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Many have said that sorry is the hardest word but they’d be wrong， linguistically speaking at least.
A poll found 10 words that Britons consistently find the most challenging to pronounce. The word they find hardest to pronounce is “phenomenon”. Next in the top 10 of tongue-twisters are “remuneration”， and “statistics”.
Speakers also have a problem getting their tongue around “ethnicity”， “hereditary” and “particularly”， according to the body charged with recording public utterances. Completing the list are “conjugal”， “specific”， “processes” and “development”.
Leah Willersdorf， of the BIVR， said， “We work with many different types of professionals and hear all kinds of voices during our work. However， when it comes to the English language it always seems to be the same few words that verbally trip people up， with the speaker having to repeat the word in order to get it right， or just abandoning their attempts and moving on.”
BIVR members were quizzed by the team behind the popular word game Scrabble. According to the words buffs， one in 10 players admits to being reluctant to producing words that they cannot pronounce.
University of York sociolinguistics expert Professor Paul Kerswill said the English language has evolved to compensate for tricky pronunciations but some words remain a challenge.
He said， “People always find a way of simplifying words that they find difficult to get their tongues round， so that an everyday word like ‘handbag’ sounds like ‘hambag’. Our forebears simplified ‘waistcoat’ to ‘weskit’—but we’ve turned our backs on that. And most people talk about ‘Febry’ and Wensday！”
很多人认为“对不起”是最难说出口的词，不过这样的说法不正确——至少从语言学的角度上说。
一项投票使英国人觉得最难发音的10个单词浮出水面。最难发音的单词是“phenomenon（现象）”。在十大最拗口的单词中紧随其后的是“remuneration（报酬）”和“statistics（统计数字）”。
根据人们在公共场合的发音记录，会使说话者发音困难，舌头打结的单词有：“ethnicity（民族）”“hereditary（遗传性）”“particularly（特别地）”。列表余下的单词还有“conjugal（婚姻的）”“specific（特殊的）”“process（过程）”和“development（发展）”。
英国速记人员协会成员莉亚·温勒斯多表示：“我们和许多不同类型的专业人士合作，在工作中听过各种发音。然而，在英语口语中，人们总是在某几个特定单词后犯错。说话者要重复该单词以纠正发音，又或者索性跳过这个单词，继续下面的话。”
英国速记人员协会的成员们通过拼字游戏完成了这个小测试。根据拼字游戏的结果，有十分之一的玩家承认，要拼出他们不会发音的单词有些困难。
约克大学社会语言学专家保罗·凯斯维尔表示，随着英语的演化，一些拗口的单词已经逐渐进化发展，但是一些很难发音的单词依然存在。
他说：“人们总是能够找到方法简化那些难以顺利发音的单词，这样，‘handbag（手袋）’这种日常单词会听起来像‘hambag’。我们的祖先把单词‘waistcoat（背心）’简化成了‘weskit’——不过后来我们又放弃了这一种说法。还有一些人把‘二月’读成‘Febry’，把‘星期三’读成‘Wensday’。”
A poll found 10 words that Britons consistently find the most challenging to pronounce. The word they find hardest to pronounce is “phenomenon”. Next in the top 10 of tongue-twisters are “remuneration”， and “statistics”.
Speakers also have a problem getting their tongue around “ethnicity”， “hereditary” and “particularly”， according to the body charged with recording public utterances. Completing the list are “conjugal”， “specific”， “processes” and “development”.
Leah Willersdorf， of the BIVR， said， “We work with many different types of professionals and hear all kinds of voices during our work. However， when it comes to the English language it always seems to be the same few words that verbally trip people up， with the speaker having to repeat the word in order to get it right， or just abandoning their attempts and moving on.”
BIVR members were quizzed by the team behind the popular word game Scrabble. According to the words buffs， one in 10 players admits to being reluctant to producing words that they cannot pronounce.
University of York sociolinguistics expert Professor Paul Kerswill said the English language has evolved to compensate for tricky pronunciations but some words remain a challenge.
He said， “People always find a way of simplifying words that they find difficult to get their tongues round， so that an everyday word like ‘handbag’ sounds like ‘hambag’. Our forebears simplified ‘waistcoat’ to ‘weskit’—but we’ve turned our backs on that. And most people talk about ‘Febry’ and Wensday！”
很多人认为“对不起”是最难说出口的词，不过这样的说法不正确——至少从语言学的角度上说。
一项投票使英国人觉得最难发音的10个单词浮出水面。最难发音的单词是“phenomenon（现象）”。在十大最拗口的单词中紧随其后的是“remuneration（报酬）”和“statistics（统计数字）”。
根据人们在公共场合的发音记录，会使说话者发音困难，舌头打结的单词有：“ethnicity（民族）”“hereditary（遗传性）”“particularly（特别地）”。列表余下的单词还有“conjugal（婚姻的）”“specific（特殊的）”“process（过程）”和“development（发展）”。
英国速记人员协会成员莉亚·温勒斯多表示：“我们和许多不同类型的专业人士合作，在工作中听过各种发音。然而，在英语口语中，人们总是在某几个特定单词后犯错。说话者要重复该单词以纠正发音，又或者索性跳过这个单词，继续下面的话。”
英国速记人员协会的成员们通过拼字游戏完成了这个小测试。根据拼字游戏的结果，有十分之一的玩家承认，要拼出他们不会发音的单词有些困难。
约克大学社会语言学专家保罗·凯斯维尔表示，随着英语的演化，一些拗口的单词已经逐渐进化发展，但是一些很难发音的单词依然存在。
他说：“人们总是能够找到方法简化那些难以顺利发音的单词，这样，‘handbag（手袋）’这种日常单词会听起来像‘hambag’。我们的祖先把单词‘waistcoat（背心）’简化成了‘weskit’——不过后来我们又放弃了这一种说法。还有一些人把‘二月’读成‘Febry’，把‘星期三’读成‘Wensday’。”