Top 50 Words Nigerians
Commonly
Mispronounce (II)
By Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.
For the part I of this article click
this link here
8. Buffet. This is another French
loanword in English that retains
its original French pronunciation.
The last “t” in the word is silent.
It sounds like “biufey.” But note
that the word is pronounced
“biufey” only when it refers to the
kind of meal where customers
pay a flat fee in a restaurant and
eat all they want so long as they
don’t take out any food. If the
word is used as a verb to mean
strike against something
forcefully and repeatedly (as in:
“the violent winds buffeted him”)
the terminal “t” isn’t silent. It is
pronounced something like
“biufit.”
9. Brochure. Several Nigerians
pronounce this word as “bro-kio.”
That would throw off almost
every non-Nigerian English
speaker. It is pronounced
something like “browsho(r) in all
native varieties of English. The
“ch” in the word sounds like the
“sh” in “sheep.”
10. Castle. The “t” in “castle” is
silent, so that it sounds like “ka-s
(u)l” in both American and
British pronunciations. Many
Nigerians pronounce the word as
“kas-tul.”
11. Champagne. The dominant
British and American English
pronunciation of this word is
“sham-peyn.” Nigerians either
sound out the “ch” in the word
like the “ch” in chair or articulate
the “g,” which is always silent in
native-speaker pronunciations.
The late Durosinmi Irojah, one of
Nigeria’s foremost journalists,
used to tell us the story of how
northern Nigeria’s first military
governor, the late General Hassan
Usman Katsina, was once
discombobulated and peeved
when he was told that he had
mispronounced “champagne.”
He was having a dinner with
foreign dignitaries when he said
to the waitress: “Please give me a
bottle of cham-paG-ne!” He
pronounced the “ch” in the word
like you pronounce the “ch” in
“church,” the “pa” like the “pa” in
“pass,” the “g” like the “g” in “go,”
and the “ne” like the “ne” in “net.”
Everyone on the dinner table
struggled to suppress the
laughter that welled up in them.
So an aide said to him in a soft,
hushed, barely audible tone:
“General, it’s pronounced ‘sham-
pain.’” What happened next
startled everyone. The general
yelled out loud: “What the hell is
the ‘g’ is doing there! If they don’t
want us to pronounce it, they
should take it out. Give me a
bottle of CHAM-PA-GNE, I say!”
This helped people around him
let out the laughter that they had
bottled up. You’re right, General.
What the heck is the “g” doing in
champagne? And, for that matter,
what is it doing in campaign?
12. Charlatan. Nigerians
pronounce this word “cha-latan.”
The “ch” in the word is often
pronounced like the “ch” in
“change.” In American and
British pronunciation, however,
the “ch” in “charlatan” sounds like
“sh” and the “a” sound after “ch”
is a little longer than the way
Nigerians articulate it. So it
sounds something like “shaa
(r)latan.” This also applies to the
word’s noun form, charlatanism
(“shaa(r)latanizm”). I should also
mention that “chauffeur,” which
many Nigerians pronounce as
“cho-fo,” is pronounced
something like “show-fo” by
native English speakers.
13. Colonel. There are two levels
of mispronunciations of this word
in Nigerian English. Barely
educated people sound out every
letter in the word as in: “ko-lo-
nel.” It makes it sound almost like
“colonial.” More educated people
pronounce it as “ko-nel,” which is
close to the “ke-n(u)l” in British
pronunciation and “ker-n(u)l” in
American pronunciation.
14. Comb/crumb/dumb/numb.
Like “bomb,” the last “b” sound in
these words is silent; it is never
pronounced. So “comb” is
pronounced “kom,” “combing” is
“koming,” and “combed” is
“komd.” Similarly, “crumb” is
pronounced “krum” and “crumbs”
“krums.” Dumb is pronounced
“dum.” This also applies to all of
the word’s inflections such as
“dumber” (duma(r)),
“dumbest” (dumest),
“dumbing” (dumin), etc. “Numb,”
too, is “num.”
15. Cruel. Native English
speakers pronounce this word
like “kru-ool.” Nigerians, on the
other hand, sound out the “e” in
the word to make something like
“kru-el.”
16. Curse/cause/course. Many
Nigerians have a hard time
distinctly pronouncing the words
“cause,” “course,” and “curse.”
They are all pronounced “kos.”
British English speakers
pronounce “curse” like “kes,”
except that the “e” sound (which
is kind of like the “e” sound in
“met”) is long. Americans
pronounce it “keRs,” also with a
long “e” sound. “Cause” is
pronounced “koz” with a short “o”
sound (which is close to the “o”
sound in “all”), and “course” is
pronounced “kos” with a long “o”
sound. In American
pronunciation the “r” in “course”
is, of course, articulated to have
something like “koRs.”
17. Debris. A lot of Nigerians I
know pronounce the last letter in
this word and render the “i”
sound like it’s a short one. But
native speakers pronounce it like
“debree.” That means the last “s”
is never sounded and the “i”
sound is long. But there are
variations in the way the first
“de” is pronounced. Some
pronounce it as “deibree,” others
as “dubree,” and yet others as
“dibree.” What unites all the
variations, nevertheless, is that
they don’t articulate the last “s”
and they elongate the “i” sound.
18. Debt. In native English
speaker pronunciations, the “b” in
debt” is silent. It sounds like
“det.” This native-speaker
pronunciation can lead to
grievous, even fatal, verbal
miscues in Nigeria. Because we
don’t observe the “th” sound in
Nigerian English pronunciation,
“det” could be mistaken for
“death.” Saying “I have come to
collect my ‘det’” could be
mistaken for “I have come to be
murdered,” especially because
your debtor is likely going to be
interested in your death! I
personally would never
pronounce “debt” as “det” in
Nigeria. I love my life way more
than I love “proper” English
pronunciation! In the word’s
other inflections— debtor,
indebted, indebtedness, etc.—
the “b” is also never pronounced
in British and American
pronunciations. So it’s “deto(r),”
“indetid,” “indetidnis.”
19. Depot. Most Nigerians,
irrespective of social class and
educational attainment, sound out
every letter in this word. In
native English pronunciations,
however, the last “t” is silent. The
word is pronounced “depow” or
“deepow.”
20. Divisive. It is pronounced “di-
vaisiv” in both British English and
American English. But Nigerians
pronounce it as “di-visiv.”
21. Divorce: It is pronounced “di-
vo(r)s” in native-speaker
pronunciation, not “dai-vos.”
22. Elite . Nigerians either
pronounce this word as “e-lait” or
“e-lit.” Many native English
speakers would be mystified by
the first pronunciation especially
because it almost sounds like the
way they pronounce the word
“elide” (i-laid). But I suspect that
they would have a clue what
you’re saying by the second
pronunciation. Well, the word is
pronounced like “i-leet.”
23. Expatiate. There is usually an
intrusive “n” sound when
Nigerians pronounce this word. It
often sounds like “eks-pan-shi-
yeyt.” But native speakers
pronounce it like “iks-pey-shee-
eyt.” What I call the intrusive “n”
appears to be a recurring issue in
Nigerian English pronunciation.
Perhaps phonologists have
studied this and have offered
insights into why Nigerians insert
the “n” sound in many words that
have no “n” at all. Remember
“antoni-jenera” (attorney-
general) from last week? Another
word in which the intrusive “n”
occurs in Nigerian English
pronunciation is “sigh.” Native
speakers pronounce it “sai,” but
many Nigerians pronounce it
“sain,” perhaps because the word
almost looks like “sign,” which is
pronounced “sain.” I am also
sometimes guilty of
mispronouncing “sigh” as “sain.”
24. Façade. The word is
pronounced something like “fa-
saad” by native English speakers.
Many Nigerians pronounce it “fa-
keyd.” About 15 years ago, a
professional colleague of mine in
Nigeria told me something was a
“mere fa-keyd.” I had no clue
what he was talking about. So I
went to check the dictionary,
thinking he was using a word I
was not familiar with. But I never
found the word in all my
dictionaries. Two days after, I
went back to him and asked him
to spell “fakeyed” for me because
I couldn’t find it in any
dictionary. I thought I didn’t get
the correct spelling. He wrote
“façade.” I couldn’t help
exclaiming, “Oh you meant fa-
saad!” He contested the accuracy
of my pronunciation, so we both
went to check the dictionary. He
found that he was wrong. “These
English people are crazy o!” I
recall him as saying
exasperatedly. Yes, English is a
crazy, quirky language.

wow.... educative!!
been pronouncing colonel as ko-nel. i know debt is pronounced det but sometimes i still say debt... oh and my but ....

Op, good one.

I love this soo much. Before i got admission into the university,i had always dreamt of studing law.Eventually, when i was offered English, i wasn't hapi about it.After one year plus into d discipline,i can't help bt say dat English is d best course 4 me.

Ur examples r concise and explicit.I wud advise that u treat both the phonetic and phonemic aspects of such alteration with emphasis on the sound wrngly pronounced by mst Nigerians and their possible mother tongue interference and hw to correct them.

people might need an audio guide,

samnuhubaba: Ur examples r concise and explicit.I wud advise that u treat both the phonetic and phonemic aspects of such alteration with emphasis on the sound wrngly pronounced by mst Nigerians and their possible mother tongue interference and hw to correct them.

you are right.