These are the most mispronounced places in the WORLD (including Bondi Beach, Colombia and Machu Picchu) – so how many do YOU say incorrectly?
- A new study has revealed the place names people mispronounce most often
- Cannes, the River Thames and Yosemite were the top three most bungled names
- While in Australia tourists often mispronounced Bondi, Brisbane and Melbourne
- People often say ‘Bon-dee’ not ‘Bond-eye’ and ‘Mel-BORN’ not ‘Mel-bun’
- Other additions on the list included Dubai, Iraq, Qatar, Oaxaca, Ibiza and Beijing
From Dubai to Cannes and even Bondi, the most commonly mispronounced place names in the world have been revealed.
While Cannes in France, the River Thames in London and the USA’s Yosemite National Park topped the list, the Aussie place names tourists bungle the most are Bondi, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Language learning platform Preply compiled the list of the place names people get wrong by analysing google search data to reveal the destination people ask ‘How to pronounce’ most often.
A new study has revealed the most mispronounced destinations in the world with Cannes in France, the River Thames in London and the USA’s Yosemite National Park topping the list
International travellers struggle with some Aussie names including the famous Bondi Beach which some say as ‘Bon-dee’, Brisbane mispronounced as ‘Bris-BAIN’ and Melbourne often thought of as ‘Mel-BORN’.
Surprising additions to the list include Dubai which is pronounced ‘doo-BAY’ rather than ‘due-BYE’, Beijing which has a hard J sound like ‘bay-JING’ instead of ‘beige-ing’ and people often mistake the Lourve as a one-syllable word when in fact it is said ‘LOO-vruh’.
The River Thames that runs through the English capital is meant to be said with a hard T like ‘tems’ and people should drop the S when talking about the famous film festival and French hot spot Cannes and say ‘Kan’ like a can of drink.
International travellers struggle with some Aussie names including the famous Bondi Beach which some say as ‘Bon-dee’, Brisbane mispronounced as ‘Bris-BAIN’ and Melbourne often thought of as ‘Mel-BORN’
Surprising additions to the list include Dubai which is pronounced ‘doo-BAY’ rather than ‘due-BYE’
Island destination Maldives is often thought to be pronounced as ‘mahl-dives’ or ‘mahl-deeves’ however it should be ‘mall-deeves’ and the Hungarian capital of Budapest is actually said as ‘buda-pesht’.
American tourists pronounce Phuket with an F sound at the start however the Aussies got it right saying ‘poo-KET’.
Other additions included Laos which can be pronounced as either ‘louse’, like blouse, or ‘lou’ like loud and Qatar is actually said with an ‘e’ sound rather than an ‘a’ like ‘KUH-Ter’.
The River Thames that runs through the English capital is meant to be said with a hard T like ‘tems’
Iraq is correctly pronounced ‘e-rack’ as in E-bay or email and not ‘eye-rack’ as in iPhone.
The list confirmed the pronunciations of some disputed places names like Worcester which is ‘WUSS-tuh’ or ‘WUSS-ter’, Ibiza which is ‘ee-BEE-tha’ and Yosemite which is ‘yoh-SEH-muh-dee’ or ‘yoh-SEH-muh-tee’.
There were some understandably confusing places names like Oaxaca in Mexico which is said ‘wah-HAH-kah’ and the Icelandic city of Reykjavik pronounced ‘RAKE-yah-veek’.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk