Episode Transcript

69. How to pronounce “genre”

Hi guys, it’s Hadar, and this is The Accent’s Way – your way to finding clarity, confidence, and freedom in English.

Judy asked me to explain how to pronounce the word ‘genre’. Genre. Now, this word is derived from French. Now, in French, you pronounce this word as one syllable.

Something like this – “genre”, “genre” [with a French accent]. Sorry, French speakers, I’m not a French speaker. So I guess it’s somewhat close, but it’s not like how you pronounce it in American English, although it’s the same spelling. All right.

So, a lot of non-native speakers still try to make it like the French pronunciation – “genre”, okay, and no. You have to remember that it’s two syllables. So the first syllable is “jaan”. It’s a ‘zh’ sound, then the ‘ah’ as in “father”, and then an ‘N’ sound – “jaan”.

The second syllable is an ‘R’ sound and a schwa – “ruh”, “ruh”. So basically it’s just like you’re making an ‘R’ sound and you forget to stop speaking – “ruh”, “ruh”.

Okay, so it’s “jaan-ruh” – “genre”, “genre”. What’s your favorite genre? Genre. Alright? Good!

I know it’s not the most common word but I know that a lot of speakers get stuck when they say this word because they just don’t know how to use it. So they don’t use it, and then they don’t talk about sophisticated things like different literary genres. Alright?

So, there you go! I hope this solves your problems.

Okay, so practice this word and try to use this word this week somehow, somewhere. Let us know how it goes right in the comments below.

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Have a wonderful week and I will see you next week.

Bye.