Pronunciation related challenges likely to be encountered by interpreters

from English
By. Dr Hisham Khogali
Senior Interpreter, OIC
AIIC Member

Conference interpreters face with a host of

challenges both linguistic and extra-linguistic.
Following is an attempt to shed light on one of
the salient linguistic challenges namely
pronunciation related difficulties.
Normally, researches on pronunciation related
difficulties focus on two major aspects: accents
and prosody (linguistic functions such as
intonation, tone, stress, and rhythm). Since
covering prosody related aspects of this topic
requires more elaborate work featuring recoding
of a wide variety of speakers, and inputs from
acoustic analysis experts, I opted to limit this
modest research to phonological related
difficulties excluding prosody. However, I
remain convinced that this research will remain
incomplete as we may spot several similarities
of mispronunciation of certain isolated vowels
or consonants but because of our unfamiliarity
with their prosody related aspects, we may not
understand what they say. I hope that one day
someone, including myself, will be able to fill
this gap.
With more than 30 years of international
experience, I had to deal with speakers from all
corners of the world. Speakers from certain
regions represented a real challenge for me.
Therefore, I can argue that any conference
interpreting syllabus should include a course
introducing pronunciation related challenges.
In the following table, an attempt is made to
help interpreters and conference interpreting
students/trainees, to cope with such challenges.
The present study is not meant to offend any
individuals.
NB. Not all speakers from the listed countries
have the same pronunciation difficulties.
 Original
Country Mispronunciation Remarks
Word
Thin Tin Θ is pronounced as t
Beat bit
Fool full long and short vowels are merged 
Brunei  Feast fist
Thin Tin Θ rendered as t
Then den /ð rendered as d
 First firs omission of final plosives 
Cameroun Name Nem or nim
Coat Kot or kut Confusing vowels
Post pust
Early ɛli
Learn lɛn Dropping middle r
Circle sɛkul
Such sɔtʃ
Time Taim
Found faund
Fluid Fluit
Lower 'lowa
Southern 'saudEn
Tear tiɛ
Vehicle vehikul
Martyr ma'taja
 Tease tis
Gives Gifs
Seems Sims
Attended Attendet
Believed bi'lift
Begged bɛkt
December di'zɛmba
Missile mizail
Nursery nçzeri
Casual 'kaSUal
Leisure leʃɔ
Decision di'siʃɔn
Lab Lap
Pot Pɔt
Port Pɔt
Potable pɔtabul
Raise Res
Raze Res
Maximum magzimɔm
Their Dia
There dɛ
Period piriɔt
Head hɛt
Devoicing of Consonants in Final
Bag Bak
Position
Tease Tis
Village viletʃ
Pages petʃis
Flexible 'flɛgzibul
Bosom bosom
Colonel('kɛnl) kɔlɔ'nɛl
Liquor likwɔ
Faithful Fetful
Chinese Cap ca Dropping Ending explosive
Cat ca consonants
Love nov L sound is confused n sound
foil  Foin
Faunt
 fault
fawn
fall 
“r” in the end of words also gets
More mo
forgotten
an-deu
and
an-duh
Cat Cat-uh
Stressing the last sound by adding an
First Fir-ur-st-uh
extra syllable
Cards Car-uhds-uh
Hot hɔtə
Good ˈgʊdə add a vowel after a stop consonant
Map mæpʊ
Thing sing Replacing ð with s
Monday Mongday
London Adding an extra g between n sound
Longdon
becomes an d sound
Wonder wongder
Fish Feesh Turning a short i sound and turn it
Bin been into an ee sound
World weuld . When r occurs with an l, it one of
them is dropped . World becomes
whirl weul
“weuld,” and whirl becomes “weul.”
Offer o-fer
Turning the short o into a long o
Honour o-ner
Mandarin-speakers often use /ŋ/
Sun sung
instead of /n/ at the end of words:
Ban bang
Mandarin-speakers often use /ŋ/
Mine Mainge
instead of /n/ at the end of words:
Very wawy
r/ sound replaced with /w
really wewe
Love lob v/ sound replaced with /b
dark b dock
Sheep Ship Vowel shortening
French omission of the /h/ sound at the
heard 'eard 
beginning of words
Gambia Strut str ɔ t,
Cut k ɔ t, STRUT vowel
Monday m ɔ nde The u is pronounced as o like in hot
Young yɔŋ
Work w ɔk
NURSE vowel represented
Journey dʒɔne
graphically by ·or, our, ur
Purpose pɔpɔ
culture, kɔltʃɔ
murmur, mɔmɔ the post-tonic COMMA vowel
labour, lebɔ represented by ·ure, ur, our, or
doctor doktɔ
mercy, Masi
learn, Lan
NURSE vowel for ·er, ear, ir, yr
thirty, Tati
myrrh Ma
Person Parson
Girl Gal
Nia
near,
Bia
beer,
Fia ia for ear
fear,
dia
dear

Ship Sip
Several tribes in Gambia do not have
Shop Sop
ʃ ɜ z sounds so these sounds are
Expansion Expansion
pronounced s
Special Special
Davison Division
Soup Shoup
Hypercorrection of the
Sauce Shauce
pronunciation of sh as s
Song Shng
Usual Usual Hypercorrection of the
Measure Mezure pronunciation of ʒ as z
Change Tçentç , apicalization/palatalization
Churches [tçɛtçis] concerns the of affricates. tʃ, dɜ. ʃ.
Contagion [kɔntedjɔn ɜ rendered as tj, tç, dj
Much mɔdj tʃ sometines pronounced as /dj/,
caused by lenition; e.g. [mfdj].
 scratch, skrɛt Final t ʃ realized as t
Cassava Casaba or cassafa V realized as b or f
Bicycle Baisikul
dark /l/, transformed to [-ul]
School skul
Pleasure Pleashor
Measure meashor Devoicing Consonants
edge etch
Germany Rise Unvoicing voiced consonants at the
rice
end of the word
Youthful useful θ pronounced z or s
Wine Vine W pronounced V
Accident ˈasidɛnt∼ˈasɪdənt
except ɛˈsɛpt /k, g/ is elided before another
exam ˈɛzam consonant
exactly ɛˈzatli
affect [aˈfɛt]
contact [ˈkɔntat∼kɔŋtat] Reduction in two term, three term
context [ˈk ͪɔntɛst] and four term final clusters
texts [t ͪɛsts∼ṱɛst∼t ͪɛks]
Ask Aks Metathesis of /s/ and /k/ in /_sk/
desk deks clusters, as in
Other adar O pronounced a and ð as d
Buk Bak
ʌ realized as ɑː
Bud bad
Ghana
Kill kil Dark l rendered light
Peel Pil Shortening long vowels
Temper ˈtɛmpa Dropping ending consonants
Tend
ten Both words pronounced ten
Turn
Tongues tongs
Wean win
One Won
Lather lader Ð rendered as d
Pool Pul
taught, tɔt reduction in length of a long vowel
wean win
Idea aɪˈdɪl Absence of secondary stress
 First" is
/'fɚs/.
pronounced (
List" 'lɪs
Last consonant dropped
Sent sɛn
Expect ɛk'spɛk
Ask aks
Pronouncing k before s in
Disk diks
words with sk
Risk riks
combination
Task taks
Thik Tik
ð pronounced as t
Thank tank
Then Den ð like in then is
With wid pronounced d
Indonesia Give gif
V is replaced with f
Very fery
Eight eɪgt
High haɪg
Weight weɪgt Silent gh  pronounced /g/.
Write" 'wraɪt
Pronouncing silent W
'wrɑːŋ
Show saw
ʃ pronounced as s
contribution contribusan

Result
Result ð peonounced as s in example,
Example Eksampl present , examine
eksamin
Exnaine
Iran Beer Bear /ɪə/ is pronounced /eə/
Man men /æ/ rendered /e/
Far four /ɑ:/ rendered as /ɔ:/
Full fool /ʊ/ realized as /u:/
Buy boy /aɪ/ rendered as /ɔɪ/
West vest W pronounced as V
They day Ð rendered as d
Mention montein Replacing the diphthong /aʊ/
with /o/
 Ship sheep
Swims
Shrimps

tree
Three

Certificate cerfiticate
sachiz
Sausage
Sachees
Pomegranate Punganaught
lastic
Elastic
 Laskit
Smith Simit
Xray Zxtray
Violence Volyence Vylence
Opportunity hopportunity
Trailer triler
Family fambily
Earring Haze Ring
Jamaica Navel nabel
Funeral Fineral
film Flim –
 Fatigue  Feetigue
Merka America
Dung down
Stroke Schokes 
noodles  Noogle
foreheads Fahrid
Trust Chuss
Bomb Boom
dynamite "Dandzmite  
True  Choo
Do it Dweet
Wrist Wrisk
 phone screen Phone Scream
Text tex Drop last consonant
Mind mine
Japan Light right L is pronounced r
 thin Tin ‘th’ sounds: /θ/ and /ð/ replaced by
either dental /t/ & /d/ or alveolar /s/
Then den
& /z/:
Thing Ting [θ] ----> [t]
This Dis [ð] -----> [d]
From Flom [r] -----> [l]
Passed pass
Consonant cluster simplification
Asked ask
Lesothom Malawi
take tek
Swaziland
Car ka
Here hi
Work wεk Vowel shortening
Leap Lip
Peel pil
Nigeria People feofle P is pronounced f
Led red l is pronounced r
Void boid v is pronounced b
“sh,” “z,” “v,” “ch,” and “p” sounds
because these sounds don’t exist in
their language.
Thank Tank Θ is realized as t
Thank Sank Θ is rendered as s
(correct pronunciation in RP is
Amoeba amo-iba
ameeba
Brochure Brokio ʃ is pronounced as k
Google.  “go-gu.”
Hoarse.  “ho-as
izhus.
Issues.  i-sus. ʃ realized as z pr s

Library lai-bri the middle “r” sounds is left out in

Secretary se-ke-tri these words.
Liaison/ lai-ason- lai-as PR is li-ey-zn
liaise. Nigeria American English pronunciation is li-
ns pronounce ey-zon
this word like
“.” We also
 pronounce
liaise like “lai-
as.” But
British
speakers
pronounce
liaison like “li-
ey-zn” and
Americans
pronounce it
like “.” Both
British and
American
English
speakers
pronounce
liaise as “.”
Statute sta-tiut.
Stipend.  sti-pend
Fuel.  fu-el
o-yel
oil” 
o-yil
o-yel” or “o-
jia
yil”
“chauffeur cho-fo,
Curse/cause/ Same pronunciation for the three
kos
course. words
Divisive di-visiv
Elite . “e-lait” or The second one with short i instead
Nigerians “e-lit of the long I e-leet
eks-pan-shi- An an “n” sound is added in the
Expatiate.
yeyt middle of the word
“sigh.” sain Extra n sound is added at end
Façade Fakeyed
  number one lomba wan  exchange of /l/ and /n/
Pakistan Free freea
Adding an extra vowl
Film filam
Awesome Avisom Switching w with v
 Vegetable Vegetable
Debt debit Pronouncing the silent b
Security Secorty Confusing u vowl with o
Bulb blub
Toilet tailet
Confusing short vowls with long
Shop shoap
ones
azure  Ayshure
The distinction between /s, z/ and /ʃ,
pleasure ‘pleshure’
ʒ/ is not made
, seize  ‘sees’
three tree ɵ is rendered t
these dese ð is realized as d
Forehead poerhead F is rendered as p
Volov bolbo v is approximated in b
dew /ˈdʒuː/,
tune  /ˈtʃuːn/  /dj/, /tj/ and /sj/ clusters become
pharmaceutic into [dʒ], [tʃ] and [ʃ] respectively. 
Philippines [pärmɐˈʃuːtikäl]
al 
calcium   ˈkälʃʊm Unnecessary Yod-coalescence
Celsius sɛlʃʊs
 Older speakers tend to add
an i or e sound to the
clusters sl, sm, sn, sp and st- due
to Spanish influence, so the
words star and lipstick sounds
like (i/e)star and lipistick respec
tively.

Phoned Found
Wine Vine
Thin Fin
Scandinavian
Three Tree free
Use Juice
Watch wasgh
Scotland Bird Brd No distinction in the length of the
World Waral vowels
Girl Garal
 Pure poor
Caught cot
Tin ten
Milk Mulk (məlk)
Aunt Autie
Pecan pie peekn pai
Vitamin vituhmin
Leisure lejuh
Daughter dootuh
South Africa
Three Free or sree Θ is pronounced as f or s
 bad,  [bɛd]
 bed, [bɪd]
Price prɑ:s  
Road Load
consonants /l/ and /r/ are often
Flight Fright
exchanged
Lorry rolly
Game gain Substituting a final M with N
The M consonant sound exists in
see seen Spanish, but it never appears at the
end of words.
Therefore, while it’s not at all difficult
for Spanish speakers to pronounce
foam phone the M alone, it can be quite
challenging for them to pronounce it
at the end of words
Reason Reason Pronouncing Z as s because there’s
Spain no Z (as in zoo) in Spanish, the Z
Zero sero
sound is often misplaced with an S,
Years jears
Yellow Jellow
The /y/ (as in ‘yes’) consonant sound
Job Yob
and the /j/ (as in ‘job) switch places
Just Yust
Leave live Long vowels become short
Pool Pull
Sheap Ship
Reach Rish
Food fod
 Very bery V turns into a b
Hide khide
H sound turns into kh
Ahead akhead

Street estreet Adding a vowel to words which start

Strange estrange with st
Think tink
θ turns into t or d
They dey

This These
Confusing I and e so  ‘
Shit - sheet
Actually aʃli omission or change in
Action Ashhon (no k) a consonant cluster
Man ma
Audience audien
Seven seve
Sad Sa
Thailand
Bsd ba
Omission of last consonant
N turns into l
Another alother

Far fal R turns l

English englis Sh sound turns s
Pain pah-een Pronouncing each vowel separately
 This Dis ð is pronounced d
Month mont θ is pronounced t
“ng” sound may be swaped in an “nk”
Sing “sink” or “singah
sound or over stress the “g” sound
Set Sat
Full Fool
Turkish Confusing vowels
Cup Cap
Made Mate D pronounced t
Vet Wet V rendered w
West Vest W realized as v
Think Thing Ending k is pronounced g
Rib Rip B is pronounced [
References
An account of distinctive phonetic and English World-Wide 24:1 (2003), 43–61. issn 0172–8865 /
e-issn 1569–9730 ©John Benjamins Publishing Company lexical features of Gambian English
Lothar Peter, Hans-Georg Wolf and Augustin Simo Bobda Humboldt University Berlin /
University of Hong Kong / University of Yaounde I 
 
https://blog.talk.edu/classes/proper-pronunciation-problems-faced-by-turkish-esl-students/ 
http://www.tedpower.co.uk/l1turkish.html 
https://www.academia.edu/39945639/
Homophonous_Realization_of_Contrastive_English_Lexical_Items_The_Case_of_the_English_Sp
oken_in_Some_Ghanaian_Schools 

https://academicjournals.org/journal/JLC/article-full-text-pdf/AF634601943 
http://www.davidpublisher.com/Public/uploads/Contribute/552f57d1c7d44.pdf
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https://www.uni-due.de/SVE/ACC_overview.html 
https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/language-linguistics-and-literary-terms/
language-and-linguistics/african#1O29AFRIKAANSENGLISH  Read more
at: https://blog.abaenglish.com/how-to-speak-like-a-south-african/  
http://relp.khuisf.ac.ir/article_533586_3c4fed81d6a0e27daf2ac9c948c5de6b.pdf 
https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.429.3021&rep=rep1&type=pdf 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunei_English#Pronunciation 
https://www.academia.edu/12130287/
The_Phonology_of_Brunei_English_L2_English_or_Emergent_Variety 

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/cdd8/a4e8cd5032af8b97155e8856b943883bdb8c.pdf