana7745]

Same

[@dontknowwhatimdoinghere8942]

Same😂😂😂😂

[@farahlovesmitski]

Same

[@LEOMARTSPARTAN]

Same >:|

[@dc4457]

It isn't so much that English pronunciation is chaotic, but that we haven't had any spelling reform. Spelling is still based on Shakespeare and the King James Bible. In those days the words that were spelled alike tended to sound alike. Bury rhymed with furry (and also fury), for example. Over the past 400+ years pronunciation has shifted but the establishment has fought spelling reform tooth and nail. Theodore Roosevelt tried it in the US at the beginning of the 20th century and about the only things he managed to get accepted were dropping the British "u" from words like colour, flavour and honour. And some people accepted spelling through "thru", probably because they were tired of the confusion with thorough.

[@NellieKAdaba]

Interesting

[@Woggyflush]

and *why* was it necessary to drop the "u" from "colour"?

[@NellieKAdaba]

Woggy Flush , I ask myself the same thing, and about other spelling changes, confusing for non-English speakers.

[@dc4457]

Woggy Flush the goal was to simplify spelling by dropping silent letters and changing double letters pronounced as a single sound "phantasy" became "fantasy" for example. Apparently there was a bit more success than i though. try this link if you want more info en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Spelling_Board

[@Nikosi9]

Woggy Flush Because, it's not necessary? Beside, with the "u" it looks too French...

[@ivanchagasp]

I really do love thIs poem. After five years thinking I knew English fairly well, then I lived with a British girl and Americans and started learning other languages, I realized how average English I still speak. Though I almost aced at TOEFL score, these differences still make me kinda love and hate the language. It's pretty amusing and amazing, I must confess.

[@Meijimack]

The Chaos was written in 1922 by Dutch scholar Gerard Nolst Trenite. For a complete version of the poem, with commentary, see: ncf.idallen.com/english.html

[@helendiprima4119]

It’s FANTASTIC!👍👏 I’m listening again and again! Thank you!❤

[@samuelsouthard2348]

I don't get the negative comments :/ I thought this was great.

[@celsodecarvalho8525]

***** You are right, This is amazing. I loved it! Congratulations to this guy, thanks ye all.

[@sanaanimates9754]

Same

[@morrafi6493]

At 5:25 it's funny because even his gorge said :" I didn't sign for this shit, let me quit" 🤣🤣🤣. Besides, it's so good to learn the good prononciation of each of these words at the same time. Thanks.

[@vikkikim7680]

Шикарно ! спасибо огромное !!!!! у вас талант !! Gorgeous !!! thanks a lot !!! You really have talent !!

[@ereiniongil-galad]

I'm a native speaker and I would probably mispronounce a good 10-20% here Also, can we talk about how this guy read the poem so well? He would make a good voice actor!

[@Kirbman]

I'm glad I started to learn English as a second language very early on in my life. It would probably be very painful if I had to learn it from scratch now.

[@markstephenson5118]

Read carefully and you;ll see that Trenite had British English pronunciation in mind. Some of the subtleties are lost by reading it with an American accent.

[@kellyakoum1884]

EXACTLY. So many people do not realise that

[@TheEmptyHead_]

I have this as extra credit for my English classes and my god, I don’t think I’ll EVER get this right

[@geniaeffe6222]

Thanks for publishing this! I've been studying English for years now and I just stumbled on this poem and had no clue how some of those words were pronounced, especially in the midst of all the others. It was great to listen to the whole thing!

[@dansan9845]

3:29 *some say he is still pronouncing "job" as "jobe" to this day*

[@SimonChr90]

He talks about the Bible there, like the Book of Job, not about a job.

[@laracroftvideos]

@@SimonChr90 It's kind of vague whether the poem meant "job" or "Job(e)" since it's the first word and hence it's capitalized... It can be pronounced both ways depending on how one interprets it. I pronounced it as jahb the first time I read the poem to myself just because I failed to make the Bible connection there.

[@kaye.mp4]

I was really looking for this comment. But is it Job or job?

[@allasar]

In the version of the poem I have read (www.monologues.co.uk/004/Chaos-The.htm) , it says "job, Job, ... ", instead of "Job, nob, ... " meaning the biblical Job and the word job are spelled the same but pronounced differently. So I think he was correct and Trenite ment Job, not job.

[@elizabethreynoso4748]

As a native speaker and English author, this poem comes very naturally to me. It takes hard work and practice! Don't loose hope!

[@sayUlumme79]

Lose not loose 😁

[@Fritz9672]

Yikes lmao.

[@Voltorb1993]

A friendly reminder that every C in "Pacific Ocean" is pronounced differently.

[@Sarariman23]

Most underrated comment.

[@pjmac1446]

👏👏

[@jonathanrodriguez5633]

I really love the way that this man performs the poem...

[@asobimo5532]

As a non-English speaker I'm amazed at how much I actually know (some I never even hear of I didn't know how to pronounce, but ones I heard at least once I knew at once). If you actually listen to English so much you get used to it. At this point I'm thinking in English and I'm have problems remembering some words from my native language. I think it also depends on how you learned this language. I did through listening conversation even tho at that time I could only half-understand what was happening but after time it was easy. That's why when we do grammar in English cass I can never explain to my teacher how I found the answer, I just know how to do it (bcs I got used to the sound, I know if I did it incorrectly bcs the sound would be wrong when I say that sentance). That's why I have problems with questions where I have to use only one time example Past Perfect, or Present Continuous and so on. When I speak I know I said right, but I can't make a difference between the tenses. That's why when it's demanded from me to use only one to build a sentance ir finish the sentance, I have to study how the sentance is built in that time.

[@jameslouder]

The polyglot development of modern English has made the language susceptible to picking up new vocabulary from any source that's ready to hand. In all the lands that the English colonized new words were added and sometimes new dialects emerged. The variety of English used in India is a good example of this, and many Indian words came home to England with returning traders and troopers. American English went its own way, absorbing all sorts of words from the many immigrants who came from all over the world. This goes a fair way to explaining the vagaries of English pronunciation and still more, of English spelling. However, these apparent illogicalities often reveal important clues to the origins of English words and so to their meaning. Etymology is the key to mastering the language, which well-meaning reformers of spelling would unwittingly destroy.

[@angelmendez-rivera351]

James Louder Invalid argument. You say this as if English was the only language in the word that borrowed words from multiple other languages, but this is far from true. The majority of the major languages, many of which are European, are inherently of polyglot origin. Yet these other languages still have phonetic consistency and lack these problems that English has. So clearly the problem is not one of etymology. The problem is strictly phonetic. More specifically, it's the fact that English speakers at all costs refuse to make universal rules that assign a unique phoneme to each string of symbols.

[@rodrigoadrianrodriguezaedo4477]

Etymology is not a good excuse to keep this spelling so inconsistent

[@Sailor570]

There it goes my dream of someday speaking fluently...

[@riclare]

This poem makes me finally see how non-native speakers may find English difficult to learn.

[@justthejoseph1650]

Am I the only one who noticed how he pronounced "job"?

[@nigelriley5538]

He's being "clever", well it's a clever poem. It's not a profession type job, it's a person's name (from the Bible).

[@bhadattitude3579]

I'm halfway through and It feels like I've just forgot how to speak english

[@CarlosLopez-ko8xm]

AMAZING Jimmy, just discovered this in 2022. Practicing it frequently!

[@sandyjeepones1916]

This is one of the best version so far, thank you

[@RideAnotherDay]

This is one of the toughest poems to read and pronounce properly. B+ on taking this poem on. It wasn't perfect, but a very good job nonetheless. I would like to clarify the pronunciation of a couple of words though: Topsail is pronounced as either top-sale or top-sil (short i sound) Melpomene is pronounced as mel-paw-m-knee and not mel-pe-m-knee Chaise is pronounced as sheyz and not like chase (to pursue) Southern is pronounced with an uh sound as in suh-thrn or uh-me-ri-kun and not saw-thrn Hope this helps.

[@rulerchop4032]

He pronounced it with a southern accent for effect

[@TheFinalPlace]

There is no rule to pronunciation in english... I think it's really weird You have to know just because you know, not because it makes any sense

[@fghelmke]

Great poem to learn the (usually two) ways of pronouncing English phonems. Rarely there are more than two. 🎉🎉🎉

[@hijozel]

this helped me a lot in high school, just went back after many years to thank you!

[@thebusinessgoat]

i listenned the whole thing and my only thought was: "he said ass huehuehue"

[@allancampbell1342]

Its not pronunciation thats weird. Its spelling!

[@angelmendez-rivera351]

Allan Campbell No, its pronunciation. The spelling precedes the pronunciation in every modern language. Hence any inconsistency necessarily comes from its phonetics. English speakers decided to pronounce already existing words in a very nonsensical way without consistency, just pretty much pronouncing it in whichever way they thought best, and now we have this mess. Of course, this has to do with the fact that the words were borrowed, but that's not a valid justification. Every language borrows a significant amount of words from other languages, yet they don't have this problem.

[@curiousitykilledthecat678]

This is a tongue twister even for me, British born and raised, don’t lose heart trying to learn it, even we make mistakes sometimes!! Good luck

[@EnglishAboutYou]

Well done! Anyone thinking this is easy should have a go themselves at pronouncing the whole poem. English pronunciation can indeed be challenging, even for native speakers. I didn't realise quite how hard it was until I recorded a version of The Chaos myself.

[@helenetrstrup4817]

The longer I listened to this the more I felt like finding this, copying and pasting it into google translate simply just to see what would happen. I'm not sure why. I do find this a fun one to read (just to test how far one can get without screwing up) as it really is mind-boggling how many different ways the same combination of letters can be pronounced xD

[@CaptainSG8forever]

I used to think my English was good, and I felt pretty proud of myself being able to pronounce words like corps properly, but this is on another level.

[@ricardohernando1829]

I Love English and speak it myself as a second language but sometimes it doesn't make any sense with regards to pronunciation, yet that's precisely what I find most eye-catching, most eye-catching indeed....

[@XSAM19]

this sums up all the things I've ever said about pronunciation in english language (as a foreign).

[@Itscalistarodriguez]

I have been pronouncing "Arkansas" Ar-Kansas for 15 years 😅

[@Jay-bt1xj]

Callie :3 same tho

[@peacefulamerican8803]

Lol. It’s Arkan-saw in pronunciation. Arkansas in spelling.

[@seaandra79]

I thought this was great! And for the people who keep saying he mispronounced "Job," he didn't. In the longer version of this poem, the Author actually uses both Job and job. The pronunciation of J-oh-b here is the name Job, like the book of Job, from the Bible. :)

[@purpleanex]

Seaandra Richardson ...but...he's American. He knows nothing about English pronunciation.

[@user-em7xd9vd7u]

Delightful :-) always liked puzzles and irregularities of English

[@timpinxteren]

I read this read like a sirenic song, adoring the flowing, glowing eloquence dance! This aught to be taught - not to taunt - in English class en masse, not to sass, yet rather to pass ones ass well classed. (Hahaha this is awesome!)

[@najibh477]

"my advice is to give up"

[@MrAlexAllan]

Awesome poem and a beautiful reading of it. I am definitely using this poem in my ELT lessons. Credits will be given! Thank you so much for posting this!

[@avahunziker5923]

This could be the ultimate poem to learn as a student. You say it 100% right and you go straight to college.

[@user-uv1uc1sb7m]

The best motivation to learn English...

[@SamanthaSpeakz]

I've been saying preface wrong my whole life I'm 24 and I've always said pre-face

[@purpleanex]

Samantha H ...that's because you're only 24...and you're whole life is just a blink of the eye.

[@LazierSophie]

Preface is a French word (la préface). The English word is pronounced more or less the French way.

[@limuco2052]

"Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel" Nope, it's "kitchen, lichen, laundry, yanny"

[@skyfallprime7977]

This is hilarious and I'm not even a native English speaker. The ending made me laugh a lot

[@tprice7980]

My wife came to Atlanta from Vietnam where she attended French Catholic schools from age 3 to 17. She took English class every year - taught by a French nun. She could read and write English perfectly. The first thing I heard her say (while looking at a microscope preparation of live Daphnia-water fleas) "Oh. It hopes like a grasshooper!". I've felt sorry for people trying to learn to speak English ever since. Just a few years later on a visit to New York she said in front of the Concierge "Ya'll go stand over there. We're fixin to go to supper but I need to talk to this lady over heah". The woman looked at her and said "I don't believe you".

[@JuanHerrero]

I was lucky to have a British teacher for some years in school. And of course we had listening tapes/cds. And if you cared enough DVDs usually include the original (English) soundtrack. And nowadays there is the internet. Whenever I hear someone my age speak English like they are reading the transliteration in a phrasebook I wonder what is their problem.

[@swhat9203]

As someone who speaks both French and English, I think all the pronunciations make sense if I look at the spelling, but it is still so random. XD

[@novenskytheard9241]

My English teacher brought me here. He told me to record them in my own voice🤷🏽‍♂️

[@wesleyomena672]

I won't give up, give up of convincing people to give up, even though learning English may be hard it is not impossible, I know a lot of people who started studying English and nowadays they're fluent, so keep on trying no matter what they say.

[@laurenceweens4492]

Yes! Gave me a headache too, but loved it! Forwarding it to my niece in France who is an English teacher!!

[@jdb47games]

I have never heard even a native anglophone pronounce every word in this poem correctly. There were errors here, as always. Plait is pronounced platt, and housewife used to be pronounced hussif.

[@TheGodsrighthandman]

And, of course, there is the fact that English has a Germanic base in Anglo-Saxon, Jutish, etc but with influences/words from Latin, French, Norse, British, Gaelic, Urdu, Arabic etc. It's truly the language of the globe . . . .

[@piernicolacasucci7546]

All languages get influence from an immense amount of cultures, although it is true that English as had about as much influence from germanic languages as from romance languages.

[@piernicolacasucci7546]

But you still get more germanic words on colloquial language and more Latin words in written language

[@angelmendez-rivera351]

The Gods Right-Hand Man The language of the globe? You make me laugh. Half it's vocabulary is Romance, and 35% is Germanic-Slavic. There are very few words coming from the Semitic languages or any other language family. So explain to me how does that make it a globe language.

[@p4ul.f708]

5:47 Even he made a mistake and wasnt 100% flawless. I can rest easy now 😅 No seriously, this reading was absolutely incredible! 👍

[@taferaldi]

Where's the mistake? I'm Spanish and I want to know the correct pronunciation

[@niki_singing]

Wow I’m a native speaker and that definitely caught me off guard many times😂 This was so fun

[@lissfirefly9517]

Technically Job has two pronunciations Jahb and Jobe. Bass is pronounced two ways, one rhymes with ass, the other rhymes with ace. One is a fish, the other is an instrument. One of the tear pronunciation DOES rhyme with ear.

[@timdavis97]

+Liss Firefly All the more to make this poem even better

[@vickykourbatova5433]

4:29 "Chaise" is pronounced with a "sh" sound (I believe because it is from French) so that line should have the "ch" spelling pronounced 3 different ways - sh, k, ch

[@simabenyoussef]

For someone who talks both English and French fluently, french is very complicated but it’s pronunciation is by far easier than English

[@shantanubondre2004]

This is actually fun to me... Whenever I'm bored I just read this poem😂😅🤷