The main problem with unpronounceable foods is also the biggest benefit to living in this day and age. Foods from all different cultures and languages are freely available all throughout our nation. Not just restaurants and specialty stores, but right there in Safeway. With such a huge bounty of international selections, it's only natural that some of the proper names should be consistently difficult for native English speakers to pronounce.
Some of these seem to be relatively easy, once you learn the right way. "Quinoa" springs to mind. I think just about everyone pronounces it "Quinn-oh-ah" at first. But once you learn it's pronounced "keen-wah," I don't know anyone who slips back into the way they used to say it.
Others are more tricky. Even though I know that "pho" is pronounced "fuh," I would say 3 out of 5 times I pronounce it "foe" anyway. Something in my brain has a difficult time tackling the true pronunciation. I look at the word and my brain thinks "foe," and there you have it.
"Gyro" is another tricky one. The right way to pronounce it, according to the original language (Greek) is "yee-row." But depending on where you live, the standard accepted pronunciation may vary from "jai-row" to "guy-row." People may look at you askance for pronouncing it "correctly," like you're trying to put on airs.
And finally there are the regional variations that are inescapable. There is no single right way to pronounce "scallop," for example. In some parts of the country you pronounce it "skall-up" (rhymes with "gallop") and in others, "skaw-lup" (rhymes with "dollop"), and that's just the way it is.
I have learned that people are pretty understanding when it comes to these issues. If you are open to the idea that you may not be doing it right (many people are not), don't take it personally, and admit when you're about to butcher a word you don't know how to pronounce.
Image courtesy Flickr/moritza
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