Thursday, February 4, 2010

The pronunciation of 'presentation'

Students often ask me the correct pronunciation of the word 'presentation'. Well, they have heard it being pronounced as 'presen'tation' [present as in 'to present a prize' and 'tation' as in 'station'] and "'presentation" [present as in 'to be present at a meeting' and 'tation' as in 'station'].

Well, both are correct but they are pronounced differently in England and the United States of America. In the USA, it is pronounced as the first pronunciation above and in England it is pronounced as the second pronunciation as stated above.

In Malaysia, we should pronounce it as the British because all our spellings and pronunciation have all along been following the British since colonial days.

No comments: