taking poll on pronunciation

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Alina Israeli wrote:

> If it were that simple Zvonarëva would be pronounced correctly, but it 
> isn't.
> 
> I could offer a few of more names for a stress test (so to speak): 
> Shaposhnikova, Tartakovskaya, Slutskaya, Myskina, all usually 
> mispronounced.

If journalists would take a moment out of their busy days to actually 
/listen/ to the names, they'd do much better. In the vast majority of 
cases, however, they don't even bother. They look at the spelling and 
take wild guesses based on their own native intuitions, personal 
incompetences, and so forth. That's how you get "Suh-VAHN-uh-REY-vuh" in 
the final. I saw an interview last night with one "Anna Vassil-YAY!-va" 
where the anchor sat in the same room with her saying her name wrong 
over and over to her face. Sheesh...

An English speaker is perfectly capable of saying "Navrátil," but the 
moment you tack on the feminine suffix (Navrátilová), everything changes 
and you get "Näävratilouva" -- again, because they've never heard it 
said and don't know Czech spelling and pronunciation rules. It doesn't 
help that diacritics (such as the umlaut on ë) are usually stripped 
before they even see them.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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