Launceston has been revealed as having one of the top 5 most challenging place names to pronounce in the country.
Placing at number four behind Cairns, Prahran and Melbourne, Tasmania’s second biggest city was found to often be mispronounced as Lawn-ses-tun, Lawn-ston or Lawn-chess-ton and not the correct Lonn-ses-tun.
According to the Preply data analysts behind the find, if you pronounce “Laun” as “lawn,” it’s a telltale sign that you’re a “Mainlander”.
The findings were extracted from Google Search data looking for the places people ask “How to pronounce” and “How to say” questions most often.
FULL LIST:
1. Cairns, Queensland
Correct pronunciation: CANS
Incorrect pronunciation: KERNS or KENS or CAN
2. Prahran, Victoria
Correct pronunciation: PRAN or Pr–AAN
Incorrect pronunciation: Pr-AHN or PRA-RAN
3. Melbourne, Victoria
Correct pronunciation: MEL-burn or MEL-ben
Incorrect pronunciation: MEL-BORN
4. Launceston, Tasmania
Correct pronunciation: LONN-ses-tun
Incorrect pronunciation: LAWN-ses-tun or LAWN-ston
5. Gloucester, New South Wales
Correct pronunciation: GLOSS-ter
Incorrect pronunciation: GLOW-kester or GLOUW-sester
6. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Correct pronunciation: CAN-bra
Incorrect pronunciation: CAN-berra
7. Balmain, New South Wales
Correct pronunciation: BAL-mane
Incorrect pronunciation: bal-MAH-n
8. Ngunnawal, Australian Capital Territory
Correct pronunciation: NUN-nah-wol
Incorrect pronunciation: NGUN-uh-wawl
9. Warwick, Queensland
Correct pronunciation: WAWR-ik
Incorrect pronunciation: WA-rick
10. Derby, Western Australia
Correct pronunciation: DER-be
Incorrect pronunciation: DAR-be
