| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Place names Thread poster: Mats Wiman
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Heinrich Pesch 
Finland
Local time: 17:19
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| I succeeded with Helsinki | Oct 1, 2010 |
On BBC World nowadays it seems I have succeeded to convince them that its HELsinki, not helSINki. But so many foreigners have adapted the wrong pronunciation, that even Finns often say helSINki when talking English. Of course all Finnish words are accented on the first syllable.
Don't know about Sweden, but in Finland most people say Heidelberi and Salzburi, because they think it has to be pronounced the Swedish way (Bergman = Beriman, Björn Borg = Bori).
My teacher at... See more On BBC World nowadays it seems I have succeeded to convince them that its HELsinki, not helSINki. But so many foreigners have adapted the wrong pronunciation, that even Finns often say helSINki when talking English. Of course all Finnish words are accented on the first syllable.
Don't know about Sweden, but in Finland most people say Heidelberi and Salzburi, because they think it has to be pronounced the Swedish way (Bergman = Beriman, Björn Borg = Bori).
My teacher at German school told us, it is Aangström, with a long A (Ångström = Å unite for atomic distances). Perhaps he had seen that in Norwegian they write AA for Swedish Å. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Rolf Kern
Switzerland
Local time: 16:19
English to German
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In memoriam | Is pronouncation our problem? | Oct 1, 2010 |
No! It's the spelling of the name of the place.
| | | | Mats Wiman
Sweden
Local time: 16:19
Member (2000)
German to Swedish
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TOPIC STARTER In memoriam | It's not the spelling, it's the name AND the pronunciationm | Oct 1, 2010 |
Rolf Kern wrote:
No! It's the spelling of the name of the place.
Who says so?
E.g. Imagine you are in Lille, France and ask a person for the best road to Lüttich.
S/he might look at you with bewilderment.
Or:
You are in Rome and ask for the road to Mailand
etc
Mats
[Edited at 2010-10-04 08:22 GMT]
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David Wright wrote:
place names are not the worst
I recall hearing Hugh Grant referred to as "Hug" in an Austrian radio report!
Of course, my favorite has always been the German "Dess Welly" for Death Valley, but we all do our best with foreign place names!
[Edited at 2010-10-03 21:12 GMT]
[Edited at 2010-10-03 21:13 GMT]
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 15:19
Member (2007)
English
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| But sometimes THEY don't | Oct 3, 2010 |
Daina Jauntirans wrote:
we all do our best with foreign place names!
I agree that linguists generally do their best - you can't always know the pronunciation of something outside of your working languages but at least you'll show willing.
But all those TV/radio presenters who should really do their homework? Often, they do none at all!
Here in France they have the first name Hugues - pronounced /oog/ (more or less). That doesn't give them the right to call every Hugh Hugues. And I feel really sorry for any Vaughan who hits the headlines - who wants to be called Vogon?
What about the practice of renaming famous people? In France, they admire the work of Léonard de Vinci and Jean-Sébastien Bach - I think the French are particularly at fault here, although I may just be overlooking English failings in this area.
I remember being stopped by a tourist in my former life in the London suburbs and being asked for directions to /ee-well/. Fortunately, she had a map marked "Ewell" as in "you'll".
| | | | | Yes, journalists, but I have more sympathy for regular folks | Oct 5, 2010 |
I agree about the journalists, who should definitely do their homework. But as someone whose name has been mispronounced nearly every day of my life in the US, I have more sympathy for your tourist - one person can't know everything.
That is curious about changing the names in French. In Latvian they get "Latvianized," but John = Dzons, not Janis.
| | | | Linda Kelly
Spain
Local time: 15:19
Spanish to English
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| The Spanish change famous names too... | Oct 5, 2010 |
... I once asked somebody which country la Reina Isabel was from - slightly embarrassing for me as a Brit! And Prince Charles does not look like a Príncipe Carlos. We don't call the Spanish king John Charles. In fact the only anglicised name change I can think of is Christopher Columbus from Cristobal Colón. Oh, and the Pope.
As for city names - we often can't agree within the same language, so it must be doubly difficult for foreign speakers. Shrewsbury anyone?!
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Linda Kelly wrote:
As for city names - we often can't agree within the same language, so it must be doubly difficult for foreign speakers. Shrewsbury anyone?!
Many examples in the US where people outside the area often pronounce place names differently than the locals - New Orleans, Oregon, Illinois, Arkansas...
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Tim Drayton
Cyprus
Local time: 17:19
Turkish to English
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| It is all relative | Nov 15, 2010 |
The point surely is that, just as each language in the world has its own particular words for, say, items of flora and fauna, it also has its own words for towns, cities and countries. For example, the capital of Cyprus is known as 'Nicosia' in English, but as 'Lefkosia' to the Greek-speaking people of the island and 'Lefkoşa' to the Turkish-speaking population. The previous example shows that it doesn't have to be the same word at all, but by and large the rule is that the local pronunciation ... See more The point surely is that, just as each language in the world has its own particular words for, say, items of flora and fauna, it also has its own words for towns, cities and countries. For example, the capital of Cyprus is known as 'Nicosia' in English, but as 'Lefkosia' to the Greek-speaking people of the island and 'Lefkoşa' to the Turkish-speaking population. The previous example shows that it doesn't have to be the same word at all, but by and large the rule is that the local pronunciation of a place name is adapted to the phonological system of the language spoken to produce the closest equivalent. This is not mispronunciation, but the correct pronunciation in the language in use. Have some of the pedants here really, for example, learnt the tonal system of Mandarin Chinese so as to correctly apply them every time they pronounce the name of a Chinese city. I don't think so. ▲ Collapse
| | | | mjbjosh
Local time: 16:19
English to Latvian
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In Strasbourg, a distinctive place for place names, you have the tram B, whose destination is Höhenheim Gare. Enême?
[Edited at 2012-06-06 16:42 GMT]
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