Pronunciation of the original Tamil film on which Force is based - Kaakka Kaakka

Today the John Abraham starrer Force hits the screens. The film is a remake of the 2003 Tamil film Kakka Kaakka. Now I am sure you have already been told this by the umpteen TV and radio channels. But they all seem to be pronouncing the Tamil film as Kakka Kakka (rememmber Kakkaaji Kahin of Om Puri of "entertainmentvaa hee nahee.n to takasvaa kaahe kaa" fame). The correct pronunciation of the original Tamil film is Kaakka Kaakka (it means 'to protect'). car-cur car-cur or काक्कअ काक्कअ is the correct way to pronounce it. If you can read Tamil, this is how it is written காக்க காக்க. 

Commonly mispronounced words 26 - Primarily

This is another word which is pronounced in a particular way by some people, with a confidence which would lead others to believe that they are right. The word is pronounced as pry-merrily. प्राईमरिली. The sound between 'm' and 'r' is a short 'e' sound, like in 'get'. Alternatively a short unaccented syllable also is fine. However, many people very confidently pronounce it as pry-marry-Lee, which is incorrect. 

Commonly mispronounced words 25 - Dialogue

The mispronunciation of this word makes my blood boil. And many people while speaking in Hindi, try and stylise English words to appear more educated than the people they are communicating too. One, it smacks of condescension. Two, it is irritating. So if you know someone who is doing this, please tell them to stop. The word is pronounced as die-a-log (as in, a log of wood which dies). It is not pronounced as die-a-lug. There are all these Hindi programs on TV and radio, where the anchor says, 

'hum aapko is film ke die-a-lugs bhee sunvaayenge' 

{we will play some dialogues from this film}

I mean your language has beautiful words like samvaad and mukaalmah, why would you import a word from another and murder it like this. But the most unkindest cut is when an English speaking person (while speaking in English) pronounces it as die-a-lug. Et tu brute!

Pronunciation Advice : Wangari Maathai

The first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize was Dr Wangari Maathai. She died recently. Her name is correctly pronounced as one-garry (rhymes with starry) ma-thy (old English 'thy'). In Hindi this would read as वंगारी मादाइ. The 'द' sound is very soft and closer to 'z'. You can catch the exact pronunciation as pronounced by a native Swahili speaker here. You can also learn something interesting about her. Amazing woman!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niZiUZEf3-M

Pronunciation advice - Sirte, Bani Walid

I am quite surprised the entire media is getting the name of some Libyan towns also wrong. The two towns which are in news these days are Sirte and Bani Walid. The correct pronunciation of Sirte is sirth (the 'i' has the same sound as in 'bin') or सिर्त. The correct pronunciation of Bani Walid is bunny well-Eid  or बनी वलीद. 

If you can read Arabic, the two names are written as سرت and  بني وليد 

Commonly mispronounced words 24 - Gaza Strip

This has been one place which has been consistently in the news since I was born. And always for the same reason. This Palestinian city has a very simple pronunciation - it is pronounced as guzzer (to rhyme with buzzer). If you want to be more correct, you can go with guh-zah. The 'g' sound actually comes from the throat like the 'kh' in the Scottish word 'loch'. If you can read Hindi, this would read as ग़ज़ा. And if you can read Arabic, this would read as غزة. But please avoid the gah-zah that the Indian media seems to be so in love with. 

Pronunciation advice - Dr. Chandrashekhar Kambar

The Jnanpith Award for 2009 has just been announced. It goes to the noted KannaDa poet, playwright and film director Dr Chandrashekhar Kambar. His name is pronounced as chun-the-ruh-shaker cum-bar or चन्द्रशेखर कम्बार. You want to be more accurate then you could add a schwa at the end of both the name and the surname. Hence चन्द्रशेखरअ कम्बारअ. In KannaDa it would read as ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ ಕಂಬಾರ. 

Pronunciation advice - Koodankulam

The proposed nuclear power plant in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu is facing a serious protest from the people there. The name of the place is Koodankulam. It is pronounced as coo-dunk-cull (rhymes with bull)-um or कूडंकुळम् If you can read Tamil, this would read as கூடங்குளம். 

The name of the district is Tirunelveli - pronounced as तिरुनेल्वेली. Tea-rue-Nell-vale-ee is a good approximation, if you can pronounce 'tea' with the soft French 't' and shorten the vowel sound of 'rue' to the vowel sound of 'book', then you will be bang on. But otherwise this is a good approximation for a non-native speaker. For those reading it in Hindi, to get it bang on, the pronunciation of 'नेल' rhymes with the English 'bell'. Or else, the sound is in between नेल and निल. Actually closer to the latter.

Don't worry even the mighty Britishers could not get it right and hence changed the name to Tinnevelly!

Pronunciation advice - Gali Janardana Reddy

The mining baron of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh is mispronounced in a very unique way. The word 'Gaali' in Hindi means 'abuse' or 'swear word'. Hence the north Indian media tries to pronounce it as gali or ghali to try and sound civilised. The name Janaardan is a generally mispronounced one with many people using the aspirated sound in the consonant 'd' (so instead of द, ध is used). So the correction pronunciation of the word is 

Gah-Lee Jun-R-dunner Red-D (गाली जनार्दनअ रेड्डी). {Jun rhymes with bun}

A related word is the ObuLaapuram mines. The correct pronunciation of this word is oh-bull-ah-poor-rum or ओबुळापुरम्. Those who can read Hindi should note that the 'L' or ल  sound is the heavier sound. 

Pronunciation advice - Arakkonam, Katpadi, Sitheri

Another train accident with over 100 injured. Pronunciation advice for the various names in this tragedy.

Arakkonam : uh-ruck-cone-numb or अरक्कोणम्  or அரக்கோணம் 

Katpadi : cart-party or काट्पाडी or காட்பாடி 

Sitheri : sit-there-ee or सित्तेरी or சித்தேரி 

Vellore : whale-loor or वेलूर or வேலூர் 

Chennai : chen (rhymes with then)-nigh or चेन्नई or சென்னை 

Commonly mispronounced words 23 - competition

Anyone who has lived in India (especially the Northern part) would have heard the first syllable of the above word being pronounced as 'come' and the third syllable being pronounced with a long vowel - 'tee-shun'. But you tend to ignore so many mis-pronunciations because these words have almost acquired a Hindi form (कम्पटीशन) and hence the transgressions are no longer as terrible. 

However what surprised me (and triggered this post) was the launch of a book about marketing by a new age guru. The book is entitled  'Thorns to Competition'. Interestingly both the writers (otherwise well-educated and articulate) pronounce the word as 'come-petition'. That made me realise the rot is deeper than I thought. Interesting - people have the word in the title and don't know how to pronounce it! But anyways the word is correctly pronounced as com (as in dot com) pit-ission (to rhyme with mission). In Hindi it would read as कॉम्पिटिशन. So the first syllable vowel sound is long and the last syllable vowel sound is short - and not the other way around.