From ‘Greta Thunberg’ to ‘prorogue’: The tricky words tripping up newsreaders

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From ‘Greta Thunberg’ to ‘prorogue’: The tricky words that are sure to get newsreaders’ tongues in a bit of a twist

  • Greta Thunberg, Chernobyl and the gilets jaunes most mispronounced words 
  • Sky News’ Adam Boulton had difficulty pronouncing ‘gilets jaunes’ last week
  • Other tongue trippers include world record marathon holder Eliud Kipchoge 

By Max Aitchison For The Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

Presenters struggle to grasp the correct pronunciation of Greta Thunberg (pictured) 

What do Greta Thunberg, Chernobyl and the gilets jaunes all have in common?

They are liable to keep newsreaders awake at night – but not for obvious reasons.

Instead, the teenage climate activist, the Soviet power plant and the yellow vest French protestors are all among this year’s most mispronounced words, according to the British Institute of Verbatim Reporters (BIVR).

The organisation – a group of shorthand specialists and professional subtitlers – compiled a list of the trickiest words newsreaders regularly trip up over, according to The Times.

They found that presenters struggle to grasp the correct pronunciation of Greta Thunberg. Her forename is meant to rhyme with ‘later’ rather than ‘feta’ and the final G of her surname has no equivalent in the English language.

And only last week the BIVR said that Adam Boulton, the Sky News correspondent, had difficulty pronouncing gilets jaunes when reporting on protests in France.

Other tongue trippers include the world record marathon holder, Eliud Kipchoge, and the word ‘prorogue’, which dominated political discussion in the UK this year.

Ted Mentele, editor of the language app Babbel, who commissioned the research, said that mistakes were inevitable in the fast-paced nature of a global news room.

But he added that an ‘important part of language-learning is confidence and enthusiasm, so we always say that being good enough to be understood is just fine’.

And only last week the BIVR said that Adam Boulton, the Sky News correspondent, (pictured) had difficulty pronouncing gilets jaunes when reporting on protests in France

And only last week the BIVR said that Adam Boulton, the Sky News correspondent, (pictured) had difficulty pronouncing gilets jaunes when reporting on protests in France

Tongue trippers

  • Joaquin Phoenix (hwah-kEEn fEEnix) Award-winning actor who starred in The Gladiator and most recently the Joker.
  • Prorogue (pruh-rOHg) A temporary suspension of parliament enacted by the Queen on the advice of the prime minister this autumn.
  • Siya Kolisi (sEE-yah koh-lEE-see) South African rugby captain who led his country to victory in the World Cup this November.
  • Flygskam (flEEg-skam) Swedish term translated as ‘flight shame’, used by environmentalists to describe the guilt of air travel.
  • Greta Thunberg (GRAY-ter tun-BER) Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist.