Jess' world
That's the way it is

I was watching some YouTube videos about Barack Obama’s election success (congratulations, by the way!) and realised I’ve been saying his name completely wrong. I’ve been saying ‘Barack’ like the place that soldiers live in – like ‘barracks’. Maybe it was the time I spent in the UK. If you’re aware of the difference between the UK pronunciation of ‘garage’ and the USA pronunciation of ‘garage’, well, the A sounds in Barack are very similar to the USA pronunciation of ‘garage’.

Listen to the way Oprah Winfrey and this journalist say his name:

If you want to hear their pronunciation separately, here is Oprah:

And here’s the journalist:

I hope that helps! Maybe I should spend more time watching the news on TV instead of reading it online!