1) Nice, France WRONG: Nice RIGHT: Niece.
Trust us, Nice is Nice!
2) Phuket, Thailand WRONG: Fu-ket RIGHT: Poo-get
Read our post on skipping Phuket and visiting Krabi.
3) Thames River, UK WRONG: Th-AIMS RIGHT: TEMs
Don’t know about you, but I could listen to Benedict Cumberbatch say “Thames,” All…day…long!
4) Nevada, USA WRONG: Nev-AH-duh RIGHT: Ne-VAD-Duh
Don’t worry too much…Americans on the east side of the USA don’t know how to say it either.
5) Copenhagen, Denmark WRONG: Co-pen-hay-gen RIGHT: Co-pen-hog-gen
Hey you! There is not no “hay” in Copenhagen!
6) Beijing, China WRONG: Pee-King RIGHT: Bay-JING
This one harkens back to very poor translation spelling.
7) Reykjavik, Iceland WRONG: Ray-ka-vick RIGHT: Ray-kia-vick
Ok…we struggle with this one. Think of the car brand?
8) Taipei, Taiwan WRONG: Tai-PAY RIGHT: Tai-BAY
Home of one of the tallest buildings in the world, Taipei 101.
9) Ibizi, Spain WRONG: eye-BEE-zuh RIGHT: eye-BEE-thuh
It sounds a little too much like I beat her.
10) Moscow, Russia WRONG: Moss-COW RIGHT: Moss-CO
No mossy cows in Moscow.
11) New Orleans, USA WRONG: New Or-Leans RIGHT: New Or-Luns
The faster you say it, the better it sounds.
12) Qatar WRONG: cut-TAR RIGHT: Kuh-TER.
There is plenty of tar in Qatar, just not in the name of the country.
13) Bangkok, Thailand WRONG: BANG-kock RIGHT: Bang-Gowk
This is another common mistake we hear. Anyway you say it, one of the best cities we have visited.
14) Budapest, Hungry WRONG: Budda-PEST RIGHT: Budda-Pescht
If you are headed there, drop us a line. We know the best goulash place. Mmmmm.
15) Iraq WRONG: Eye-Rack RIGHT: EYE-Rock
Watch the evening news, and at least half of the local reporters will get it wrong.
16) Versailles, France WRONG: Ver-sillys RIGHT: VER-Sigh
This is a great drinking game standing in line for tickets to the palace.
17) Dubai WRONG: Do-Buy RIGHT: Do-BAY
Please do buy the duvet, not the Dubai.
18) Newfoundland, Canada WRONG: New-Found- Land RIGHT: Nyoo-fn-Land
Ok…we cant say it right either. Here is a Canuck to help us:
19) Gstaad, Switzerland WRONG: Gee-STAD RIGHT: Sch-TOT
Theres no G in Gstaad.
20) Cannes, France WRONG: CANS RIGHT: CAN
Saying it right vs. saying it wrong will cost you a good seat at any good Cannes restaurant.