Prentiss Riddle: Language

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Mispronounce foreign names the VOA way

The Voice of America has an interesting but unreliable pronunciation guide to foreign names in the news.

Sorry, but Guenther is not pronounced GOON-tahr. Even if they assume their announcers can't handle the /ü/ or the German /r/ in Guenther, the least they could have done would be to get the final vowel right ("-tehr", not "-tahr"). Somehow I doubt that the names from the Balkans and the Middle East are any better.

Still, I suppose the guide is of some value. I had forgotten if I ever knew how the letter C is used in Turkish, and wouldn't have guessed that Cemil Cicek is even roughly jeh-MIHL cheh-CHEHK. And why on earth is the Korean name transliterated Roh Moo-Hyun with an R when it's pronounced no moo hyun with an /n/?

language 2003.03.29 link