Conquer Your Nemesis Words in English

What are your nemesis words?

Lately, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what I’ve jokingly termed “nemesis words.” Which words are the enemies you’re trying to conquer? When learning a language or working on our pronunciation as in American English, we all have them. These are words that no matter how much you practice them, you just can’t pronounce them right. 

Now frequently it’s just a matter of working out a difficult sound or a couple of difficult sounds or just becoming aware of the stress pattern of the word that’s enough to correct that word and allow you to say it perfectly or at least intelligibly.

Maybe you just avoid that word because you know it’s impossible. Sometimes family members or friends make fun of your pronunciation of certain words. Sometimes it’s just a difficult sound combination that you feel is impossible to actually move your tongue and mouth from one position to another smoothly and quickly enough. 

Is there a specific word or phrase that you just find absolutely impossible to say? 

Recently, I was talking to one of my advanced students and he mentioned that “water” was a nemesis word for him. This is not the first time I’ve heard that. Several people have asked me how to correctly say “water” in American English. “Water” is problematic because it has a combination of issues, starting with the fact that a lot of people in different parts of the world have originally learned British English, so they learn a very different pronunciation for the word. 

The American version has what we call a flap “T” so that “T” in the middle is actually a “D” sound. The “ER” at the end is fully pronounced. And for a lot of languages, the “W” is an issue. So there is a combination of issues that could potentially make “water” unintelligible for your American listener.

The issue may be compounded further in phrases. Words rarely come in isolation. They combine with other words, and even several words may sound like just one. Can you say “bottle of water” intelligibly? The word “bottle” can also be a challenge with the flap “T” and dark “L”. 

It can be frustrating when you ask for something so basic as water in a restaurant and the server doesn’t understand you.

Another nemesis word that I’ve come across is the word “squirrel”. “Squirrel” is full of difficult problematic sounds. It starts with an unusual consonant blend that includes a “W” sound, followed by an “ER” and finally a dark “L”.

Quite similar to “squirrel”, “girl” and “world” are often people’s nemesis words. But I think the granddaddy of this category is actually “rural”.  That’s even awkward for me, as is the name “Rory”.

How about “algorithm”? That’s a hard one that gets people too. 

Your problem words will differ depending on the sounds that your native language does not have. Your mouth and brain have just not made these movements before. Then the problem compounds when multiple problem sounds come together. 

Similar sounds in close proximity

Another interesting phenomenon occurs when similar sounds are in close proximity. It becomes a tongue twister. Do you have issues when “TH” and “S” or “Z” are close together in words like “Thursday”, “southern”, or “enthusiastic”? Do you tend to transfer the “TH” sound to the “S” where it doesn’t belong?

Or maybe that happens when “S” and “SH” come together like in “social” or “conscious”.

Or maybe your nemesis is final consonant clusters, where 2 or 3 consonant sounds are blended together at the end of words. Can you say “helped” or “worked”(both of those “ED” endings are pronounced “T”)? Or how about “next”? There are 3 consonant sounds there: K-S-T.

My personal nemesis word

Personally, I’ve been working on learning German. My nemesis word is “Regierung”, which means “government”. I just can’t seem to connect that “R” and “U” in the middle of the word. The German “R” is pronounced in the throat, so quite a different position from my American “R”. The “R” at the beginning, I can get okay, but it’s that “R” in the middle that I’m still really trying to get my anatomy to get in the position to pronounce. I am working on that and it will come eventually.  Right now it’s quite awkward, but I’m sure I’ll get closer to it as I practice more. 

I know it just takes getting used to unfamiliar movements. Certain parts of your mouth, your tongue, and your anatomy are moving in different ways than you’re accustomed to so it really takes a little bit of practice to move in these new ways that you’ve never done before. 

How to conquer your nemesis words

So first it takes awareness. You need to know what the problem actually is that’s preventing you from saying the word. Then, you need to know how to correct it. What needs to happen to say the sound, word, or phrase correctly? The first step is being able to get the correct mouth position and pronunciation in a controlled environment. Then, it takes conscious practice making those movements and going back and forth between problematic sounds to really make it happen. 

Once you’re able to do that, you just need to keep doing it again and again and again to start really getting into the habit of moving those muscles in new ways. You’re basically creating this muscle memory, so the next time you say this word or this combination of sounds, your mouth, and brain connect automatically and make these movements without you having to consciously think about it.

Maybe your nemesis words relate more to word stress than sounds. 

A lot of English learners don’t know how to tackle the pronunciation of long words like “vulnerability”, “reiterated”, and “conscientious”.

Do you keep a list of words that are problematic for you to pronounce?

What’s at the top of your list? If you don’t, you should. Let me know what are your personal nemesis words and nemesis sounds and sound combos. I’m planning on creating some new materials to help out in these difficult areas, so I’d appreciate the feedback so I can target your difficulties.