Many have said that sorry is the hardest word but they’d be wrong, linguistically speaking at least.
很多人說(shuō)，“對(duì)不起”是最難說(shuō)出口的詞。不過(guò)，他們其實(shí)錯(cuò)了——至少?gòu)恼Z(yǔ)言學(xué)的角度上說(shuō)。
According to a poll, the word we find hardest to pronounce is ’phenomenon’.
根據(jù)投票調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，最難發(fā)音的單詞其實(shí)是“phenomenon”(現(xiàn)象)。
Next in the top 10 of tongue-twisters are ’remuneration’, and ’statistics’.
在十個(gè)最拗口的詞中排在其后的是“remuneration”(報(bào)酬)和"statistics"(統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)字)。
Speakers also have a problem getting their tongue around ethnicity, hereditary andparticularly, according to the body charged with recording public utterances.
根據(jù)一個(gè)負(fù)責(zé)對(duì)人們?cè)诠矆?chǎng)合講話進(jìn)行錄音的組織發(fā)現(xiàn)，講話者在發(fā)音時(shí)會(huì)遇到困難舌頭打結(jié)的還有：ethnicity(種族)hereditary(遺傳的) 和 particularly(特別地)。
The British Institute Of Verbatim Reporters (BIVR) is the UK’s leading organisation for professionals involved in taking down speech at court and tribunal hearings.
英國(guó)速記人員協(xié)會(huì)是英國(guó)數(shù)一數(shù)二的專業(yè)速記人員團(tuán)體，這些速記人員負(fù)責(zé)在法庭和法庭聽證會(huì)上進(jìn)行速記。
A poll of its members found 10 words that Britons consistently find the most challenging to pronounce.
通過(guò)對(duì)其成員的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查，十個(gè)英國(guó)人認(rèn)為最難發(fā)音的詞浮出水面。
Completing the list are conjugal, specific, processes and development.
這十個(gè)詞中還包括：“conjugal”(婚姻的), “specific”(特殊的), “processes”(過(guò)程)和“development”(發(fā)展)。
Leah Willersdorf, of the BIVR, said: ‘We work with many different types of professionals and hear all kinds of voices during our work.
利亞·文德斯朵夫是英國(guó)速記人員協(xié)會(huì)的一名成員，她說(shuō)：“我們和許多不同類型的專業(yè)人士合作，在工作中聽過(guò)各種不同的發(fā)音。”
‘However, when it comes to the English language it always seems to be the same few words that verbally trip people up, with the speaker having to repeat the word in order to get it right, or just abandoning their attempts and moving on.’
“然而，在英語(yǔ)口語(yǔ)中，人們總是在某幾個(gè)特定單詞上犯錯(cuò)。有時(shí)講話者需要重復(fù)一遍單詞把音發(fā)對(duì)，有時(shí)就索性跳過(guò)這個(gè)單詞直接說(shuō)下面的話。”
BIVR members were quizzed by the team behind the popular word game Scrabble.
調(diào)查團(tuán)隊(duì)通過(guò)給英國(guó)速記人員協(xié)會(huì)的成員們玩拼字游戲的方式完成了這個(gè)小測(cè)試。
According to the words buffs, one in 10 players admit to being reluctant to producing words that they cannot pronounce.
根據(jù)拼字游戲的結(jié)果，有十分之一的玩家承認(rèn)，要拼出他們不會(huì)發(fā)音的單詞有些困難。
Scrabble is a favourite with British families over the festive period, with an estimated 11 million going head to head on Boxing Day, according to its makers.
拼字游戲是英國(guó)家庭在節(jié)慶期間最喜歡的游戲。據(jù)該游戲生產(chǎn)商的估計(jì)，在節(jié)禮日約有1100萬(wàn)人進(jìn)行拼字游戲比賽。
University of York sociolinguistics expert Professor Paul Kerswill said the English language has evolved to compensate for tricky pronunciations but some words remain a challenge.
約克大學(xué)社會(huì)語(yǔ)言學(xué)專家保羅·凱斯維爾說(shuō)，隨著英語(yǔ)的演化，一些拗口的單詞已經(jīng)漸漸進(jìn)化發(fā)展，但是一些很難發(fā)音的單詞依然存在。
He said: ‘People always find a way of simplifying words that they find difficult to get their tongues round, so that an everyday word like ‘handbag’ sounds like ‘hambag’.
他說(shuō)：“人們總是能夠找到方法簡(jiǎn)化那些難以順利發(fā)音的單詞，這樣，‘handbag’這種日常單詞會(huì)聽起來(lái)像‘hambag’。”
‘Our forebears simplified ‘waistcoat’ to ‘weskit’ - but we’ve turned our backs on that.
“我們的祖先把單詞’waistcoat’(背心馬甲)簡(jiǎn)化成了‘weskit’——不過(guò)后來(lái)我們又放棄了后一種說(shuō)法。”
‘We certainly don’t pronounce Worcester and Gloucester the way they are spelt any more. And ‘York’ used to have three syllables, not one.
“現(xiàn)在我們當(dāng)然不會(huì)照著拼寫直接發(fā)’Worcester’和’Gloucester’的音。另外，‘York’以前也有三個(gè)音節(jié)，而非一個(gè)音節(jié)。”
‘And most people talk about ‘Febry’ and ‘Wensday’.’
“還有一些人把‘二月’讀成‘Febry’，把‘星期三’讀成‘Wensday’。”
