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  • In this American English pronunciation video, we're going to go over how to pronounce this.

  • Every once in a while, there's a word that's hard for Americans to pronounce as well. For

  • example, I'm here in LA at the Tastemade studios, and I've been watching a few friends recording

  • some cooking shows.

  • >> So we need, now, I can never say this, worcestershire.

  • >> I say worcestershire. >> Worcestershire? Ok, we'll go with that.

  • >> We should ask Rachel from Rachel's English later on.

  • >> Yes. How to say that properly.

  • >> A little bit of worcestershire sauce. >> Or worcestershire.

  • >> Wor-, or worcestershire? Nobody really knows how to pronounce it.

  • >> We don't know. >> We need to talk to Rachel.

  • As you can see, they're not quite sure how to pronounce this word, so, let's go over

  • it. This is one of the few cases where we're actually retaining British English pronunciation.

  • This sauce was first made in city of Worcester, England. 'Shire' is the British equivalent

  • to our counties here in America, so this sauce is simply named for region from which it comes,

  • Worcestershire, where 'shire' sounds just like the state name 'New Hampshire'.

  • So, we drop the first R, and the vowel in that syllable is the UH as in PUSH vowel,

  • wo-, wo-. So the lips will start in a tight circle, and then they'll relax a bit out.

  • But we still want a little bit of round for that vowel. Wo-, wo-. This is the stressed

  • syllable. Then we have two unstressed syllables, -stershire, -stershire, so they can be lower

  • in pitch and quicker. So we have the ST consonant cluster, worcest-, -st-, so your teeth need

  • to come together for the S sound, tongue will go to the roof of the mouth for the T, worcestershire.

  • Now, the second two syllables have the schwa. So, we need basically no jaw drop for those.

  • Worcestershire, -stershire. To make the SH sound between the two -er- sounds, the tongue

  • will come forward a little bit. But the tongue tip still doesn't need to be touching anything.

  • And your teeth will stay together, sh. And your lips will flare. Worcestershire. So,

  • it's just three syllables. DA-da-da. Worcestershire. Don't pronounce that first R, and also make

  • sure you put the schwa in the last syllable. Some people will want to say 'shire', but

  • just like the state 'New Hampshire', -shire, -shire, it's a schwa in that last syllable.

  • I also appeared on the cooking show Hilah Cooking, so click here to see that video.

  • We made yummy Long Island Iced Teas. Also, click here to see the two videos of recipes

  • that call for Worcestershire sauce, now that you can confidently pronounce that word. All

  • the links are also in the video description.

  • That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

In this American English pronunciation video, we're going to go over how to pronounce this.

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