TryBabbelToggleMenuLearnCultureStoriesFunInsideBabbelBabbelBytesLanguagesSpanishFrenchEnglishGermanItalianSeeAllToggleSearchWhichLanguageDoYouWanttoLearn?TryBabbelSearchEXPLORELearnCultureStoriesFunInsideBabbelBabbelBytesARTICLESABOUTSpanishFrenchEnglishGermanItalianSeeAllSearchSpanishFrenchGermanItalianRussianPortugueseTurkishDutchSwedishPolishNorwegianIndonesianDanishReadytolearn?Pickalanguagetogetstarted!SpanishFrenchGermanItalianRussianMore...Beforewegettoodeepintothesearchfortheworld’smostdifficultwordtopronounce,we’llhavetostartwithabitofsoul-searchingaroundthatquestion.WordsthataredifficultforanativeFrenchspeakertopronouncemaylookvastlydifferentfromwordsthatanativeMandarinspeakermightstrugglewith.JustbecauseIcelandiclooksoutlandishtoanEnglishspeakerdoesn’tmeanit’sanobjectivelychallenginglanguagetopronounce.JustaskanativeIcelander!Ratherthantrytoboilitdowntoonedefinitive“mostdifficultwordtopronounce,”wemighthavetolookatafewexamplesfromanumberoflanguages(andadmitthatwe’relookingatthisfromtheperspectiveofAnglophones).Butfirst,whatisit,exactly,thatmakessomewordseasierorhardertopronounce?TheMechanicsOfPronunciationUsually,pronunciationstrugglesinaforeignlanguagecanbeattributedtotwotypesofmissedconnections:adisconnectbetweenhowawordisspelledandhowit’sspoken,oradisconnectbetweenthemouthpositionsyou’reaccustomedtoandtheonesusedbyspeakersofyourtargetlanguage.Thatwordsareoftennotphoneticallyreliableisabigpainpointforlanguagelearners,andit’soneofthethingsnon-nativespeakersoftencomplainaboutmostwhenstudyingEnglish.ExhibitA:“choir.”Thephysicalmovementsofyourmouth,tongueandteetharealsoabigdeterminingfactorinhowwellyounailyourforeignaccent.Sometimes,gettingusedtoanunfamiliarsoundistrulyamatterofmusclememory.Beyondthat,therearecertaintypesofsoundsthatmaybeuniversallytrickyforthehumanmouthtohandle,regardlessofhowfamiliaryouarewiththewordsthatcontainthem.Amongthesearerolled“r”s,“ths”(asin“baths”)andtheCzechř.TheMostDifficultEnglishWordToPronounceIfEnglishisyourmothertongue,you