Antonín Leopold Dvořák [dvoɹʒ̝æk] DVOR-zhak; (1841 – 1904)

Actually, leeneia, the pronunciation that most classical music announcers use is correct. Dvořák is a Czechoslovakian name. You'll note that there are diacritical marks over the "r" and the "a." This puts the "zh" sound into the word. Several European languages, French, German, and Scandinavian, for example, use diacritical marks (accents, umlauts, etc.) as a normal part of spelling to indicate idiosyncrasies of pronunciation.

August Dvorak, the developer of the ergonomic typewriter/computer keyboard, was of Czech ancestry, but used an anglicized pronunciation of his name, as do many others with the name.

My wife, Barbara's maiden name (which she still uses) is Paleček, Her lineage is a combination of English, Scots-Irish, Swedish, Swiss—and Czechoslovakian on her father's side. People are forever stumbling over her last name, but the most common mispronunciations are "PAH-luh-seck" or "PALE-seck." But the correct pronunciation, indicated by the little squashed "v" over the "c" is "PAH-luh-chek."

Conscientious radio announcers and newscasters spend a fair amount of time going through books like The NBC Pronunciation Guide, CBS's World Words, and good, reliable dictionaries (Merriam-Webster's unabridged is an accepted standard—if two pronunciations are given, pick the first choice) to check on words their not sure about. Or just generally browse. And an announcer at a classical music station needs to keep a good music dictionary handy, one that gives correct pronunciations for composer's names and the names of their various works.

An announcer making it up as he or she goes along is a no-no! Most unprofessional!

Don Firth