The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #124681   Message #2756916
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
31-Oct-09 - 04:44 PM
Thread Name: BS: American English usages taking over Brit
Subject: RE: BS: American English usages taking over Brit
Changing the pronunciation of foreign words when they come into the language is a reasonable thing to do. And the same is true when it comes to accepting that certain foreign names have an established pronunciation which has gone native - as for example Paris, or the examples Q gave.

But that is different from what happens when politicians and broadcasters impose an invented mispronunciation on the name of a foreign country or on someone from a foreign country who comes into the news.   Basic good manners should require that an attempt is made to say such names in a way that is broadly accurate.

Failure to do this is either laziness or indicates a lack of courtesy. It seems to be saying, in Bill D's words "I am not going to make those funny sounds, no matter how the natives say it!"

At least the BBC makes serious efforts to get these things right - here is a link to the BBC pronunciation unit archive