pronun. of "Medvedev" - a solution

[John Langran]

Excellent! I have just emailed the BBC newsdesk about this. We shall see if 
they know about it!
JL

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frans Suasso" <Franssuasso at HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 7:47 PM
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] pronun. of "Medvedev" - a solution


> You are reinventing the wheel. There is such a database. It is called 
> BBC-pronounciation unit, It even can be consulted on l;ine. Google for BBC 
> Prounciation unit, and you will see what I mean.
> But if newsreaders do not consult it, there is not so much management can 
> do about it.
>
> Frans Suasso, Naarden the Netherlands
> (former director of programs of Radio Netherlands International, and 
> slavist)
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "John Langran" <john at RUSLAN.CO.UK>
> To: <SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU>
> Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 8:27 PM
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] pronun. of "Medvedev" - a solution
>
>
>> This transliteration business is a nightmare, especially here in the UK 
>> where there are so many regional accents. We could discuss it until the 
>> cows come home. The obvious thing to do is to set up a web page for 
>> journalists etc to help them pronounce the important names. I'll start 
>> work on something like this in the next couple of weeks and will let 
>> colleagues know when it is ready. Then each time there is a new difficult 
>> to pronounce tennis player etc I can add to the page. If any native 
>> speakers (one male one female) would like to send me sound files for 
>> Dmitrii Anatol'evich Medvedyev to start off with, that would be 
>> excellent, thanks in advance. Please send off list to john at ruslan.co.uk
>>
>> John Langran
>> www.ruslan.co.uk
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Emily Saunders" <emilka at MAC.COM>
>> To: <SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU>
>> Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 6:59 PM
>> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] FW: [SEELANGS] pronun. of "Medvedev" (cont.)
>>
>>
>>>I must disagree.  When I read the bit below with standard US English 
>>>pronunciation I get the awkward way radio announcers are currently 
>>>pronouncing his name.  Our short "e" is just not the same "yeh" sound 
>>>that you get when a stressed Russian "e" is followed by a soft 
>>>consonant. (Witness the difference in pronunciation between est' and 
>>> est -- есть и ест.)
>>>
>>> I would propose the following:
>>>
>>> Mid-VEH-dyiff
>>> Mid-VAY-dyiff
>>>
>>> Or
>>>
>>> Med-VEH-def
>>> Med-VAY-def
>>>
>>> How one renders the first and final syllables is pretty much a toss-up 
>>> since they get reduced anyway.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Emily Saunders
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mar 2, 2008, at 10:32 AM, Jerry Katsell wrote:
>>>
>>>> Here's another vote for "med - VED - yeff," with which I think 
>>>> ordinary
>>>> folks possessing no Russian could with reasonable approximation
>>>> pronounce the name Medvedev.
>>>>
>>>
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>
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