Some of the NZME team tries to pronounce the most difficult place names.
Ptuj was recently revealed in a survey as being the world's hardest city for holidaymakers to pronounce.
The picturesque Slovenian settlement is so phonetically baffling for English speakers, we reported, that 92 per cent of those polled said it incorrectly.
But help is now at hand in the form oftrue pronunciation experts – the locals.
The Ptuj tourist information board filmed a selection of inhabitants saying the name for the benefit of holidaymakers who might be put off visiting a town they can't pronounce.
Tougue-twister: The Slovenian city of Ptuj (P-too-ee). Photo / Tomaz Sedonja, Getty Images.
The tricky part for the unaccustomed is that 'tuj' is pronounced 'too-ee', so it's P-too-ee.
A list of the 15 hardest-to-say tourist destinations was drawn up using the survey results.
After Ptuj, the rest of the top 15 most difficult-to-say cities list is made up of Guimaraes in Portugal (second, 88 per cent), Rijeka in Croatia (third, 84 per cent), Skopje in Macedonia (fourth, 80 per cent), Oaxaca in Mexico (fifth, 76 per cent), Sitges in Spain (sixth, 72 per cent), Bloemfontein in South Africa (seventh, 65 per cent), Ljubljana in Slovenia (eighth, 61 per cent), Gstaad in Switzerland (ninth, 55 per cent), Taormina in Italy (tenth, 48 per cent), Llanelli in Wales (11th, 46 per cent), Wroclaw in Poland (12th, 44 per cent), Lesotho in South Africa (13th, 41 per cent), Tijuana in Mexico (14th, 37 per cent) and Taipei in Taiwan (15th, 33 per cent).
Landmarks also feature with the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull (Ay-uh-fyat-luh-yoe-kuutl-uh) – stumping 98 per cent.
And after the Icelandic volcano, the top 10 most difficult-to-say famous landmarks list comprises Chao Phraya River (second, 74 per cent), Park Güell (third, 68 per cent), Khaosan Road (fourth, 57 per cent), Burj Khalifa (fifth, 55 per cent), Sagrada Familia (sixth, 53 per cent), Machu Picchu (seventh, 48 per cent), Arc de Triomphe (eighth, 45 per cent), Louvre (ninth, 37 per cent) and the Eiffel Tower (10th 35 per cent).
The study, by the Bolsover Cruise Club, polled 2,000 people, and they were also asked about food and phrases that they struggled to pronounce.
It turns out that the Greek language is the hardest for Brits to master, closely followed by Slovene, Swedish, Dutch and Croatian.
Problematic pronunciation continued amongst international foods, with the French classic bourguignon (bur-gen-yon) found to be the hardest, followed by prosciutto (pro-shoot-toe) and quinoa (keen-wah).
Forty two per cent, meanwhile, admitted to struggling at tourist information centres abroad due to mispronunciations.
New Zealand: The world's longest place name in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Janelle Kirkland
Michael Wilson, Managing Director at Bolsover Cruise Club, commented on the findings: "Mastering the national language when heading abroad is always a great way to impress the locals, however, it seems many of us don't always get it right!
"With languages in South-Eastern and Central Europe catching people out the most, this study reveals the irony that so many people can't pronounce some of the most popular cities and landmarks to visit, no matter how close to home.
Illustration / NZ Herald
"It was interesting to discover Greek topped the list as the most difficult language for tourists to speak, however that shouldn't deter would-be travellers."
Not far away from home, in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand has its own fiendishly difficult tourist tongue-twister:
The Guinness Book of Records holder is the world's longest place name. Like the 300-metre hill it refers to, you might want to take a deep breath before taking it on.
