Tongue twisters can be a fun way of practising your pronunciation. Try some of the examples below aloud.

Shep Schwab shopped at Scott’s Schnapps shop;
One shot of Scott’s Schnapps stopped Schwab’s watch.

All I want is a proper cup of coffee,
Made in a proper copper coffee pot.

Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran.

The keen king kissed the quick queen on her green ring.

Other than their brother, I’d rather bother those
who gather worthier brethren than these.

And what is considered by many to be the most difficult tongue twister in English:

The sixth sick Sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.

Of course, tongue twisters do not only exist in English – most languages have them. The video below shows some examples from around the world.

Today’s LINGUA FRANCA Sprachschule blog post aims to tackle one of the greatest pronunciation challenges in the English language. What exactly is the name of the popular sauce in this picture?

Worcestershire Sauce (often shortened to Worcester Sauce) is a complex fermented liquid condiment. It comes from the British town of Worcester, which gives the sauce its name. It was popularized by the company Lea & Perrins. The key ingredients are barley malt vinegar, spirit vinegar, molasses, sugar, salt, anchovies, tamarind extract, onions, and garlic.

None of which helps us with the pronunciation. I’ll give you a clue – „Worcestershire“ has only 3 syllables (the short form „Worcester“ has only 2.) OK, ready? – here we go. Repeat after me. WUS-ter-sher – or /ˌwʊs.təʃə/ for the IPA-literate. And WUS-ter /ˌwʊs.tə/ for the short form. Easy, right? To hear an example, click here.

If you had trouble, take solace from this elderly Italian wearing a fabulously relevant T-shirt.

Hello and welcome to the LINGUA FRANCA Sprachschule blog. Today we are going to have a look at the different versions of English that exist around the world.

„The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.“
– George Bernard Shaw

And the difference between British and US English is just the beginning. Add the different regional accents of the US, UK, as well as those from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa etc. to the mix and you start to get an idea of the variation that exists within the English language. To see an example of this, have a look at the video below, which compares the accents of young women from the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Do you have a favourite?

The Chaos, a poem that highlights the madness of English pronunciation and spelling, was written by Dutch writer, traveller, and teacher Gerard Nolst Trenité at the turn of the 20th century. It includes about 800 examples of irregular spelling.

Try to read it aloud. The meaning is not important, it’s all about the sound. You can use the rhyme pattern to help you. Here is the first verse:

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.

For the complete poem, follow this link: http://www.i18nguy.com/chaos.html

And to find out how it should sound, you can watch this video: