Ever wonder how newsreaders can pronounce difficult words in a foreign language with ease? Few will forget the tongue twister that was Eyjafjallajökull, the Icelandic volcano that disrupted air travel for weeks back in 2010, but their troubles didn’t end there. In recent months, poor newsreaders have had to deal with a series of foreign protests, a record-breaking marathon runner and a drama about a nuclear disaster, to mention just a few tongue twisters waiting to trip up the unsuspecting.
One source admits that sometimes newsreaders just have to guess and hope that no one will notice if they get it wrong.
Commonly mispronounced
The British Institute of Verbatim Reporters, a group for subtitling professionals (who knew there was such a thing?), has published a list of the most commonly mispronounced words. The gilets jaunes protesters in France have been tripping up broadcasters since they formed in November last year to protest against President Macron’s economic policies.
Even Greta Thunberg, the Swedish schoolgirl who’s become the face of environmental protest, frequently causes problems. For those who want to get it right, Greta is meant to rhyme with ‘later’ rather than ‘feta’, the H in her surname is silent and the final G, helpfully, has no equivalent in the English language.
Another challenge came from Eliud Kipchoge, the Kenyan runner who became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours. His first name sounds similar to Edward but with the D replaced by an L. In his last name, the final E is silent.
Beware these pitfalls
The Times newspaper kindly shares other pronunciation pitfalls encountered over the past few months including:
- Flygskam (flEEg-skam) – Swedish term best translated as “flight shame”, used in efforts to reduce emissions.
- Joaquin Phoenix (hwah-kEEn fEEnix) – Actor who stunned cinemagoers with his performance as the Joker.
- Prorogue (pruh-rOHg) – A new word for many meaning temporary suspension of parliament enacted by the Queen on the advice of the prime minister.
- Siya Kolisi (sEE-yah koh-lEE-see) – Captain of the South African professional rugby union team. Personally, I think the pronunciation of his name is fairly obvious at first sight and wouldn’t put it in the same league as the other examples here.
Does it matter?
Ted Mentele, editor of the language app Babbel, which commissioned the research, says that the global reach of news means mistakes in pronunciation are inevitable. However, he adds encouragingly, “An important part of language learning is confidence and enthusiasm, so we always say that being good enough to be understood is just fine. But, of course, it doesn’t hurt to know how these words are supposed to be pronounced.”
But what about Eyjafjallajökull I hear you cry? Well, I’ll be honest. I’ve tried but still cannot pronounce this volcano’s name with any confidence. The best I can do is direct you to this YouTube video by native Icelander Magnus who gamely attempts to show the rest of us how it’s done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSo_ND41-6g
Good luck! And if you’d like to submit some suggestions of your own, please get in touch.
Image courtesy of Madhurima Handa of Pixabay
