On YouTube I have a series of videos giving pronunciation tips for those who are interested in getting as close as reasonably possibly to the most accurate pronunciation of a name or other borrowed or non-English word. Here’s a list of all of them. Click on each one to view it. (It would cause a lot of trouble loading this page if I embedded each of them in it!)
Å
Å, Danish, Norwegian, Scandinavian, Swedish, the letter Å
Aalborg and Aarhus
Aalborg, Aarhus, Ålborg, Århus, Copenhagen, Danish, den lille Havfrue, Københaven, the Little Mermaid
Agincourt
Agincourt, Scarborough, Toronto
al dente
al dente, Dante
Ancient Greek philosophers
Anaxagoras, Anaximander, Antisthenes, Arcesilaus, Aristippus, Aristotle, Chrysippus, Cleanthes, Democritus, Diogenes, Empedocles, Epicurus, Euclid, Heraclitus, Leucippus, Parmenides, Plato, Protagoras, Pyrrho, Pythagoras, Socrates, Thales, Xenophanes, Zeno
Banff
Banff
Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic venues
Běijīng, Wǔkēsōng, Shǒugāng, Shíjǐngshān, Xiǎohǎituó, Dàzhuāngkē, Zhāngshānyíng, Yánqìng, Tàizǐchéng, Chónglǐ, Zhāngjiākǒu, Héběi, Rúyì, Genting
bergamot
bergamot, Evelyn Waugh, Twinings
book words
albeit, antithesis, askance, awry, biopic, boatswain, book words, cache, calliope, caveat, draught, ennui, epitome, façade, Greenwich, Hermione, hyperbole, inchoate, infrared, misled, often, Penelope, Persephone, potpourri, segue, soften, victuals, viscount, waistcoat, Worcester, Yosemite
Boston: Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall
Boston, Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market
Brazilians at the 2024 Olympics
Brazil, Brazilian, Caio Bonfim, Flávia Saraiva, Jade Barbosa, Júlia Soares, Lorrane Oliveira, Olympics, Portuguese, Rayssa Leal, Rebeca Andrade
Brueghel
Breughel, Bruegel, Brueghel, Dutch, Flemish
Calgary
Calgary
Canada’s provinces, territories, and main cities
Alberta, British Columbia, Calgary, Canada, capitals, Charlottetown, cities, Edmonton, Fredericton, Halifax, Inuvik, Iqaluit, Manitoba, Moncton, Montreal, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, North West Territories, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Ottawa, Prince Edward Island, provinces, Quebec, Quebec City, Regina, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, St. John’s, the Yukon, Toronto, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Victoria, Whitehorse, Winnipeg, Yellowknife, Yukon
Canadian provinces, territories, and cities
Alberta, British Columbia, Calgary, Canada, Canadian, Charlottetown, cities, Edmonton, Fredericton, Gatineau, Halifax, Inuvik, Iqaluit, Kelowna, Manitoba, Montreal, Moose Jaw, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Oshawa, Ottawa, Prince Edward Island, Pronunciation Tip, provinces, Quebec, Quebec City, Red Deer, Regina, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sault St. Marie, St. John’s, Sudbury, territories, The Pas, Toronto, Trois-Rivières, Tuktoyaktuk, Vancouver, Victoria, video, Whitehorse, Winnipeg, Yellowknife, Yukon
Celebes
Celebes, coffee, Sulawesi
Champagne houses
Épernay, Billecart-Salmon, Bollinger, champagne, Dizy, Dom Pérignon, Drappier, Henriot, Jacquart, Jacquesson, Krug, Lanson, Laurent-Perrier, Louis Roederer, Moët et Chandon, Mumm, Nicolas Feuillatte, Perrier-Jouët, Piper-Heidsieck, Pol Roger, Pommery, Reims, Ruinart, Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin
Chinese pronunciation tips part 1: Beijing, Zhongguo, Zhang
Beijing, Chinese, Mandarin, Zhang, Zhongguo
Chinese pronunciation tip 2: Q, X, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang
Chinese, Li Keqiang, Mandarin, Pinyin, Xi Jinping
Chinese pronunciation tip 3: Mao Zedong, Cao Xueqin, Z, C
Cao Xueqin, Chinese, Mandarin, Mao Zedong
Chinese pronunciation tip 4: Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, -ang, -eng, -ing, and -ong
Chinese, Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, Mandarin, Mao Zedong
Chinese pronunciation tip 5: Lucy Liu’s feng shui
Chinese, feng shui, Liu Xiaobo, Lucy Liu, Mandarin, Pinyin
Chinese pronunciation tip 6: si, shi, ci, chi, zi, zhi, Cixi, and mei shir
bu shi, chi, Chinese, ci, Cixi, I, Mandarin, mei shir, Pinyin, Romanization, shi, si, transliteration, zhi, zi
claret, Rothschild
claret, Rothschild
decisive, divisive, err
decisive, divisive, err
Dutch names
Carien Kleibeuker, Daan Breeuwsma, Dutch, Dylan Hoogerwerf, Irene Schouten, Jens van ’t Wout, Kai Verbij, Kjeld Nuis, Marijke Groenewoud, Merijn Scheperkamp, Olympics, Patrick Roest, Selma Poutsma, Sjinkie Knegt, speed skaters, Suzanne Schulting, video, Xandra Velzeboer
Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák, Czech
Einojuhani Rautavaara and Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Estonian, Finnish
excelsis
excelsis, in excelsis, in excelsis deo
French cuisine
aigre-doux, aïoli, à la carte, à la minute, à l’orange, amuse-bouche, apéritif, au jus, baguette, bain-marie, béarnaise, béchamel, beurre manié, beurre noisette, bon appétit, bouillabaisse, bouillon, bouquet garni, brioche, brunoise, chiffonade, confit, coq au vin, cordon bleu, coulis, court bouillon, crème brûlée, crêpe, croissant, croustade, demi-glace, digestif, en croûte, entrecôte, fleur de sel, foie gras, French cuisine, fricassée, hors d’œuvre, julienne, lyonnaise, macaron, macédoine, Madeleine, mélange, mesclun, mirepoix, mise en place, moules marinières, pain d’épices, pain perdu, papillote, pâte à choux, pâtisserie, piperade, pissaladière, praline, ratatouille, rouille, roux, salade niçoise, sauce bordelaise, sole meunière, soupe du jour, tournedos Rossini, velouté, vichyssoise, vol-au-vent
French philosophers
Abélard, Althusser, Bachelard, Barthes, Bataille, Baudrillard, Bergson, Bourdieu, Brunschvicg, Camus, Canguilhem, Cavaillès, Cixous, Comte, de Beauvoir, Debord, Deleuze, Derrida, Descartes, Diderot, Duhem, Foucault, Gilson, Kojève, Lacan, Lévi-Strauss, Levinas, Lyotard, Macherey, Malebranche, Merleau-Ponty, Montaigne, Montesquieu, Poincaré, Ricœur, Rousseau, Sartre, Saussure, Tocqueville, Voltaire, Vuillemin, Wahl
German philosophers
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin, Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (von) Schlegel, Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach, Jakob Friedrich Fries, Wilhelm Dilthey, Ernst Alfred Cassirer, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege, Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein, Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl, Karl Theodor Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas
glögg
glögg, Swedish
Glühwein
Glühwein, German
“Happy new year” in 27 languages
“Happy new year,” Afrikaans, Basque, Breton, Chinese (Mandarin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Welsh
hegemony
hegemony
How not to get shot in the Netherlands
Den Haag, Dutch, Gouda, Groningen, Heerhugowaard, IJsselmeer, Leeuwarden, Limburg, Maastricht, Netherlands, Nijmegen, place names, Scheveningen, ’s-Gravenhage, ’s-Hertogenbosch, Zuiderzee
Irish counties
Antrim (Aontroim), Armagh (Ard Mhacha), Carlow (Ceatharlach), Cavan (An Cabhán), Clare (An Clár), Connacht (Connachta), Contae Átha Cliath), Cork (Corcaigh), counties of Ireland, Donegal (Dún na nGall), Down (An Dún), Dublin (Baile Átha Cliath, Fermanagh (Fear Manach), Galway (Gaillimh), Irish counties, Kerry (Ciarraí), Kildare (Cill Dara), Kilkenny (Cill Chainnigh), Laois (Laois), Leinster (Laighin), Leitrim (Liatroim), Limerick (Luimneach), Londonderry (Doire), Longford (An Longfort), Louth (Lú), Mayo (Maigh Eo), Meath (An Mhí), Monaghan (Muineachán), Munster (Mumhain), Offaly (Uíbh Fhailí), Roscommon (Ros Comáin), Sligo (Sligeach), Tipperary (Tiobraid Árann), Tyrone (Tír Eoghain), Ulster (Ulaidh), Waterford (Port Láirge), Westmeath (An Iarmhí), Wexford (Loch Garman), Wicklow (Cill Mhantáin)
jalapeño and habanero
jalapeño, habanero, Spanish
Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Latvian Olympic team
Agate Caune, Agate Rašmane, Anastasia Carbonari, Anastasija Samoilova, Anete Sietiņa, Daniils Bobrovs, Džeja Patrika, Ernests Zēbolds, Francis Lācis, Gatis Čakšs, Gunta Vaičule, Ieva Maļuka, Jeļena “Aļona” Ostapenko, Kristaps Neretnieks, Kristens Krīgers, Kārlis Lasmanis, Latvia, Latvian, Lauris Strautmanis, Līna Mūze, Mārtiņš Blūms, Nauris Miezis, Olympics, Patriks Gailums, Pāvels Švecovs, Ritvars Suharevs, Rūta Kate Lasmane, Toms Skujiņš, Tīna Graudiņa, Valters Kreišs, Veronika Monika Stūriška, Zigmārs Raimo
Łódź
Kraków, Polish, Wrocław, Łódź
Modern artists from the Albright-Knox
Albert Bierstadt, Honoré-Victorin Daumier, Gustave Courbet, Alfred Sisley, Jean-François Millet, Camille Pissaro, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Jacques-Joseph (James) Tissot, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Paul Cézanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Matisse, Édouard Vuillard, Raoul Dufy, Pablo Picasso, André Derain, Henri Rousseau, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Max Weber, Giacomo Balla, Fernand Léger, Jean Metzinger, Francis Picabia, Maurice Utrillo, Robert Delaunay, Albert Gleizes, Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Giorgio de Chirico, Amedeo Modigliani, Constantin Brâncuși, František Kupka, Juan Gris, László Moholy-Nagy, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Oskar Kokoschka, Chaïm Soutine, René Magritte, Julio González, Alberto Giacometti, Paul Klee, Salvador Dalí, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Rufino Tamayo, Piet Mondrian, Yves Tanguy, Arshile Gorky, Max Beckmann, Auguste Herbin, Hans Hofmann, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Naum Gabo, Jean Arp, Lucas Samaras, Victor Vasarely, Antoni Tápies, Jean Dubuffet, Francesco Clemente
more Irish
aspiration, eclipsis, Gaelic, Irish, Siobhan
Mozart’s operas
Apollo et Hyacinthus, Ascanio in Alba, Bastien und Bastienne, Così fan tutte, Der Schauspieldirektor, Der Stein der Weisen, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Idomeneo, Il re pastore, Il sogno di Scipione, König in Ägypten, La clemenza di Tito, La finta giardiniera, La finta semplice, L’oca del Cairo, Le nozze di Figaro, Lo sposo deluso, Lucio Silla, Mitridate, Mozart, operas, Pronunciation Tip, re di Creta, re di Ponto, Thamos, Zaide
My IKEA kitchen
Ansluta, Askersund, Älmaren, Bekväm, Förbättra, Fixa, Genomdriva, Hillesjön, IKEA, Kasker, Kuggis, Lillviken, Maximera, Mittled, Nickebo, Orrnäs, Rodret, Sektion, Swedish, Trådfri, Uppdatera, Utrusta, Variera
N’Awlins, Worcestershire, and the “dropped R”
allophones, dropped R, N’Awlins, New Orleans, phonemes, phonemics, phonology, Sinclair, St. Clair, Worcester, Worcestershire
Nguyen
Nguyen, Vietnamese
The One Ring inscription
ash nazg, Dark Tongue of Mordor, Nazgûl, the One Ring, Tolkien
Oktoberfest
dunkel, Götterdämmerung, gemütlich, Oktoberfest, Schadenfreude, Weissbier, Weltanschauung, Weltschmerz, Wunderkind, Zeitgeist
Paris Olympic venues
Aquatics Centre, Arena Bercy, Arena Champ-de-Mars, Arena Paris Nord, Arena Paris Sud, Arena Porte de La Chapelle, Bercy Arena, Bordeaux Stadium, Centre Aquatique, Centre National de Tir de Châteauroux, Champ de Mars Arena, Chateauroux Shooting Centre, Château de Versailles, Colline d’Élancourt, Eiffel Tower Stadium, Elancourt Hill, Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium, Golf National, Grand Palais, Hôtel de Ville, Invalides, La Beaujoire Stadium, La Concorde, Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue, Lyon Stadium, Marina de Marseille, Marseille Marina, Marseille Stadium, Nice Stadium, North Paris Arena, Olympics, Parc des Princes, Paris, Paris La Défense Arena, Paris La Defense Arena, Pierre Mauroy Stadium, Pont Alexandre III, Porte de La Chapelle Arena, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX Stadium, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome, Site d’escalade Bourget, South Paris Arena, Stade BMX de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Stade de Bordeaux, Stade de France, Stade de la Beaujoire, Stade de Lyon, Stade de Marseille, Stade de Nice, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Stade Nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne, Stade Pierre Mauroy, Stade Roland-Garros, Stade Tour Eiffel, Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Tahiti, Teahupo‘o, Trocadéro, Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, Vélodrome Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Yves-du-Manoir Stadium
pronunciation
categorical perception, great vowel shift, pronounciation, pronunciation
Riesling and Gewürztraminer
German, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, wine
São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro
Brazilian, Portuguese, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo
sausages
andouille, boerewors, chorizo, sausages
Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, wine
sbagliato
Gigli, negroni sbagliato, sbagliato, Sbarro, tagliatelle
schism and schedule
schedule, schism
Scotch whisky
Aberlour, anCnoc, Auchentoshan, Balvenie, BenRiach, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Cardhu, Chivas Regal, Craigellachie, Edradour, Glen Garioch, GlenDronach, Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glenmorangie, Glenrothes, Islay, Knockando, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Macallan, Oban, Strathisla, Té Bheag, Tomatin
64 French expressions
aide-de-camp, au contraire, au naturel, avant-garde, Beaux-Arts, Bell Époque, bête noire, bon voyage, boudoir, bric-à-brac, bricolage, cache, cachet, carte blanche, cause célèbre, chaise longue, cherchez la femme, clique, concierge, couloir, coup d’état, coup de grâce, crèche, cul-de-sac, de rigueur, déjà vu, eau de toilette, en pointe, en route, esprit de corps, fait accompli, femme fatale, fin de siècle, fleur-de-lis, French, haute couture, idée fixe, je ne sais quoi, joie de vivre, laissez-faire, lèse majesté, lingerie, ménage à trois, naïveté, noblesse oblige, nom de plume, nouveau riche, œuvre, oh là là, papier-mâché, pas de deux, petite bourgeoisie, pied-à-terre, prêt-à-porter, prix fixe, quelle horreur!, raison d’être, roman à clef, roué, sacrebleu, sang-froid, savoir-faire, tête-à-tête, trompe-l’œil, vis-à-vis
Sláinte, Céad míle fáilte
céad míle fáilte, Gaelic, Irish, sláinte, St. Patrick’s Day
Southern Tier
Allegany, Bemus Point, Bolivar, Caneadea, Cassadaga, Cattaraugus, Ceres, Chautauqua, Cuba, Delevan, Fredonia, Gerry, Ischua, Olean, Salamanca
10 useful German words
Backpfeifengesicht, fremdschämen, gemütlich, German, Korinthenkacker, Kummerspeck, Schnapsidee, Sehnsucht, Sitzfleisch, verschlimmbessern, Weltschmerz
Toronto places
Berczy, Bloor, Dundas, Eglinton, Etobicoke, Roncesvalles, Sherbourne, Spadina, Strachan, Tecumseth
Toronto places 2
Adelaide, Balliol, Bloor, Dundas, Gloucester, Grosvenor, Queens Quay, Scrivener, Shuter, The Esplanade, Toronto, Wellesley
Turandot
Turandot, Puccini, Gozzi
Turkish medalists at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Abdullah Yıldırmış, Buse Naz Çakıroğlu, Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu, Esra Yıldız Kahraman, Hatice Akbaş, Mete Gazoz, Olympics, Turkish, Ulaş Berkim Tümer, Yusuf Dikeç, Şevval İlayda Tarhan
umlaut
Albrecht Dürer, diaeresis, Elisabeth Langgässer, Fräulein, Götz von Berlichingen, Günter Grass, Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Göthe, Käthe Kollwitz, tschüss, umlaut
Uranus
Uranus
Vincent van Gogh
Dutch, Vincent van Gogh
waistcoat, boatswain, gunwale, victuals, forecastle, blackguard, topgallant sail
blackguard, boatswain, forecastle, gunwale, shanty, topgallant sail, victuals, video, waistcoat
Winter Olympic: 2018 venues
2018 Winter Olympic venues, and Bokwang, Gangneung, Jeongseon, Kwandong, Pyeongchang, Yongpyong
Winter Olympics: Finnish
Andreas Alamommo, Antti Aalto, Eetu Nousianen, Finnish, Janne Ahonen, Jarkko Määttä, Julia Kykkänen, Mika Pyörälä, Noora Räty, Winter Olympics
Winter Olympics: Pita Taufatofua, the Tongan flagbearer
flag bearer, opening ceremony, Pita Taufatofua, Tonga, Winter Olympics
Winter Olympics: sz – Polish vs. Hungarian
Emőke Szőcs, Hungarian, Karolina Sztokfisz, Magdalena Czyszczoń, Natalia Wojtuściszyn, Petra Jászapáti, Polish, Sára Luca Bácskai, Winter Olympics
Zoltán Kodály
Hungarian, Zoltán Kodály
Sesquiotica 