Pronunciation advice - Okram Ibobi Singh, Manohar Parrikar

Of the five states, two have finalised their chief ministers. Both their names are being mispronounced.

Okram Ibobi Singh is oh-crum (rhymes with rum) e-bow-bee sing ओक्रम इबोबी सिंग

Manohar Parrikar is mun (like bun) -oh-her purr(r needs to be trilled)-e-car मनोहर पर्रीकार 

Pronunciation advice - 59th National Film Award winners

The 59th National Film Awards have been announced. Here is a pronunciation guide for the winners' names

Best Feature Filmshared) - Deool (Marathi) pronounced as they-wool. In Hindi that would be देउळ
Byari (Byari) pronounced as B R E (be aar ee). In Hindi that would be ब्यारी

Indira Gandhi award for best debut film of a director to Kumararaja Thiagarajan for Aaranya Kaandam
coup-mah-ruh-rah-juh the-ah-guh-rah-jun (like bun) and R N yuh condom (pronounced the American way). In Hindi that would be कुमारअ राजअ तियागराजन and आरण्य कांडम

Award for best popular film providing wholesome entertainment to Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai.
higher-guh-sah-me-in coup-the-rye. In Hindi that would be अय़गर्सामीयिन कुदिरइ

Best Children Film Chillar Party - chiller party चिल्लर पार्टी

Best direction Anhe Ghorey da daan goes to Gurvinder Singh

un-neigh go-day the darn  अन्ने कोडे दा दान (The 'k' is between 'k' and 'g')

gour (as in gourmet) win - the sing गुरविन्दर सिंग

Best Actor to Girish Kulkarni

gearish cool-cunny गिरीश कुलअकर्णी

Best Actress to Vidya Balan

with-ya bah-lun (like bun) विद्या बालन

Best Male Singer Anand Bhate ah-nun-the bah-tay (soft t) आनन्द भाते

Best Female Singer Roopa Ganguly रूपा गांगुली

Pronunciation advice - Oscar winners Jean Dujardin and Michel Hazanavicius

When Frenchman descend on Oscar nights, it creates a pronunciation nightmare for the general English speaking world. 

The Best Actor winner is Jean Dujardin whose name is pronounced as zhawn do-zhar-da(n) (rhymes with van)

In Hindi, it would read as शॉन दूशारदॅन. The last 'न' is nasalised and pronounced like "मैं". The "श" is just an approximation for the sound which comes in televi'zh'un. 

The Best Director went to Michel Hazanavicius which is pronounced as me-shell ah-zah-nuh-we-SEE-us

मीशेल आज़ानअविसीअस is how it would read in Hindi. 

By the way the best foreign film went to the Iranian film which is being called "The Separation". But the actual name of the film is Jodai-e Nadar az Simin (The separation of Nadar from Simin) and it is pronounced as jew-thy-eh-nadir us sim-in. जुदाई ए नादिर अज़ सिमिन is how it would read in Hindi. 

Pronunciation advice - Mohammad Nasheed

The President of Maldives resigned recently. His name is pronounced as moe-hum-mud nush-eid. Please note that he himself pronounces his name with a hard D at the end, whereas the Arabic root ends with the soft French D sound. 

If you can read Hindi, his own pronunciation and the proper Arabic pronunciation are both given below. Choose whichever you are comfortable with. 

मोहम्मद नशीड (his own)

मोहम्मद नशीद (Arabic)

Pronunciation advice - Lakshman Savadi, Krishna Palemar and C C Patil

Three Karnataka ministers were allegedly watching porn clips in the assembly. Patil is the minister for women and child development. They later claimed that someone had sent them a video clip of a victim of abuse. When I first heard their excuse, my face started turning blue and red alternately. A considerable feat, considering my base colour is black. Nonetheless, the names in question are Lakshman Savadi, Krishna Palemar and C C Patil. The first name is pronounced as lux-mun (rhymes with bun) suh-vuh-di (soft d). The second name is pronounced as crish-nuh paa-Lemarr. The third name is pronounced as  part-eel.

If you can read Hindi, it reads as लक्ष्मण सवदि, कृष्णअ पालेमार  and सी सी पाटील. The 'ले' sound in 'पालेमार' is the shorter vowel sound. 

Pronunciation advice - Rigmor Aasrud

The Norwegian IT minister who is currently in India is Rigmor Aasrud. Her name is pronounced as rig-more oss-rue. If you can read Hindi, this reads as रिगमोर ऑसरू.

You can listen to her pronouncing her own name at this link. 

Pronunciation advice - Justice Bannurmath

The Karnataka governor has rejected the government's nomination for the state's Lokayukta. The gentleman in question was the former chief justice of Kerala. His name is Justice S R Bannurmath. His name would be pronounced as bun-noor (rhymes with poor, pronounced the American way) -mutt. If you can read Hindi, his name reads as बन्नूरमठ  or बन्नूर्मठ. In KannaDa, this would read as ಬನ್ನೂರಮಠ

Pronunciation advise - Dassault Rafale

The French company which has won an arms deal from the IAF is pronounced as dass-sue (the d sound is soft) hair-faal. In Hindi this would read as दॅसू हॅफ़ाल. 

Commonly mispronounced words 29 - ladies

This would come as a surprise to many. But I realised most people get it wrong when I heard this word repeated more often after the release of Ladies Vs Ricky Behl. The second vowel sound in 'ladies' is shorter. It is not the elongated lay-deez as most people say it, rather shorter like lay-diz. A similar error is made in the word patties too. 

'Can I have two veg patteez' - is the common line heard at many roadside shops in India. However, this word too is pronounced with a shorter vowel sound at the end. 'pat-iz'. 

So, in summary, lay-diz not lay-deez and pat-iz not pat-eez. In Hindi, this would read as लेडिज़ or पॅटिज़ 

Pronunciation advice - Salman Rushdie

The name hogging the headlines in India for the last week or so is Salman Rushdie. However I found that on every TV channel half the panelists were calling him rush-thee and the remaining were calling him roosh-thee. I found that the Islamic experts and Imaams (those well versed in Arabic) were routinely using the latter version, whereas the anglicised were using the former. 

The correct pronunciation is sull (rhymes with dull)-maan (rhymes with barn) roosh (rhymes with bush)-thee (like the old english word). sull-maan roosh-thee. If you can read Hindi read it as सलमान रुशदी. 

Pronunciation advice - Mullaperiyar and Kolaveri

The controversy around the Mullaperiyar dam has been around for a while. The correct pronunciation of the word is Muller-peri-yahr. In Hindi this would read as मुल्लअप्पेरियार. The 'e' sound is short like in pen, not long like in pain. In Malayalam, this would read as മുല്ലപ്പെരിയാര്‍. Interestingly, Tamil Nadu writes the name of the place as முல்லைபெரியார் which would be pronounced as mull (rhyme with bull)-eye-peri-yahr. But since the place is located in KeraLa, I would recommend going with the earlier pronunciation.

The other word doing the rounds right now is Dhanush's new loser anthem - Why this Kolaveri Di. The correct pronunciation of the word is cull-uh-very. The actual sound is between coal and cull. So a better way of saying this would be to say coal and shorten the vowel sound (closer to cull). Otherwise go with cull-uh-very. In Hindi this would read as कोलअवेरि. Of course both the vowels will be short. In Tamil, this would read as கொலவெறி. The word literally means bloodthirst or murderous rage. 

Pronunciation advice - Soumya murder case

There was this gruesome rape and murder in a train in Kerala last year. The accused has been sentenced to death by the court. The accused is called Govindachamy and pronounced as go-win-the-saw-me (ideally sah-me). In Hindi this would read as गोविन्दअसामी. The other names associated with this case

Shoranur - shore-noor (to rhyme with poor) शोरणूर 

Vallathol Nagar - वळ्ळतोळ नगर 

Thrissoor - three-shoo(r) त्रिशूर 

Vridhachalam - वृद्धाचलम 

Commonly Mispronounced Words 28 - Quotient

I was watching Kaun Banega Crorepati. A spoken English trainer landed up as a contestant. The question was 

"In IQ, what does Q stand for?"

The correct answer of course was 'quotient'. The lady got it right immediately. But she pronounced the word as co-shunt. Amitabh Bachchan also pronounced it like that. And she got the answer right. However, that is the wrong way to pronounce the word. The correct way is 

kwo-shunt or क्वोशंट. The vowel sound in shunt is that of a schwa i.e. a short unaccented syllable. 

Pronunciation advice - Sebastian Vettel

India is being congratulated by everyone for organizing its first Grand Prix successfully. However, the Indian media hasn't managed to get the pronunciation of the guy who won the race correct. No one did. Not even the ladida English channels. Sebastian Vettel is pronounced as zay-bah-sti-ahn fettle. In the initial position in German names 'v' is pronounced as 'f'. In Hindi, this would read as ज़ेबास्तियान फ़िटल. In the surname the vowel sound is actually a short 'e', as in bed. But it is difficult to show in Hindi. 

Pronunciation advice - Turkey earthquake

One of the worst ever earthquakes recently hit Turkey's Southeast region. The cities affected are Van and Ercis. The correct pronunciation of these names are vahn and urge-ish. In Hindi this would read as वान and अर्जीश .

The Turkish Prime Minister is Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Indians would be more comfortable with this name if it was written as Rajab Tayyab Erdogan. But nonetheless the pronunciation is redge-up tie-up air-though-an. (redge rhymes with dredge)

In Hindi, this would read as रिजप तय्यप एर्द्वान