Common pronunciation errors in Brazil "Brands"

Also, We have “House” (Halls), “Bluetoof” (Bluetooth), and "Burger King" (Buh-guh King), amongst many others.

Because I’m also learning Portuguese, I can understand how difficult and frustrating it can be to learn the sounds of a new language, but I definitely try to have fun with it, and learning how to pronounce brand names is one of the most fun and effective ways to learn English phonetics.

As Brazilians, because you’ve probably spent your entire life learning how to pronounce words like Apple, Burger King and McDonalds in Portuguese, it is only natural that you have a much more difficult time pronouncing them correctly in English.

Today I will share 7 of these words, help you learn the correct pronunciation, to help you learn every aspect of pronouncing these sounds correctly in English.  

1. ­Apple [*Épou]: The Big Apple (NOT, “the big épou”)

Problem 1: ­Apple – EH [?] vs AA [æ] vowels

A lot of Portuguese speakers wrongly assume that because the first letter of the alphabet is “A,” that Apple must be pronounced with a Portuguese “é,” or in phonetics this what is called EH . The “A” (AA [æ]) from Apple is much more like the “A” form the words Can, Fan, and Land.

Problem 2: Apple  – The Dark L

The second difficulty that Portuguese speakers have with the word Apple is the “Dark L” sound at the end. they have a lot of difficulty with “L” sound in general, but in this case, the “pull” at the end of the word is confused with “pou.” Other examples of this common Portuguese mispronunciation can be found in the words Full and dull.

2. Bluetooth [Bluetuf]

Problem: the voiceless “th” sound

The difficulty is that Portuguese doesn’t have the “th” sound that we have in English. If you haven’t learned it yet, relax, because it’s not that difficult. It does demand practice though.

You can learn to pronounce the English “th” sound in just two to three 10 minute practice sessions. check out this video to learn how to pronounce "TH" in English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaxLBRfM6kM#action=share  

3. Halls [Howz]

Problem 1: Halls – the AW] Vowel sound

The Brazilians tendency in this word is to mispronounce the “A” in Halls as an “ow” instead of the English “Aw”.

Problem 2: Halls – The Dark L

Similar to the pronunciation of the “pull” in Apple, the word Halls employs the use of the “dark L” sound, but with an S on it. Brazilians tend to pronounce this almost like a mix between “Howz” and “House".

4. Burger King [Booh-guh King]

Problem: Burger King – The IR Sound

For Portuguese speakers, the “r” is one of the most difficult to pronounce sounds in English, and this is illustrated in Portuguese word “Hambúrguer,” which has become the default pronunciation for the word “Burger” in Burger King. What makes “Burger” so hard to pronounce for Brazilians is that the E “ir” sound appears before and after the “G.”

It’s also important to note that the Portuguese pronunciation of “r” changes depending on the region. For example, in the São Paulo region, the “r” is “porta” is much more similar to  English.

5. Twitter + Tweets [twee-tah + Tweets]

Problem 1:  “i” Vowels (Examples: live vs leave, bitch vs beach, shit vs sheet)

The word Twitter illustrates one of the biggest pronunciation problems that Portuguese speakers have. It’s even more confusing because in Portuguese the word Twitter (the company) and Tweet (a Twitter message in 140 characters or less) are pronounced with the same vowel sound (“twee”) while in English they are different. The “i” in Twitter is almost like a Portuguese “ê” while the “ee” in Tweet is like an “í” in Portuguese.

Note: keep in mind that the “r” at the end of twitter should have a strong “r” pronunciation.

6. McDonalds [Mec/Mickey-Donalds] 

Another problematic word for Brazilians to pronounce is McDonalds. In the English, we pronounce this as “Mick-Donalds” with the same “ih” sound as Twitter (above), or in words like “live”. 

7. Redbull [hey-gee-boo] 

This word is a little bit of an exaggeration, but it’s definitely very different in English than Portuguese. There are several differences in the pronunciation of “Redbull” that create problems for Brazilians.

Problem 1: the R/H confusion

Portugues speakers  constantly confuse words that start with “R” for “H.” For example, they may pronounce the word “red” as “head,” or vice versa. “Can you repeat?” becomes “Can you hepeat?”

Problem 2: words that end with “D” with a “gee” sound.

The second problem with the word “Red-bull” is that Portuguese speakers tend to replace the “D” sound for “gee.” For example, the name Brad is pronounced “Bra-gee,” as Chad is “Tcha-gee.” In this case, they tend to pronounce the word “Red” as “Hea-gee”,  and “Red Hot Chili Peppers” becomes “headgee hot shillee peppers.”

Problem 3: the Dark L

The final problem with the Brazilian pronunciation of the word “Redbull” is the Brazilian difficulty with the “Dark L” sound, as discussed in the words Apple 

Thanks a lot and wish you enjoyed :)

#Love_Brazil