The most mispronounced words in 2022
By the end of 2022, Babbel, the premium language-learning platform, has commissioned The Captioning Group, North America’s leading real-time closed captioning company, to identify the top 2022 words that newsreaders, politicians, , public figures and other personalities on live television, have had trouble pronouncing correctly. This is the seventh consecutive year, since 2016, in which the analysis of the most mispronounced words has been carried out.
At the request of language platform Babbel, The Captioning Group surveyed its members to identify the following words and names as the most frequently mispronounced words in 2022. Phonetic pronunciations were provided by David Marín, Senior Linguist at Babbel.
Adele [A-déil]- In October, English singer Adele revealed that fans, especially in the US, often mispronounce her name and she prefers the way it sounds with an East London accent.
Negroni Sbagliato [negróni s-ba-ll-liáa-to]- An interview with the stars of the popular series “House of the Dragons” went viral, when Emma D’Arcy told the world about her favorite drink: the “Negroni Sbagliato con prosecco”. The clip received more than 14 million views on TikTok and became a viral trend on the social network due to the expression and intonation with which the actress responded to the question from her co-star in the series, Olivia Cooke.
Novak Djokovic [nó-vak d-yóo-ko-vitch]- In January, the tennis star was deported from Australia and unable to compete at the Australian Open after failing to comply with Covid-19 regulations.
Rishi Sunak [ri-chí su-nák]- After Rishi Sunak’s victory in the UK’s Conservative leadership race in October, President Biden mispronounced the prime minister’s name in his congratulatory speech, calling him Rasheed Sanook.
chicxulub [tchik-chu-lúb]- In October, researchers revealed the full extent of the Chicxulub impact (the meteorite that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs). The meteorite, which landed in what is now the Gulf of Mexico, triggered a giant tsunami that covered most of the globe in 24 hours.
Domhnall Gleeson [dóu-nal glíi-sn]- In October, the actor, star of the serial killer drama ‘The Patient,’ criticized Stephen Colbert for mispronouncing his first name, Domhnall, who is of Irish origin.
edinburgh [é-din-b’ra]US newscasters faced criticism for mispronouncing the Scottish capital Edinburgh in Spanish during coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September.
Запоріжжя – In English Zaporizhzhia, in Spanish Zaporizhia [zaporíy-yia]. It is the name of a city and oblast (also known as a region or division), as well as the location of a nuclear power plant, in southeastern Ukraine.
Hungarian Tonga–Hungarian Ha’apai [Junga-Tónga Júnga-Ja-Apái]- Volcano that erupted in January causing tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean and devastating parts of Tonga. The eruption column has been declared the highest on record, reaching six times the height of Mount Everest.
David Marín, Senior linguist at Babbel. He comments, “2022 has been a busy year with some major political, geographic, sporting and cultural events dominating the headlines. Public figures on screen have had to deal with some tricky pronunciations, which can have amusing results. But it’s great to see how some words and names from different cultures and languages around the world are used in everyday conversation. The most important thing is to try and not be intimidated by a new word, and to be open to learning. Of course, at Babbel, we are always happy to help people with the correct pronunciations.”