Top 25 Words Nigerians Commonly Mispronounce

........This is the continuation of the series that was discovered last week. Last week's edition ended at #7 (Bomb/Bomber/bombing) and so I present to you another edition of the 25 words (#8 -#15). Welcome on board.

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 “brokio.” 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 “shampeyn.” Nigerians either athe “ch” in chair or articulate the “g,” which is always silent in native-speaker pronunciations. The late DurosinmiIrojah, one of Nigeria’s foremost journalists, used to tell the story of how northern Nigeria’s first military governor, the late General Hassan UsmanKatsina, 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 upYou’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 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.”
                                                                 
                                                                                                          By Farooq Kperogi
To be continued....