Cooperation
Words which non-natives rarely pronounce natively include cooperate, cooperative, cooperation and coop (also written co-operation, co-operate, co-operative and co-op).
In native pronunciation, coop- is two syllables, and the transition between them is a w type sound. We could write this in various ways depending on the accent: kəwɔp, kowɑp, etc. Dictionaries don’t generally write the w, but I think it would probably help the non-native speaker if they did. Here are native cooperate, cooperative and cooperation, each word followed by its beginning:
Non-natives typically pronounce coop- as it’s written, with a single o quality and no w. Unfortunately, this is likely to sound like corp- as pronounced in England and Wales. As a result, non-native cooperation can sound rather like native corporation:
And non-native cooperate can sound rather like native corporate:
To highlight the difference, here is Russell Brand using both corporate and cooperate, followed by corp- and coop- (slightly slowed down):
The two syllables of kəwop or kowop can weaken towards one-syllable kwop. This means that the beginning of coop- can sound rather like the beginning of quality:
Further notes
An unrelated one-syllable word coop, rhyming with scoop, loop and troop, refers to an enclosure in which chickens or other poultry are kept.
Dear Geoff,
Thank you for the advice on cooperation for non-native speakers.
Best,
Masanori
Thanks for the kind words, Masanori.
This article is of great help, specially if readers are non-native speakers of English. It raises awareness on how communication flow can be disrupted, if speakers disregard this important feature of English pronunciation. I love it.