How to Pronounce American States and Cities

Have you ever said the name of an American city

or state and noticed

that Americans pronounce it completely differently than you expected?

Which names of US places are hard for you to pronounce?

Let's learn how to correctly pronounce some names of American cities

and states that are commonly mispronounced by non-native speakers.

I often hear my students mispronounce the name of this city.

You say it.

How did you pronounce the ch?

Did you say Chicago or Chicago?

Did you pronounce it with a ch or a sh sound?

It's pronounced with a sh sound.

Did you know that?

And how about these two US states?

You say them.

The first one is Kansas, but the second one is not our Kansas.

It's Arkansas.

Why is it so complicated?

Because place names are historical.

Some names come from the French language,

others come from the Spanish language

and some come from the Native American languages

or older forms of English.

In many cases, English kept the original spelling, but the pronunciation changed over time.

So, when you see a silent letter or some names that don't sound English,

it's usually because the name is telling a story from the past.

Chicago comes from a Native American word.

The original word referred to wild onions or garlic growing in the area.

The original sound was closer to the sh than to the ch in English.

And French explorers were the first Europeans to write the name.

In French, the ch spelling is pronounced as sh as in chef or champagne.

So they used the French spelling

and English kept the same spelling

and the same sound.

And let's look at the pronunciation of the state where Chicago is located.

How do we pronounce this state?

You say it.

This one also comes from French.

And in French, the S is silent at the end of the word most

of the time,

almost always actually.

So we say Illinois.

Illinois.

There were French explorers in this region in the 1600s.

And it was based on a name of an indigenous group, an Indian group,

and they were called the Elini.

And the French called them the Ilinoa.

In French, the oi s ending is pronounced as wah.

In this case, English kept the French spelling.

We don't pronounce the s,

but we didn't keep the sound of the whole word.

We say Illinois.

We often see this with names of places in the US.

We keep some aspects of the pronunciation of the original language,

but we change some others that are easier for us to say.

Here is another American city and this name is clearly French.

In fact, this city is French just like York is a city in England.

So, the new settlers in the US called the new place New York

and this one is also new.

It's New Orleans.

However, in this case, we decided to pronounce the S,

but we stressed a different syllable and we Americanized the vowel sounds.

We say New Orleans.

New Orleans.

Another important factor for the correct pronunciation of the names of places is word

stress.

When we have a name with two or more words,

we stress the second one.

For example, we don't say New York, we say New York.

We don't say I went to New York,

we say I went to New York.

And don't pause between the two words.

Say them as one unit.

Let's practice.

New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina.

And this rule also applies to cities.

We say Las Vegas.

We don't say Las Vegas.

Repeat after me.

San Diego.

Los Angeles.

Did you connect the S with the A and say it as one unit?

Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and so on.

Small changes in your English pronunciation can make a big difference in how natural

and fluent your English sounds.

These are the types of subtle pronunciation details

that I work on with my students.

I've been teaching the American accent to foreignb born professionals

and actors in Hollywood for over 25 years.

If you would like to keep improving your English pronunciation and your American accent,

we offer two different options.

You can either train with my online American accent course,

which contains 7 hours of video instruction,

plus lots of downloadable exercises

and quizzes. or you can take our one-on-one training.

In the one-on-one training,

I personally design your curriculum based on your specific accent

and I meet with you for the first evaluation session.

And after that, you continue the training with one of my instructors

that I trained personally

and you practice with the materials

that I've developed for over 25 years.

And we have materials for every different type of accent.

So, the training is very customized based on your specific mistakes

and based on your native language.

And these exercises are designed to get you results as quickly as possible.

To learn more about the one-on-one training

and the self-study online American accent course,

go to accurateenglish.com.

You will also find the link below.

Let's look at some more US places that are difficult to pronounce.

This city is in the state of New Mexico.

It has a very unusual spelling, right?

Do you know how to pronounce it?

The correct pronunciation is Albuquerque.

Albuquerque.

We stress the first syllable.

And the quue e ending sounds like key.

Albuquerque.

The name derives from a town in Spain near the Portuguese border.

And the name means white oak.

Albuquerque.

Repeat after me.

I'd like to visit Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The name of this state is commonly mispronounced.

You say it.

There are three letters C in this name.

The second C is silent.

We don't say Connecticut.

We say Connecticut.

Connecticut.

This name originates from the American Indian language

and it comes from this word

which means beside the long tidal river.

There was a long winding river flowing through the area used by Native Americans

for thousands of years.

And when English speakers tried to write this word,

they didn't know how they should spell it.

It sounded similar to the English word connect.

But eventually the C was dropped because the word became so difficult to pronounce.

So today we say Connecticut with a silent C.

Have you ever been to Connecticut?

Let's look at the confusing pronunciation of these two US states.

You pronounce them first.

The first one is Kansas.

Kansas.

But the second one is not our Kansas.

It's Arkansas.

Arkansas.

The final S is silent even though it looks similar to Kansas.

And the pronunciation is different because a different language dominated in those regions.

Both regions were originally named by the French, but later after the Louisiana purchase,

Kansas adopted an English pronunciation for their region, but Arkansas kept the French pronunciation.

Let's say them both again.

Kansas, Arkansas.

Have you been pronouncing the name of this American city correctly?

You say it.

The correct pronunciation is Seattle.

It's located in the state of Washington.

And by the way, don't confuse Washington state with Washington DC.

They're very far apart from each other.

Let's say the name of the city correctly.

Repeat after me.

Seattle.

We add a little Y sound,

a little Y sound between the E

and the A to make a smooth transition.

Sea.

Seattle.

And when we have a T between a vowel and an L,

we often pronounce the T as a flap T like this.

R.

It might sound like an R in your language.

R.

Seattle, for example.

We don't say bottle.

We say bottle.

We don't say little in American English.

We say what?

Little cattle.

Battle.

It's the same pattern.

Seattle.

Let's practice these words by saying some sentences.

Repeat after me.

I saw some cattle near Seattle.

I got a little bottle of water.

Let's say that one again.

I got a little bottle of water.

I'd like to visit Seattle, Washington.

Let's pronounce the name of this American city correctly.

It's in the state of Iowa.

It looks French, but it's not pronounced that way.

You say it.

The correct pronunciation is De Moine.

The E and the S are silent.

De Moine.

De Moines is the capital city of this state.

How do we say it?

You say it Iowa.

The I is stressed and the O is reduced.

We don't say I reduce the O.

Iowa.

He was born in De Moine, Iowa.

Let's look at the pronunciation of this American city.

It's a city surrounded by beautiful nature.

It's pronounced Boisey.

Boisey.

Boisey is located in this state.

How do we pronounce the name of the state?

Idaho.

Idaho.

We stress the first syllable, the I, and the A is reduced.

Idaho.

Idaho.

Repeat after me.

We visited Boise, Idaho.

This is a commonly mispronounced US city.

It's the capital of the state of Arizona.

Do you know how to pronounce it?

The C is silent and we say Tucson.

Tucson.

The first vowel is a long oo as in the word food or moon.

Tucson.

It's located in this state.

You say the name of the state.

Arizona.

We stress the first syllable.

Arizona.

Tucson.

Arizona.

Tucson.

Arizona is in the desert and it's very hot, especially in the summer.

This state is in the northeast of the United States.

Let's pronounce it correctly.

You say it.

We say Maryland.

We don't say land because it's not a stressed syllable.

We say Maryland.

Listen to the difference between these two words.

Land.

Maryland.

Land.

Maryland.

They bought some land in Maryland.

Let's follow the same pattern with the pronunciation of some other places.

How do we say the name of this country?

England.

We don't say England, right?

How about the name of this one?

You say it.

In American English, we pronounce a strong R.

Ireland.

How about the name of this country?

You say it.

Scotland.

Did you reduce the A of land?

How about this one?

Finland.

And this one, Poland.

It's not a and it's not a.

It's a schwa sound, the h sound, because it's part of the reduced syllable.

Let's pronounce the name of this state correctly.

You say it.

Which syllable is stressed?

We stress the second syllable and we say e.

A.

And we reduce the first syllable and the final syllable.

So we say u a Nevada.

And how do we pronounce the name of this very famous city in Nevada?

We follow the same pattern of vowel reduction in the unstressed syllable.

And once again, the a is unstressed.

So we don't say Las Vegas, we say Las Vegas.

Vegas.

Repeat after me.

I went to Las Vegas, Nevada.

You say it.

Thanks for watching and keep practicing.