You say, "Po-tae-toe"

Being multi-lingual, sometimes it's hard for me to comprehend certain things with pronunciation or really come up with the word I really want but can't think of in that given moment. I think, 'I know what I want to say, in Chinese, but in English, I draw a complete blank.' For me, it can get hard to think in different languages. But with pronunciation, I often find that I pronounce something totally different than say, oh, the general public.

There are some words that I just won't budge on - and I found it happened quite a bit in London! Prime example - Leicester Square. To me, that says 'lie-ses-ter' Square. Of course, on my first visit, I thought I saw a lot more letters - like Leicestershire - in which case I kept calling it 'Lie-shes-ter-ser' . Almost like worcestershire (or worcester) sauce - comfortably pronounced by me as 'wor-shes-ter' sauce. Regardless, some people knew what I was talking about, some didn't. Those who didn't, I'd just kindly refer to it as the 'gay-borhood.' Ahhh - that got them. Amanda was kind enough to inform me that it's actually pronounced 'Lester' Square. What? Are you kidding me? Les-ter - two syllables. (Lester = Dad in '227') There are clearly more than three syllables in Leicester. I filed the correct pronunciation away in my head, but continued on with my four syllable warble of the name. Afterall, worcester sauce is not 'wester,' is it?

Another simple word that set me apart from the native British was 'Bath' as in the town of Bath. With the ever elegant British pronunciation, the 'a' in Bath is a short 'a' and the initial pronunciation of 'Bath' sounds like a sheep's 'Baaaaah' - so it's 'Baaah-th.' Good old American me pronounces it like saying bathroom - my pronunciation in comparison to a British pronunciation makes me sound like Lina Lamont in 'Singin' in the Rain.' But I can't help myself.

It's a learning experience, for sure - but I think I've been doing okay so far. I'll just keep on keeping on and wait til someone corrects me.