THIS QUEBEC TRAVEL DESTINATION IS GLOBALLY FAMOUS BUT APPARENTLY NOBODY CAN PRONOUNCE IT
Travelling across Canada is an adventure in itself, but pronouncing some of its iconic destinations is another challenge altogether. Even former U.S. President Barack Obama once stumbled over "Mississauga" during a 2016 state dinner.
But Quebec is filled with plenty of its own tongue-twisting locales. Given its French heritage, it's no surprise some of its spots can be tricky for non-French speakers. However, even Quebec can't claim places with names as challenging as Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik Lake — a mouthful found in Manitoba.
So, which Quebec destination is hard for folks to say? Hawaiin Islands, an online travel forum specializing in vacations across Hawaii, listed the most mispronounced tourist spots across the world and Mont-Tremblant appears to be a tough one.
Hawaiin Islands compiled a seed list of the most popular tourist attractions in every country and U.S. state and every country's most popular beaches, beach resorts, landmarks, museums and nature spots. The travel website then searched each of the destinations on Forvo, an online pronunciation library, to find out how often the correct pronunciation had been searched.
Champs Elysées in France ranked number one with over 223,000 searches on how to pronounce it. Casa Batlló in Spain came second, and Chichen Itzá ranked third. Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and Paris' Montmartre made up the remainder of the top five.
Hawaiin Islands then listed the most mispronounced nature spots and Canada's very own Niagara Falls landed second with over 31,000 searches on how to pronounce the Canadian/U.S. tourist destination.
Located less than two hours from Montreal, Mont-Tremblant National Park was listed 12th overall, receiving over 9,000 searches on how to properly say the Quebec spot. With gorgeous fall foliage, stunning slopes for skiing, and gorgeous hikes during the summertime, Mont-Tremblant is one of the most popular for Quebecers and tourists, so it's no surprise the sought-after destination may be slightly onerous for some to pronounce.
Wondering which other destinations made the cut? Here's the complete top 12 of the most mispronounced tourist destinations across the globe:
- Champs Elysées — France
- Casa Battló — Spain
- Chichen Itzá — Mexico
- Rijksmuseum — Netherlands
- Montmartre — France
- Taj Mahal — India
- Buckingham Palace — United Kingdom
- Arc de Triomphe — France
- La Tour Eiffel — France
- Trastevere — Italy
- Neuschwanstein — Germany
- Machu Pichu — Peru
- Torres del Paine — Chile
- Niagara Falls — Canada
- Teide — Canary Islands
- Grand Canyon — United States
- Lençóis Maranhenses — Brazil
- Mount Rainier — United States
- Great Barrier Reef — Australia
- Iguazu — Brazil
- Godafoos — Iceland
- Yosemite National Park — United States
- Valle De La Luna — Argentina
- Mont Tremblant — Canada