Jump to content

BBC news readers and embelishment of foreign names


Recommended Posts

I've noticed that some news readers pronounce Hamas not as it is spelt (as in happy, halogen), or as this pronounciation:

but with an emphasis at the beginning, as if it's spelt with a 'kh'. It's difficult to describe, but some Liverpudlians make this noise when a word ends in 'ke' as in bike, mike.

Can anyone explain this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've noticed that some news readers pronounce Hamas not as it is spelt (as in happy, halogen), or as this pronounciation:
but with an emphasis at the beginning, as if it's spelt with a 'kh'. It's difficult to describe, but some Liverpudlians make this noise when a word ends in 'ke' as in bike, mike.

Can anyone explain this?

 

it's how the israelis pronounce it, and i can only imagine the bbc don't want to upset them again

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've noticed that some news readers pronounce Hamas not as it is spelt (as in happy, halogen), or as this pronounciation:
but with an emphasis at the beginning, as if it's spelt with a 'kh'. It's difficult to describe, but some Liverpudlians make this noise when a word ends in 'ke' as in bike, mike.

Can anyone explain this?

 

i expect they would pronounce it as it is written in their language

 

حماس

 

hamaas

 

 

The letter at the beginning of the arabic (the letter that looks like a v on its side, arabic is written from right to left) is the letter haa. If it had a dot above it would be khaa as in loch, the kh sound. So "hamaas" is about right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My particular favourite was in the early stages of the Afghanistan conflict.

 

Many presenters were pronouncing it 'Aaahfghaaaaaahnistaaaahn', it sounded so affected. Even the guilty got bored with it, it sounded so unnatural. It's now just Afghaaanistan now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have a similar situation with Our Nige'

 

As you all know, Our Nige' came from humble beginnings as the son of millionaire stock broker and rose through private school to become a millionaire commodities trader.

 

As recognition of his humble origins, some political journalists pronounce his surname as Farrij (as in marriage / carriage)

 

And as you are also aware, Our Nige' also came from privileged beginnings as the son of millionaire stock broker and rose through private school to become a millionaire commodities trader.

 

As recognition of his privileged origins, other political journalists pronounce him surname as Faraaj (as in massage)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.