[Janelle Ward]

I went to boarding school in Rockhampton (that’s RockHAMPtn) and worked for a while near Mackay (that’s MacKY, not KAY).

Now a new study conducted by Preply has analysed Google search data for Australian place names and ranked each destination according to pronunciation difficulty.

These are the top 20 most mispronounced places in Australia and how to say them, according to Preply.

Cairns: Correct: “CANS” Incorrect: KERNS or KENS

Prahran: Correct: “PRAN” or “Pr–AAN” Incorrect: Pr-AHN or PRA-RAN

Melbourne: Correct: “MEL-burn” or “MEL-ben” Incorrect: “MEL-BORN”

Launceston: Correct: “LONN-ses-tun” Incorrect: “LAWN-ses-tun” or “LAWN-ston”

Gloucester: Correct: “GLOSS-ter” Incorrect: “GLOW-kester” or “GLOUW-sester”

Canberra: Correct: “CAN-bra” Incorrect: “CAN-berra”

Balmain: Correct: “BAL-mane” Incorrect: “bal-MAH-n

Ngunnawal: Correct: “NUN-nah-wol” Incorrect: “NGUN-uh-wawl”

Warwick: Correct: “WAWR-ik” Incorrect: “WA-rick”

Derby: Correct: “DER-be” Incorrect: “DAR-be”

Orange: Correct “ORR-inj” Incorrect “Ornj”

Brisbane: Correct “BRIZ-bn” Incorrect “brIHz-bAIn”

Uluru: Correct “OO-luh-roo” Incorrect “oo-loo-roo”

Coogee: Correct “COULD-jee” Incorrect “KOO-jee”

Cygnet: Correct “SIG-net” Incorrect “”SIG-nuht”

Bondi Beach: Correct “BON-die Beach” Incorrect “Bond-dee Beach”

Adelaide: Correct “AA-uh-laid” Incorrect “AA-duh-lied”

Kata Tjuta: Correct “KAH-tah-choor-tar: Incorrect “ka-tuh-joo-tuh”

Manuka: Correct “MAH-nah-kah” Incorrect “maa-nuh-kuh”

Geelong: Correct “JH-long” Incorrect “JEE-long”

Do you have any place names that are commonly mispronounced to add to that list? Or do you disagree with any of the pronunciations?

[Wendy]

In Western Australian we have Coogee Beach, pronounced ‘coo gee’, not could gee.

[ronloby]

Depends on where in Aussie you went to school.

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I don’t think the study went much further than the Blue Mountains. A lot of melbournians I know say Mal Born. Launceston in Cornwall, U.K. is pronounced Lawnston and they think Australians are weird. Most people from Adelaide pronounce it ADD Laid whereas newcomers say Addle Laid or Add E Laide. Agree with ronloby, probably depends on where you went to school.
Bob.

[Spiderspoon]

Here’s one I heard from a young newsreader. Condobolin. She pronounced it Condebowlin.
A hard one is Canowindra, which is pronounced Canoundra.
In India you have New Delhi, pronounced Delli,
but there is a Delhi Road in Sydney which from memory is pronounced Delleye Rd.
In Sydney we have a beach Coogee. The oo is as with cook. In WA, there is a Coogee pronounced with the oo as in cool.
We have Jervis Bay. I am used to pronouncing it as Jarvis Bay, but the locals seem to prefer is as Jervis, as in perve (no disrespect intended – just pronunciation).
Which reminds me of the time when someone asked my advice as to the correct pronounciation for pronunciation. Hmmm. Isn’t English a wonderful language?

[Couldabeen]

A note though about any place name that is using an Aboriginal word. As there was no written language, the spelling as we use is very much phonetic and hence the pronunciation can be arbitrary.
It is best often to leave well enough alone because though we may’ve used the contemporary pronunciation, once we’ve been exposed to an alternative, it can be difficult to shake.
Wandoan, Barcaldine, Goondiwindi and Bulahdelah all can be mangled.
By the way, after being corrected on Canowindra in NSW, there is a development between Brisbane and the Gold Cost that was loudly advertised as Can-oh-wind-rah.

[Author]

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