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In any extended foreign reporting, like the situation in Iraq now and Afgahnistan earlier I find the newsreaders (I watch BBC World) take 4-5 days before they start getting inventive with the pronounciation of towns, regions and names of people.
It's bloody annoying: We (english) don't go round pronouncing 'retaurant' the same as the French do right?
So, why do the news readers all start spitting and frothing at the camera in a sad attempt to pronounce names/places EXACTLY the same as the locals?
It's ridiculous.
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this?
<added>NO POLITCS! ;)</added>
Nick
Bin Larden
or Bin Layden
Trouble is, you English think you can pronouce everything, including Irish, Scots and even Cornish, place names in a sort of "Home Counties perceived"
Give us a break, and pronounce them correctly ;)
IMHO place names etc should carry their local names where possible.
That is to say, I would say I am from London, even though my Spanish friends would say I am from Lóndres (I'm not sure Lóndres even exists).
In these times of extending communications worldwide, I think we should begin to accept other cultures' ways of pronouncing names that pertain to them, just as we (English speakers) might recieve the same courtesy (I see it as a courtesy).
<rant>Oh, by the way, I spent some 35 years being called Ted, while I lived in London. Ted is not my name, never has been my name and never will be my name (I have nothing against those that carry this name nor indeed the name itself)! This came about because of difficulty (laziness) in pronouncing my true name (Which the Spanish get right everytime!).</rant>
LOL, Hey cornwall, how is 'Mousehole' pronounced in Cornwall?
:) A nice village (when I visited in the 60s + 70s)
Even the BBC get that right "Mow zel" (with the "mow" as on "pow") ;)
Most of the place names go back to the old Cornish language, similar to Welsh and Breton.
And it still is a nice place as long as you do not go there during the tourist season
So, why do the news readers all start spitting and frothing at the camera in a sad attempt to pronounce names/places EXACTLY the same as the locals?
You mean like the Yanks with their Melboarrn and Brisbaine? We've had to put up with that, war or no war. :)
- Ash in Melburn
It's kinda like on the playground, where a kid makes fun of another kid's name until the other kid punches him... then kid #1 either beats up kid number #2 and says, "He started it!" or goes running off to a teacher, saying, "He punched me for no reason!"
Heavens knows, the British, Germans, French, Romans, Mongols, Greeks, Spanish -- and pretty much anyone else you care to name, except perhaps the Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians... nice people, there -- would never do anything aggressive would they? ;)
lawman
Now the Star Chamber....
"no jury was employed in the proceedings. Although its sentences included a wide variety of corporal punishments, including whipping, pillorying, and branding, those convicted were never sentenced to death"
Does remind me bit of WebmasterWorld Mods ;)
Now having got that off my chest, what was this thread about?
I think the Brittish invented nasty playground rules didn't we?
>thread about?
Who cares, I like the playground stuff far better than newsreaders ;)
But, back to it: I kind of agree that an effort should be made to pronounce properly but not to the extent where the pronounciation of 'Basra' (I've no idea of the spelling) requires anyone within 10 feet of the newsreader to put on his wet weather gear...
Nick
What I hate more than that is the local media here in the USA who cant find anything worth reporting on so they take a something out of context and manhandle it, or they lie out right, repeat it 5 times in 40 seconds. In general I hate the media, most of what they say is crap and could be easly dispelled with a little research. And since this is Foo I will give a national example. You all remember the DC shooter, notice I did not say sniper. The media said he was a sniper killing people for the fun of it. On top of that the very nature of a military or police sniper is to save lives, sometimes that involves killing so that others may live. Anyway the shots these guys took I could make on my worst range day. The media blew everything out of preportion and all of the Sheeple got scared.
Another example is the current war. The media is all over it, which is not bad. However, they get the so-called experts in their studio and scare the sheeple even more with the what-ifs of the war. Well You get the point. I will now turn the rant mode off.
The misspronunciation also gets my goat.
<added> Ha Sheeple! Perfect descriptionm - make them so damn scared that they will listen - and believe anyting you say.</added>
[edited by: mivox at 10:25 pm (utc) on Mar. 25, 2003]
[edit reason] Let's keep away from the politics... Thanks! [/edit]
Rather unrelated to the pronunciation of countries and cities, but still.
Just a quick cheeky from a neutral in south africa. From South Park the movie. "Lets go kill ourselves some damn Australians," "Mmmm... I think we're fighting Canadians." "Canadians; Australians same difference!" ;)
I have a pet hate about one of the reporters out in Iraq somewhere, she annoys me no end with the way that she pronounces certain words.
Craig
...I was watching CNN the other day where some Bimbo on the set was talking to some geriatric General they'd rolled out especially for the occasion - he referred to the atomic bomb that was dropped in WW2, and she nodded knowingly in agreement stating 'yes, the bomb that was dropped in Nagasaki, Russia'.
<groan>
But the thing that really gets to me is how these on-the-spot reporters manage to move their lips so dramatically whenever they speak. It's almost like those old Japanese movies that have been dubbed over - the sound stops but the lips keep moving. It's gotta hurt, IMHO.
2odd...
The pronounciation thing is the same in football. I watch the European championships and when someone like "sol-shy-er" is playing for Man.U one day, then "sol-shkia" is playing the next year you gotta wonder when they dipped into the transfer market. It's an excuse for someone thick to sound eloquent :P
Only when talking to the locals. When speaking to English I always do what I think is right. - Not pronouncing them exactly as they're written down (from english point of view) but not pronouncing them in a way that the person I'm talking to whould not be able to repeat.
If there's an excepted international norm then I use that. Like I'd not refer to Copenhagen as København when talking to my mum!
Nick
