Things that piss you off that shouldn't

[legov]

Commentators repeatedly pronouncing Chinese names wrongly!

Do Chinese commentators always get western names right?

Serious question.

It's impossible for commentators to get Western names spot on when commentating in Mandarin, for the simple reason that many syllables found in European languages do not exist in Mandarin.

For example, "Taylor", a disyllabic name, would be transliterated into a three (or four!) syllable Mandarin phrase, as sounds that end with a y do not exist in the Mandarin language.

It's much easier imo for English commentators to pronounce Chinese names correctly though, I think if we take tones out of the equation, English is the more versatile tongue in that it can replicate a wider range of sounds. I'm not talking about the tonal elements of Chinese languages - I know that's something very, very hard for Europeans to master - but apart from that, shouldn't be difficult!

For example, Adams's opponent in the final yesterday, Ren Cancan, was called "Kan-kan". In actual fact, it's pronounced something like "cahn-cahn", the "c" being pronounced in a similar way to how it's pronounced in the word "ciao". I know, linguistic rules etc etc but we're pronouncing a Chinese name here, not an English one - and if we can pronounce "Juan" with a silent "J", why can't we try to pronounce Chinese names more authentically?

Another example - Liu Xiang, the Chinese hurdler (who's injured...again ) - his name is usually pronounced, by English commentators, as "loo-shaang". Come to think of it, his surname (Liu) might be a little hard for most native English speakers to pronounce properly - but the "X" in "Xiang" should be pronounced just the way one would expect it to, like in the words "xylophone," "Xavier," and "xenophobe".

[CI]

Have you tried switching it on and off again?

.

Some bright spark decided to outsource our IT Helpdesk

So now it's "operated" by a 3rd party.

You can see why we lost The Empire

[Eames]

Commentators repeatedly pronouncing Chinese names wrongly!

Do Chinese commentators always get western names right?

Serious question.

It's impossible for commentators to get Western names spot on when commentating in Mandarin, for the simple reason that many syllables found in European languages do not exist in Mandarin.

For example, "Taylor", a disyllabic name, would be transliterated into a three (or four!) syllable Mandarin phrase, as sounds that end with a y do not exist in the Mandarin language.

It's much easier imo for English commentators to pronounce Chinese names correctly though, I think if we take tones out of the equation, English is the more versatile tongue in that it can replicate a wider range of sounds. I'm not talking about the tonal elements of Chinese languages - I know that's something very, very hard for Europeans to master - but apart from that, shouldn't be difficult!

For example, Adams's opponent in the final yesterday, Ren Cancan, was called "Kan-kan". In actual fact, it's pronounced something like "cahn-cahn", the "c" being pronounced in a similar way to how it's pronounced in the word "ciao". I know, linguistic rules etc etc but we're pronouncing a Chinese name here, not an English one - and if we can pronounce "Juan" with a silent "J", why can't we try to pronounce Chinese names more authentically?

Another example - Liu Xiang, the Chinese hurdler (who's injured...again ) - his name is usually pronounced, by English commentators, as "loo-shaang". Come to think of it, his surname (Liu) might be a little hard for most native English speakers to pronounce properly - but the "X" in "Xiang" should be pronounced just the way one would expect it to, like in the words "xylophone," "Xavier," and "xenophobe".

I will start pronouncing Chinese properly, the day I stop hearing chinese people talk about Escerators, General Erections and being preased to meet me.

:nod:

[legov]

Commentators repeatedly pronouncing Chinese names wrongly!

Do Chinese commentators always get western names right?

Serious question.

And on a related point..... commentators/newsreaders hit and miss approach to pronounciation of foreign place names.

Eg. BACHrain, instead of Bahrain but not ParEE instead of Paris.

Pick an approach and stick to it knoblers.

Come to think of it, maybe I'm just pissed with inconsistency, rather than cultural wrongness.

[mjmooney]

Commentators repeatedly pronouncing Chinese names wrongly!

Do Chinese commentators always get western names right?

Serious question.

And on a related point..... commentators/newsreaders hit and miss approach to pronounciation of foreign place names.

Eg. BACHrain, instead of Bahrain but not ParEE instead of Paris.

Pick an approach and stick to it knoblers.

Come to think of it, maybe I'm just pissed with inconsistency, rather than cultural wrongness.

Can of worms. All countries have their own versions of SOME overseas places.

Italian LIVORNO, English LEGHORN

Italian FIRENZA, English FLORENCE

French PARIS (pronounced PAREE), English PARIS (pronounced PARISS)

French LONDRES, English LONDON

Welsh CYMRU, English WALES, French PAYS DE GALLES

German DEUTSCHLAND, English GERMANY, French ALLEMAGNE

For these (there are many others), accepted conventions apply. For all the less well-known places, try and pronounce it as the locals would. Although for most people, actually adopting the 'correct' accent feels (for some reason) embarrassing. The Olympic announcers do it though.

[legov]

Okay, okay, whatever but names, come on.

[mjmooney]

Must admit, I have NO idea about pronouncing Chinese names. Unless they are easy, like... Lee.

[legov]

[AVFCforever1991]

[BOF]

And on a related point..... commentators/newsreaders hit and miss approach to pronounciation of foreign place names.

Eg. BACHrain, instead of Bahrain but not ParEE instead of Paris.

Pick an approach and stick to it knoblers.

That's not an inconsistency, that 'H' is a specific problem. That's a quirk of native English speakers and their apparent inability to properly pronounce the 'H' when it's within a word. Whenever they're faced with; for example; reporting on an Irish politician and there's a 'H' sound they just make it a 'CK'. Haughey (pronounced Haw-Hee) becomes Hockey. I can never understand their difficulty with it tbh. It doesn't take any oral gymnastics to say it. It's exactly the same as your Bachrain example. It's almost as if while in school they're told that a 'H' sound within a word can't be!

Then there's adding an 'R' when someone's first names ends and second name begins with a vowel. I've heard a lot about Jessica Rennis (or is it Jessicar Ennis) over the past week

[mjmooney]

And on a related point..... commentators/newsreaders hit and miss approach to pronounciation of foreign place names.

Eg. BACHrain, instead of Bahrain but not ParEE instead of Paris.

Pick an approach and stick to it knoblers.

That's not an inconsistency, that 'H' is a specific problem. That's a quirk of native English speakers and their apparent inability to properly pronounce the 'H' when it's within a word. Whenever they're faced with; for example; reporting on an Irish politician and there's a 'H' sound they just make it a 'CK'. Haughey (pronounced Haw-Hee) becomes Hockey. I can never understand their difficulty with it tbh. It doesn't take any oral gymnastics to say it. It's exactly the same as your Bachrain example. It's almost as if while in school they're told that a 'H' sound within a word can't be!

Then there's adding an 'R' when someone's first names ends and second name begins with a vowel. I've heard a lot about Jessica Rennis (or is it Jessicar Ennis) over the past week

The Haughey example is because of the Scots "ch" (as in "loch") - the English don't have that 'throat clearing' thing, and we tend to chuck it into any of the words with a celtic connection in the hope that we're doing the right thing.

Jessicarennis I totally understand too. Two vowels colliding at the end of one word and the beginning of the next feels awkward, so we tend to elide them. The French do the same thing - 'Nicolas' is pronounced without the 's' - unless the next word begins with a vowel, hence 'Nicolasanelka'.

And my personal bete noir, the current fashion for saying (e.g.) 'thuh end', when it should be 'theeyend'.

[Brumerican]

Now you're speaking my Changuage.

Community viewers will get that reference. Others will deem it racist

[Davkaus]

I went in to Waterstones to buy a textbook, as it would have taken a week to get here from Amazon.

It wasn't labelled in store, but I was expecting a bit of a price increase from Amazon's £25.99.

£89.99. Ninety **** English pounds.

It's no wonder the high street is going out of business.

[trekka]

I went in to Waterstones to buy a textbook, as it would have taken a week to get here from Amazon.

It wasn't labelled in store, but I was expecting a bit of a price increase from Amazon's £25.99.

£89.99. Ninety **** English pounds.

It's no wonder the high street is going out of business.

I implore you to buy said book and then burn it in protest.

[The_Rev]

The name thing always interests me. My children have Arabic names, so how you anglicise them is open to much debate and sometimes it's funny to hear other people butcher them as there is no 1:1 English translation because the name is coming from a different alphabet with different sounds.

The example I always throw out is a Latin alphabet to Latin alphabet translation though, its Bayen Munich and how we half ass it.

Bayern is the literal German translation for the area/state we know as Bavaria.

Munchen is the literal German translation for the city we know as Munich.

So why do we anglicise the second half of the name but not the first? For consistencies sake we should either call them Baveria Munich or Bayen Munchen.

[mjmooney]

I've heard British commentators refer to 'Bayern' Leverkusen, obviously not realising it's Bayer, as in the pharmaceuticals company.

[Brumerican]

Foreigners sure do talk wrong.

[AVFCforever1991]

Now you're speaking my Changuage.

Community viewers will get that reference. Others will deem it racist

[Tomaszk]

Having to fight and work your nuts off for anything that happens good in your life.

Watching others do nothing and opportunities land in their lap.

[Voinjama]

Pretty girls who for dickheadish guys who you know will treat her like ****. It makes me furious.