Turns out we'll have been pronouncing 'Karaoke' wrong and woman explains why it's important to learn

In a world that is brimming with culture and harbors people who speak diverse languages, English has grown as a common ground of communication. Just like different accents of the English language exist, native English speakers have also altered the pronunciations of several foreign words. A popular Korean content creator, Yurie (who goes by @yurie.oh on TikTok and also speaks English, Spanish and Japanese), pointed out how native English speakers refuse to acknowledge the right pronunciations even when it is laid out for them. Her surprising revelations show that we might've been pronouncing certain foreign words like "karaoke" wrong the whole time.

Yurie wondered why many native English speakers in the world think that they are pronouncing a foreign word in the right way, even if someone tried to correct them. Being a fluent speaker of three other foreign languages, Yurie had witnessed many such instances where the English speakers not only continued with the wrong pronunciations but also refused to learn the right ones. Many foreign words, especially nouns, have made their way into the English language and are used daily. But when a native speaker of that language tries to correct the English speaker's pronunciation, Yurie noted that they respond with, "No, I'm saying it the right way."

To explain how prevalent this problem was, Yurie listed a few examples of foreign words being mangled by others. Once, Yurie witnessed a man she described as "whiter than Snow White," trying to order frijoles in a Mexican restaurant. He kept asking the waitress for some "free jewels" and didn't budge from his wrong way of using the word, even when the waitress corrected him by asking, "You want frijoles (pronounced fre-ho-les)?" Yurie said, "This dude has the audacity to say, 'No, I know what I said. I want free Joels." And then, Yurie revealed the true way of pronouncing "karaoke," which would surprise any English speaker. Turns out, it's "ka ra o ke," and not "kyaraokee," as we've been saying all this time.

We have also been wrong about several Japanese, Korean and Spanish words. For instance, many of us have enjoyed the popular Korean "mukbang" videos on social media but would wrongly pronounce it like, "mook bang." However, Yurie emphasized that it's "muk bang" and even explained its meaning in Korean - "stream while eating." Next is a common dip that many love to eat - guacamole. How many times have you said or ordered a "gwakamolee" in your life? Apparently, it's "gua ca mo le," just like how it's spelled. "The point here is, if someone's teaching you how to speak their language, don't stay ignorant," said Yurie in the caption.

Over 1.5 million views came in for this video and it resonated with many native speakers of foreign languages. "What annoys me so much is that many native English speakers won't even try to say foreign words or names correctly," said @tungstenfan. "I'm a Welsh speaker and it's the same when non-welsh speakers are insistent they're pronouncing Welsh place names right and I'm saying them wrong," noted @elinorwalters426. "Didn't know that's how you pronounce karaoke and Mukbang is a new word for me, but glad to know that’s how you say it," added @jrbriones4.

You can follow Yurie (@yurie.oh) on TikTok for informative and hilarious content.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on May 23, 2024. It has since been updated.