The 8 Days Pronunciation Quiz: Radio DJs Take On Commonly Mispronounced Words

Fun fact about being a Mediacorp radio deejay: while they are subjected to pronunciation tests two to three times a year just to make sure that they still know their “ salmon” from “sell-mon”, talking up a storm on-air is not all about extremely proper pronunciation.

“We speak to be understood,” declares Class 95FM jock Vernon A, who gamely agreed to do 8 DAYS’ pronunciation challenge along with fellow Mutton Justin Ang, Class 95FM DJ Yasminne Cheng, plus livewire duo Sonia Chew and Joakim Gomez from 987FM.

Of course, things got a little competitive. And yes, even the best of DJs grapple with the word “geoduck” (surprise, surprise, the rudely-shaped clam’s name is not pronounced “jio- duck”). Okay guys, we understand what you’re saying. But nobody wants to be the clueless dude who orders ginger ale in a restaurant by calling out, “I’ll have a ginger ahleh”, right?

So check out what we learnt from our radio jocks’ hilarious but insightful pronunciation quizzes, bloopers and all. The correct pronunciation of the words will be revealed at the end of the video.

Each DJ is graded based on 10 random, hard-to-pronounce words we give them. And in case you’re wondering (or speak with an American twang), all words are corrected according to British pronunciation from the Cambridge Dictionary for the purposes of this totally unscientific pronunciation quiz.