How to distingish the pronunciations?

Question

I can not distinguish the pronunciation of "scoundrel " and "scandal ".

I concentrated and listened the pronunciations of two words many times.

But, I can't still distinguish them.
I'm very mortifying.

Americans , Can you , ,,,,,Do you clearly distinguish the pronunciations of two word ?

"scoundrel " and "scandal ".

How do I distingish two words?

Answer 1

Scoundrel should be pronounced like scown-drull (phonetically). The -oun in scoundrel, like the person above me mentioned, is like the -oun in "sound," "pound," "round," "mound," etc.

The "drel" in scoundrel is sometimes pronounced as "drell," (rhymes with "well" or "fell"), but I'd say most Americans are a little lazy with it and say "drull."

Scandal - the "scan" part rhymes with pan, man, and fan. The "dal" can be pronounced like "doll," but most Americans lazily pronounce it "dull," which rhymes with pull, mull, and full. So, scan-dull or scan-doll (phonetically).

Also, listen for the "r" in "scoundrel." Scandal doesn't have an "r." Scoun-dRel.

Answer 2

the first part of "scoundrel" sounds a little like the word "sound" as in Sound of Music.

The first part of the word "scandal" sounds a little like the work "scan" as in scan this document.