Pronounce the 10 Most Popular Olympic Sports

The Olympiad is here. And as a tribute, I wanted to share some of my Olympic sports that I do daily.

All right, all right. But kidding aside, the Olympiad is here, the Olympic Games. And today we're going to learn how to pronounce 10 of the most popular, yet challenging to pronounce Olympic sports. so when you have small talk with friends, you can pull out that polished pronunciation of all of those sports. And it's a good opportunity to practice sounds, even if you don't want to talk about Olympic Games. Are you ready? Let's get started.

The first is 'gymnastics', one of the more mesmerizing sports out there. And here's how you pronounce it: djim-NAS-tiks. You start with a 'dj' sound, then it's the 'i' as in 'sit'- djim, djim, close your lips for the M. Then we have NA, that's the primary stress, that's the A as in 'cat'. Not djim-NAAS-tiks, but djim-NAS and then 'tiks'. If you struggle with pronouncing a lot of consonants together, practice it slowly. Gymnastics. I love gymnastics. Gymnastics.

The next one is 'athletics'. In athletics, we have a TH sound, so let's practice it. We start with 'a' sound, a, a, and then it's a TH sound - ath. Keep the tongue out and then pull it in for the L: athl, athl, and then ath-LE-diks. Notice the T is pronounced as a soft D, it's called a flap T - ath-LE-diks. The primary stress is the E sound, and there are a lot of challenging consonants in this word, so I recommend to stretch it out a little bit. First, because it's the primary stress and that's what you're supposed to do, but second, it's going to give you a quick break before flipping the tongue again for the flap T. ath-LE-diks. Athletics. Athletics.

The next one is 'cycling'. In the word 'cycling', you start with an S sound, then it's the 'ai' as in 'my'- SAI. Then you have two consonants together: SAI-k, in the back, SAI-k, and then you bring the tongue up for the L. So you want to transition directly without adding a vowel in between. So it's not SAI-kuh-ling, but SAI-kling. It's not a big deal if you put a schwa there, but try to connect the two sounds together: SAI-kling, like the word 'cling', to cling on something. The end has an NG - SAI-kliNG. So you don't have to pop the G at the end, it's just ɪŋ. SAI-kling. Cycling.

The next is 'surfing'. I don't know how to surf, but I know how to pronounce the word surfing. You start with an S sound, then it's the UR as in 'stir'. So you transition directly from the S to the UR – S'R. like "yes, sir". There isn't an 'uw' sound there, it's not SUWR-fing or SER-fing. S'R. S’R-fing. S’R-fing. Surfing.

The next one is 'trampoline'. You start with a TR, and when the T appears before an R, it actually sounds like a CH sound, as in 'chicken'. CHRA. CHRAM. Then we have the P sound and a schwa – CHRAM-puh. And then the end is an L sound, a high E, and an N - leen. The primary stress is on the first syllable - CHRAM-puh-leen, That's how I say it. You can also put the stress on the last syllable – chram-puh-LEEN. You can even hop a little bit when you put the stress on the last syllable. chram-puh-LEEN. However, I prefer to say it with a stress on the first syllable - CHRAM-puh-leen.

The next one is 'volleyball'. Volleyball. You start with a V sound, then the AA as in 'father' - VAA. Then 'lee' - an L sound and a high E. This is a light L. It's still a little heavy, especially for some speakers - VAA-lee, but it's not a dark L as it is in the word 'ball'. Listen to the difference between those two L's – volley-ball. The dark L is somewhere between an L an R and a W. L. It's pronounced here and not here. Volleyball. Practice it. Volleyball. Let's play volleyball.

The next sport is 'water polo'. Now, the word water is a good word to know how to pronounce regardless of the Olympiad, right? Water, water. A W sound, then the AA as in 'father' - WAA. Then a flap T and an R – WAA-d'r, in American English. Water. And then we have the word 'polo' - two 'ow' as in 'go': pow-low. The stress is on the first syllable - POW-low. WA-d’r POW-low. Water polo. "Are you coming to play water polo? No, I don't want to play water polo. Why don't you want to play water polo? Because I don't play water polo. Okay, I'm going to go play water polo. Enjoy your water polo." Water polo. Whoo, that's a mouthful.

The next word is 'weightlifting', and an excellent opportunity to practice your held T. You start with WEIT, just like "wait a minute. WEIT: a W, EI as in 'day', and a T. But when the T appears at the end of a word or before another consonant, it's a held T. That means you bring the tongue up, and you wait, and then you release it to the next sound, in this case, the L. WEIT-lif-ting, so transition from the T to the L directly. Weightlifting. Weightlifting. Weightlifting. I'm going to go do some weightlifting because I'm a weightlifter, and I love lifting weights. Weightlifting.

The next word is 'wrestling'. I'm not a fan of wrestling. You start with an R sound, there is no W here, okay, just an R, and then an [ɛ] sound - RE, RE, RES. You also don't hear the T. So, it's just RES-ling. RES-ling. Wrestling.

And lastly, we have the word 'triathlon'. Triathlon. We saved the best for last. You start with a T and then an R - trai. Again, the T sounds a little bit like a 'ch' sound, or a lot like a 'ch' sound - chrai. Then ATH - A as in 'cat' and a voiceless TH. chrai-ATH. And from the TH, you transition to the L sound: chrai-ATH-laan – with the AA as in 'father' and then an N - laan. chrai-ATH-laan. Remember the transition we had in 'athletics'? ATH-le-diks. chrai-ATH-laan. Same transition. chrai-ATH-laan. Triathlon. Try saying triathlon.

Now listen, if the transition between the TH and the L is really difficult, there is another, less common, but possible pronunciation, where you add a schwa between – a small 'uh' sound – between the TH and the L: chrai-A-thuh-laan. So if that's easier for you to pronounce, put the schwa in. Take the schwa. I'm giving you the schwa. Put a schwa between the TH and the L, and say the word with confidence. chrai-A-thuh-laan. Or chrai-ATH-laan. Either way, the sport is a little more challenging than the pronunciation. So you're good.

All right. Now, I want to hear from you, what is your favorite Olympic sport? Let me know in the comments. I'm doing a little survey among my subscribers to understand what is their favorite Olympic sports. Okay? So let me know and tell me if you're watching the Olympiad. I love it, but I usually love the ending, like the finals, when it gets more... more exciting.

All right, either way, thank you so much for watching this. And enjoy the games, enjoy life, enjoy your day. and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.