Pronouncing Place Names

Part of becoming fluent in English is to be able to pronounce the names of places as the natives do in English speaking countries. For instance, if you were planning a trip to Chicago for a job interview in the United States, and you mentioned to your prospective employer that you would be arriving in Chi-cago (with a strong "ch" sound instead of the "sh") "Illi-noise" early the next morning, it would be clear to them that, although you're speaking English, you are not from the United States.


Test your confidence in pronouncing the names of the states* and their capitals** in the list to the right. Then watch the music video below and see how well you did:

*watch Illinois, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Arkansas

** watch Juneau, Indianapolis, Boise, Baton Rouge, Cheyenne.

Now let's make things more difficult. These are places in the UK that most Americans can't even pronounce! Take the place name challenge and try your hand at pronouncing them:

1.     Aberystwyth

2.     Bicester

3.     Cirencester

4.     Derby

5.     Dumfries

6.     Ely

7.     Frome

8.     Gloucester

9.     Hartlepool

10. Llanelli

11. Leicester

12. Leominster

13. Loughborough

14. Marlborough

15. Marylebone

16. Mousehole

17. Reading

18. Powys

19. Slough

20. Tottenham

21. Fowey

22. Islay

23. Gwynedd

24. Ruislip

25. Pontypridd

26. Durham

27. Woking

28. Worcester

 How well do you think you did? Check your answers by watching this entertaining video where a woman from the UK challenges an American to take the UK place name challenge!

 Try finding these places on a map of the UK. It's also fun to use Google Street View to "walk" around these places and get a virtual feel for them!