Sheen Qaaf Durust

Pronunciation advice - Salman Rushdie

2012-01-25T18:42:00.002+05:30

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

2011-11-30T10:57:00.001+05:30

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

2011-11-11T19:17:00.001+05:30

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

2011-11-10T20:45:00.001+05:30

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

2011-10-31T20:10:00.001+05:30

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

2011-10-25T14:25:00.002+05:30

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

Pronunciation advice - Byyappanahalli

2011-10-20T08:05:00.002+05:30

Another Indian city gets the metro. BengaLuru now has Namma Metro. The initial phase runs between Mahatma Gandhi Road (MG Road) and ByyappanahaLLi. The way the name of the destination has been written, has created some confusion among media personalities. The correct pronunciation of the name is buy-up-and-a-hully (hully rhymes with sully). In Hindi this would read as बैयप्पनहळ्लि. (the 'ai' sound is pronounced the Bhojpuri or the South Indian way). If you can read KannaDa this reads as ಬೈಯಪ್ಪನಹಳ್ಳಿ

One of the stations on the initial route is Halasuru. The pronunciation of this word is hull-a-sue-rue. In Hindi this would read हलसूरु. In KannaDa this would read as ಹಲಸೂರು

Pronunciation advice - Francois Hollande

2011-10-18T07:00:00.000+05:30

The Socialist nominee for the 2012 France Presidential election has been announced. So he might be the next French President. No harm in learning the right pronunciation.

France-wah oh-lawn-th(e) (Do not pronounce the last sound of 'the')

फ़्रांसवा ओलॉन्द

The 'r' in French of course is closer to 'h'. But saying it with the normal 'r' is also close to being right.

Pronunciation advice - Dilma Rousseff

2011-10-17T06:24:00.003+05:30

Prime Minister Dr Singh is meeting the president of Brazil in Pretoria. Her name is as usual being mauled in the Indian media. The correct pronunciation is

jew-ma who-safe (the pronunciation is actually 'seff' with the shorter level, but even this is close enough)

ज्यूमा हूसेफ़

The current pronunciation being peddled in Indian media is दिलमा रूसेफ़. Sounds like the title of a Bhojpuri film!

Pronunciation Advise : Nobel Prize for Literature Tomas Transtromer

2011-10-07T07:01:00.000+05:30

Tomas Transtromer To-ma's Tronn's-true-mer or टुमास ट्रॉन्सट्रुमर. The 't' is actually a bit soft. You can see the actual Swedish pronunciation here

Pronunciation Advice - Nobel Prize Winners for 2011 Medicine Bruce Beutler, Jules Hoffman, Ralph Steinman

2011-10-04T07:02:00.000+05:30

The Nobel Prize season has started. The first award goes to jointly to three people (the first two get one half, and the third - who unfortunately is dead now - gets the other half). Their names are as usual being mauled by the media. Wonder why no one bothers to get the names right!

Bruce Beutler is pronounced as Bruce Boy-tler or ब्रूस बॉइट्लर (Sounds a bit like the surname of our own Jagdish Tytler)

Jules Hoffman has French origins. Hence the name is pronounced like Jules Verne's name. zhool Hoffman. The zh sound is the same as that of 's' in pleasure. षूल हॉफ़मन

Ralph Steinman has unfortunately died before receiving his award. Nobel never awards posthumous awards (that's the reason Gandhi did not get it), but if the award has been announced and the laureate dies before the presentation, they still make the award. Well Ralph Steinman is simple. Ralph Stine-mun or रॅल्फ़ स्टाइनमन

Commonly Mispronounced words 27 - Telangana

2011-10-03T08:40:00.000+05:30

This word has been hogging headlines for a long time now. The word is being pronounced as Tale-and-garner (the 't' being the soft French 't') in the major media. The correct pronunciation however is tell-and-garner (the 't' is the soft 't'). If you can read Hindi, then you must note that the 'na' sound is hard. So it reads as तॆलंगाणअ (the 'e' sound is short like in tell or bell).

So TelangaaNa reads as tell-and-garner or तॆलंगाणअ. If you can read Telugu, it would read as తెలంగాణ. In Tamil, it would read as தெலங்காண.

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

2011-09-30T06:37:00.000+05:30

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

2011-09-28T12:56:00.001+05:30

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

2011-09-28T07:12:00.000+05:30

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

2011-09-27T07:02:00.001+05:30

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

2011-09-27T06:49:00.001+05:30

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

2011-09-22T15:01:00.001+05:30

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 advise - Dr. Chandrashekhar Kambar

2011-09-21T03:00:00.000+05:30

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 advise - Koodankulam

2011-09-20T17:49:00.003+05:30

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 advise - Gali Janardana Reddy

2011-09-20T07:13:00.001+05:30

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 advise - Arakkonam, Katpadi, Sitheri

2011-09-14T08:40:00.000+05:30

Another train accident with over 100 injured. Pronunciation advise 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

2011-09-11T09:37:00.001+05:30

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.

Commonly Mispronounced Words 22 - Anshumaan

2011-08-31T06:52:00.004+05:30

All of us would have at least one friend called Anshuman (that is how they normally spell their name). However, the word which means radiant or luminous or the Sun, is correctly written and pronounced as Anshumaan or अंशुमान. I bet some of the Anshumans themselves don't know this. They have been weaned for too long on a diet of 'anshuman'.

Another word which gets mispronounced is Aditi. The word means boundless, unlimited or free. It is also a name for the Gods. However it does not derive from the word for solar i.e. Aaditya. On the contrary Aaditya is the son of Aditi, hence the difference is important. However most Indians pronounce the name as if Aditi is the wife of Aaditya. So you will hear Aaditii most often. However that is incorrect. The correct form is Aditi - all vowels are short. In Hindi this would read as अदिति.

In summary, अंशुमान not अंशुमन

and

अदिति not आदिती or अदिती.

Pronunciation advise - Yoshihiko Noda

2011-08-30T20:17:00.003+05:30

So Japan gets its 6th Prime Minister in 5 years. His name is Yoshihiko Noda. Japanese names are easy to pronounce, especially for Indians. In any case, here is the pronunciation of the Japanese PM's name.

yo-she-he-coe no-Dah (Yo is the rappers' yo; she and he are like the pronouns, Coe is like the famous runner Sebastian Coe, no is like the opposite of yes, Dah is pronounced as the first syllable of darn). In Hindi this would read as योशीहीको नोडा.

Pronunciation advise - Ban Ki Moon

2011-08-25T10:05:00.002+05:30

Well this was the man who defeated Shashi Tharoor to become the UN Secretary General. His name appears so commonly on the news, but very few get it right. Most pronounce it as bahn kee moon (बान की मून) - that makes it sound very much like a Punjabi swear word, and you couldn't have done much with that (like with some Nordic names), if it was the correct pronunciation. But in this case, it is not. Hence best avoided. The right pronunciation is

pun - gi - mun (the gi sounds like the first part of the word 'give', the 'u' has the same vowel sound as in 'book' and the p is aspirated).

In Hindi it would read as फन गि मुन.

Every 'Doug' has his day

2011-08-22T07:58:00.005+05:30

This is the story of the CEO of a multinational company - who ended up really making a fool of himself in front of his guests from the US parent office.

A lot of people believe that Indian CEOs of MNCs are very suave, well read and well-spoken. But well, there are notable exceptions too.

Now American top corporate executives are not stuffy like Indian ones. So Mr Sharma or Sharma sir or Sharma boss is rarely used there. If they are William they become Bill, if they are Richard they become Dick, if they are Robert they become Bob. And that's how they expect even junior staff to address them as. Which is quite uncomfortable for some Indian staff, because they have spent a lifetime celebrating servility. But as part of that very servility, they learn this too.

Anyways just as Williams become Bills, Douglases become Dougs. Now you would expect CEOs to know that wouldn't you. Listen to this story now.

So here is this CEO sitting in the board room. The top management of the Indian subsidiary is sitting, rapt in attention. The foreign parent's top executives including 'Doug' ji are also sitting there. So after the initial corporate bullshit about how great the India story is and how strong the American parent is, the CEO gets down to introducing Doug ji. And what does he say,

"We are very happy to have with us from our head office - Dog. Dog is the international Vice president of blah blah blah. Dog will help us with blah blah blah. I hope Dog has a great time here blah blah blah. I request each one of you to assist Dog to help make his visit a great success. Over to you Dog"

Poor 'Dog'. He did not know what to say or do. But he had the grace to continue. The management team was divided into people who knew a major gaffe had been committed and those who did not. The ones who did not had no problem. They continued listening rapt in attention. But the ones who did, they could not laugh. They had to avoid each others eyes. Because if the eyes of two such knowing individuals met, they would burst out laughing. That would not be too good, would it?

For those of you wondering what's so funny, well Douglas is pronounced as dug-luhs or डगलस. The short form is written as Doug but pronounced as 'dug' or डग. However the 'o' in Doug can be confusing for some leading to it being pronounced as dowg. However some people add some stylised way of speaking to their ignorance which adds to the fun. So you want to say dowg but want to sound American and stylish. So what do you do. Pronounce it as dawg - with the American drawl on the vowel sound.

I am sure if you search the blogosphere, you will find some Doug somewhere would have written this on his blog too.

So much for suave Indian CEOs.

Commonly Mispronounced Words 21 - dais, tricolour

2011-08-17T07:43:00.000+05:30

On 26th January and 15th August, these 2 words are heard throughout the country.

The first is 'dais' which refers to a raised platform. The correct pronunciation of this word is 'day-us'. Most people pronounce this word as die-us. Now it is interesting to note that this pronunciation is acceptable in American English. But if you follow the British English pronunciation for most words, you suddenly cannot switch to American. And Indians do follow the British style of pronunciation. So if you want to be true to form stick to 'day-us'. In any case, even in American English the preferred form is 'day-us'. डेअस.

The second word is 'tricolour' which refers to the Indian National Flag. The correct pronunciation is 'trick-uh-luh'. Most people pronounce this word as 'try-cull-uh'. Again the latter pronunciation is the American pronunciation of the word. But again if you want to be true to form, stick to trick-uh-luh or ट्रिक अ लर. Though be prepared to get some strange looks if you choose this option. Even people who barely know English will walk up and correct you. But then the right path was never strewn with flowers.

Commonly Mispronounced Words 20 - Ramon Magsaysay

2011-08-16T14:14:00.002+05:30

I rarely hear this word pronounced properly. And when someone does, it warms the cockles of my heart. But I rarely get that pleasure. The ex president of Philipines on whose name an international award has existed for over 5 decades. Some call it the Asian Nobel prize. A lot of eminent Indians have got it (Vinoba Bhave, CD Deshmukh, Baba Amte, Kiran Bedi, Verghese Kurien, Mother Teresa, Satyajit Ray, Ravi Shankar and TN Seshan to name a few) and this name is often quoted in the media. But nobody bothers to get it right.

Ramon Magsaysay is his name. rum-own mug-sigh-sigh is the correct way to pronounce it. If you can read Hindi, it would read as रमोन मगसईसई.

But even the guys who get this award say they have got the mag-suh-say award. Well the name of a Rs 25 lac award deserves more respect.

Pronunciation advise - Jwala Gutta

2011-08-15T06:45:00.001+05:30

This attractive left handed badminton player is currently in the news because she (along with Ashwini Ponappa) have got a bronze at the World Badminton Championship in London. How ironic! Here are Indian sportspersons doing well in England and yet, all the focus is on the losing Indian cricket team. Her name is getting mauled all over the place on the news channels. So here goes

Jwah-lah Goot-tah (the t sound is the soft French sound and the 'oo' is like the sound in book)

In Hindi, it would read as ज्वाला गुत्ता. If you can read Telugu, it would read as జ్వాలా గుత్తా.

Pronunciation advise - Rajiv Gandhi's assassins

2011-08-14T10:45:00.000+05:30

I do feel odd writing a post about Rajiv Gandhi's assassins. But then the names are being mauled every which way. And I believe even assassins do not deserve this treatment (though ironically they might be dead in two months time). So here goes

Murugan is pronounced as mu-ru-gun or मुरुगन. If you can read Tamil, it reads as முருகன்.

His wife Nalini Sriharan is pronounced as null-in-ee sree-har-un or नळिनी श्रीहरन. நளினி ஸ்ரீகரன்.

His other associates are Santhan and PerarivaaLan, pronounced as sahn-tuhn (the t is soft French sound) and pair-a-riv(er)-all-un. In Hindi they would read as सांतन and पेररिवाळन. In Tamil it would read as சாந்தன் and பேரறிவாளன்.

Commonly Mispronounced Words 19 - tortoise

2011-08-06T18:44:00.001+05:30

This is another commonly mispronounced word in India. In fact, I too am guilty of mispronouncing this initially. You might wonder why is this not being featured under 'My common bloopers'. Well under that series, I try to feature words which I mispronounce, but others generally get right. Whereas this series has words which others (which could include me at some time in the past) get wrong.

So this word is pronounced in India as tor-toys or टॉरटॉइज़. The correct pronunciation is tor-tiss or टॉरटिस.

My common bloopers 7

2011-08-03T09:38:00.000+05:30

A decade ago, I was introduced to a person who went on to become a dear friend. Before we met each other, we spoke on the phone. And at the end of the first conversation, what she found most droll was the way I pronounced 'absolutely'. I used to pronounce it as 'ab-zuh-loot-ly' (exactly the way K Srikanth pronounces it). ऍब्ज़लूटली.

I was intrigued. I thought that was the right way to pronounce it. She however corrected me and told me that the right pronunciation is with an 's' and not a 'z'. So the correct pronunciation is ab-suh-loot-ly or ऍब्सलूटली.

All of us have such blind spots in our speech, something only others can correct. You can never do that yourself. I am thankful to all my friends who corrected me. And I hope at least some of my friends are thankful that I corrected them.

Commonly Mispronounced Words 18 - smother

2011-08-01T09:59:00.001+05:30

How often have you heard this line during a cricket match - the batsman went forward and smothered the spin. It is a pet phrase of many commentators especially Suresh Saraiyya, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri. And these three are guilty of making millions of Indians mispronounce this word. That is why I always say that people in the media have a responsibility for making a greater effort. I mean, how do you explain the fact that even yesterday (after 25 years as a commentator) Sunny Gavaskar mispronounced this word. This by the way, is the same man who translated bread and butter shot as 'chapaati shot', which lead many westerners to believe that it was some kind of special shot (like the doosra).

The word is pronounced as s-mother (it rhymes with mother). The commentators (some of them) pronounce it as smaw-ther (स्मॉदर).

The right pronunciation is s-mother (स्मदर).

Who brought the 'wine' in genuine? Time to 'whine'.

2011-07-30T07:33:00.001+05:30

All these years, I used to get miffed at those who pronounced genuine with a 'whine' at the end. I even prefer the 'won' that Punjabis use in this word to the affected 'wine'. But yesterday I heard Hina Rabbani Khar pronounce it as jen-uh-wine. I decided to check the dictionary again, as I always do, because English is a flowing language (unlike Hindi which has got trapped in the hands of some bigots) and flows faster than I think. Lo and behold! The dictionary says another acceptable alternative of the word genuine is - 'jen-uh-wine'.

I am devastated. That means from now on I cannot contemptuously dismiss those who add the wine at the end.

Well there you have it then - the more common pronunciation is jen-uh-win. And I request you to please stick to that. But for the record, you would not be wrong if you said 'jen-uh-wine'

Commonly Mispronounced Words 17 - Yeddyurappa

2011-07-28T07:49:00.001+05:30

By the time you read this, this gentleman might have resigned. Most people pronounce his name as यदियुरप्पा, however the correct pronunciation is यडियूरप्पअ

His full name - for those who are interested - is Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa, pronounced in KannaDa as ಬೊಕನಕೆರೆ ಸಿದ್ಧಲಿಂಗಪ್ಪ ಯಡಿಯೂರಪ್ಪ. If you can read Hindi, this would be

बूकनकेरे (the 'eh' sounds are short) सिद्दलिंगप्पअ यडियूरप्पअ

In English (now this will be tough) it is

boo-cun-uh-keh-reh sither-ling-upper yuddy-your-upper

Hina Rabbani Khar - Pronunciation advise

2011-07-28T07:24:00.001+05:30

The youngest and the first woman foreign minister of Pakistan. Even India has never had a woman Foreign Minister (except Indira Gandhi, which doesn't count as she was Prime Minister). Her name is Hinaa Rabbaanii Khar. Indians who love adding a nuqta where none exists, love calling her 'Khar' or 'Khaar'. The former means 'ass' and the latter means 'thorn'. Her actual name is khar without the nuqta and with a short vowel sound. That comes from her village name, which became her family name. So if you can read Hindi, this is how it is written

हिना रब्बानी खर

In English, you could read it as

hin-ah rub-barney cur

And if you can read Urdu, it reads as

حنا ربانی کھر

Commonly Mispronounced Words 16

2011-07-25T08:33:00.000+05:30

Eoin Morgan is a Ireland-born batsman in the current English Team. His name is routinely mispronounced as Ian or Ee-oh-in. Although the name is quite simple to pronounce. It is pronounced exactly like Owen Morgan. That is 'oh-in' Morgan.

In Hindi, that would read as ओइन मॉर्गन.

My common bloopers 6

2011-07-24T08:53:00.000+05:30

This could feature under Common Pronunciation errors too. There are two words - one is jabran (जबरन) and the other is zabardastii (ज़बरदस्ती). Both mean the same thing i.e., forcibly. Now the issue lies in the fact that the word zabardastii is used more often than the other one. And that has created the mirage that jabran is also a form of the same word (since they anyway mean the same thing) and hence I ended up pronouncing it as zabran (ज़बरन). However the correct forms are

jabran which comes from the Arabic root jabr (remember the Sahir song zindagi zulm sahii, jabr sahii gham hee sahee from the film Shagun). jabr means oppression and its derivative jabran means forcibly.

zabardastii comes from the Persian root zabar (which is also a diacritic mark). zabar means above (hence the diacritic mark is also placed above) and dast means hands hence zabardast literally means having the upper hand. It's derivative zabardastii means forcibly or violently.

In summary, it is ज़बरदस्ती and जबरन (zabardastii and jabran). And both mean the same thing.

I don't make this mistake anymore. Hopefully after this post, neither will you.

Commonly Mispronounced Words 15

2011-07-23T06:42:00.000+05:30

Another word that is commonly mispronounced in India is the word mischief. People pronounce it as a combination of miss and chief. Or as मिसचीफ़. However the correct pronunciation of this word is मिसचिफ़ or मिसचफ़. The sound between 'ch' and 'f'', is that of a schwa.

My common bloopers - 5

2011-07-20T05:49:00.002+05:30

This is a word I am a bit embarrassed to admit to, but then, sometimes one needs to take a good hard look at oneself.

The word in question is 'laugh'. I knew you would laugh! But yes many moons ago, for some strange reason I was convinced that this word was pronounced as loff, with the vowel sound being elongated like in 'court' or 'ball'. And mind you, I was very good at English even as a 5 year old. So where this came in from, I do not know. I always maintain that Indians those days used to learn the written form and hence their spellings were far better than their pronunciations. Today, the trend (due to media, mobile phones etc) has changed and the kids today have better pronunciations than spellings. I was part of the earlier generation.

Then one fine day, a colleague (by the way this is another majorly mispronounced word पर वो क़िस्सा फिर कभी), loffed at my loff. I asked him what was so funny. He asked me to say loff. I said it. He loffed. This went on for quite a while. I was so confident that I felt this could go on all evening. Finally he took pity on me and said it is not loff, it is laaf. Now it was my turn to loff. And I asked him to repeat it. He repeated it. I loffed again. By the time all this silliness ended, both of us were loffing or laafing, depending on our preference. Finally we did check the dictionary (there was no internet at that time), and to my consternation I realised that I shouldn't have loffed at all. I thanked my colleague, and since then I have worked very hard to avoid loffing. I have been successful in totally exorcising the loff. These days when I look back at this phase, I do laaf out loud. Or as the chat generation says - LOL. Imagine saying LOL in a conversation. But there are many who do.

So in summary, for those who found my sentence structuring very convoluted and complex, the correct pronunciation of the word 'laugh' is laaf or लाफ़. And I used to make the mistake of pronouncing it as loff or लॉफ़

Commonly Mispronounced Words 14

2011-07-19T05:35:00.000+05:30

I was travelling by the Delhi Metro and was surprised they got it wrong. They normally get everything right!

The word is 'vikalaang'. The word means someone who is bereft of a limb, or crippled or maimed. This word is a mixture of two words - vikal (which means restless (when referring to the mind), and devoid of or imperfect (when referring to the body)) and ang (which means body). So when the two words join together the in-between vowel sound lengthens, and the word becomes 'vikalaang'. In Hindi this would read as विकलांग.

Now, why is this being featured on this blog then. Simply because, over the years this word has gotten corrupted into viklaang or विक्लांग (which is probably because of the Punjabi influence). But now I find a lot of non-Punjabis too, who think this is the pure form. So much so, that Delhi Metro, which gets everything right, also reserves two seats for the 'old and handicapped' (वृद्ध और विक्लांग). DTC on the contrary, gets it right.

Commonly Mispronounced Words 13

2011-07-16T11:55:00.000+05:30

Now this is one error that goes entirely to the credit or discredit of Dharmendra and Sholay. Of course the Hindi (and some English) news channels are perpetuating that error, which certainly does not help. I am sure you have guessed the word by now.

Yes the word is 'suicide'

The correct pronunciation is sue (soo)-i-side. In Hindi that would read as सूइसाइड. The Americans would say it as soo-uh-side i.e. सूअसाइड. But the common way of pronouncing this word in India is

su-side or सुसाइड.

And there are so many suicides ranging from common folk to Chief Medical Officers to models and actors - that the word keeps coming back to haunt me. So if you are a Hindi news anchor and are reading this, please either use soo-i-side or ख़ुदकुशी or आत्महत्या and spare us the torture. And if you are an English news anchor who mispronounces this, I have nothing to say to you.

By the way, I just love what those two gaaonwaalaas say in Sholay about suicide. When Dharmendra is shouting su-side from the 'paanii kii Tankii', one of them asks the other

'yeh su-side kyaa hotaa hai bhaai'

the other sage gaonvaalaa responds

'jab angrez log marte hai.n to use su-side kahte hai.n'

and the original querist comes back with a classic

'yeh angrez log marte kyo.n hai.n'

Well I sometimes get my blogs mixed up :)

Commonly Mispronounced Words 12

2011-07-14T08:51:00.001+05:30

One of the worst hit Mumbai blasts site yesterday was Opera House. I suddenly felt very scared, as I have spent quite some time in that vicinity. Anyway, that is the subject of political blogs, I will stick to pronunciation. I am reminded of the first time I went to that area (some ten years ago). Well the story is quite long, so I will give you the truncated version.

The word Opera is pronounced as op-ruh (like the talk show hostess), sometimes there is a schwa (a very short unaccented syllable) between the 'p' and the 'r'. So the alternative pronunciation is op-uh-ruh.

So I told a taxi driver to take me to the cinema theatre near op-ruh house. I could not remember the name of the street it was on (Lamington road), so I gave him the name of a landmark, feelling sure that would be enough. But he said there is no such place. I was shocked. It was like being told the Taj was no longer available in Agra. I said I am sure it was there and there was a famous theatre nearby. I also told him that the Anil Kapoor starrer Pukaar was showing there. He said, he was not much of a film buff. Now this op-ruh house discussion went on for some 2-3 minutes. Mumbai taxi drivers are very time conscious. They do not believe in wasting time in discussion. So this exasperated taxi driver said,

'saab kidhar jaane kaa hai vo bataao. nahee.n to doosraa gaaDi dekho'

{sir, please make up your mind where you want to go. Or else take some other cab}

I was furious. And probably the increased activity in my heart helped the brain and in a flash I remembered the road was called Lamington Road. Immediately he said - did you mean Minerva Theatre. I said 'bingo' and off we went to Minerva.

On the way, he paused and said,

"saab woh jagah kaa naam opayraah house bolte hai.n. aap apra apra kar rahe the to mere ko chamkaa nahee.n. kisee se bhee bolnay kaa ho, to opayraah house bolo, pahunchaa degaa naa."

{sir, that place is called oh-pay-rah house. you were saying it as 'up-ruh', so I didn't get it. In future, if you have to say that name, please say oh-pay-rah house, anyone will take you there.}

I have never felt more stupid in life. So the summary of this story is, different pronunciations have to be used in India at different places. So if you are in the company of educated and refined people, then you should say op-ruh house ( ऑपरअ), and if you are talking to a Mumbai taxi driver, make sure you say oh-pay-rah (ओपेरा) house.

The funny thing is if you use the wrong pronunciation at the right place (or vice versa), people will ridicule you. By the way, if you were wondering what was the brouhaha about Minerva and why didn't I ask him to take me to the nearest theatre. Well, I am quite a cheese paring man and the only tax-free movie playing in Mumbai at that time, was Pukaar. And a tax-free film meant a 40% saving. Life is complicated :).

Manmohan Singh's new Cabinet - Pronunciation advise

2011-07-13T07:23:00.002+05:30

Yesterday's reshuffle brought in some new faces to the Union Cabinet. Here is a guide to pronounce their names (this is based on how the ministers themselves pronounced their names while taking oath). You can see the oath taking ceremony video here.

NEW MINISTERS

Cabinet ministers

V. Kishore Chandra Deo: Tribal Affairs and Panchayati Raj वी किशोर चन्द्र देव
Beni Prasad Verma: Steel बेनी प्रसाद वर्मा
Dinesh Trivedi: Railways दिनेश त्रिवेदी
Jairam Ramesh: Rural Development (earlier Environment and Forests) जयराम रमेश

Ministers of State (Independent charge)
Srikant Jena: Statistics and Programme Implementation and Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers स्रीकांत जेना
Jayanthi Natarajan: Environment and Forests जयंती नटअराजन
Paban Singh Ghatowar: Development of North Eastern Region पवन सिंह घाटोवर
Gurudas Kamat: Drinking Water and Sanitation गुरुदास कामत (he resigned soon after)

Ministers of State
Sudip Bandopadhyaya: Health and Family Welfare शुदीप बन्दोपाध्याय (the correct pronunciation of the surname should be बॉन्दोपाध्याय, but he himself said it as 'बन्दो')
Charan Das Mahant: Agriculture and Food Processing Industries चरन दास बिसाहू दास महंत
Jitendra Singh: Home Affairs जितेन्द्र सिंह
Milind Deora: Communications and Information Technology मिलिन्द देवरा
Rajiv Shukla: Parliamentary Affairs राजीव शुक्ल (note he does not pronounce the last elongated vowel sound)

CHANGE IN PORTFOLIOS

Cabinet Ministers
Vilasrao Deshmukh: Science and Technology and Earth Sciences विलास राव देशमुख
M. Veerappa Moily: Corporate Affairs (earlier Law and Justice) एम वीरप्पअ मोय्ली
His full name (used while taking the oath) is MooDabidari Veerappa Moily मूडअबिदरि वीरप्पअ मोय्ली
Anand Sharma: Commerce and Industry; and additional charge of Textiles आनन्द शर्मा
Pawan Kumar Bansal: Parliamentary Affairs and additional charge of Water Resources पवन कुमार बंसल
Salman Khursheed: Law and Justice and additional charge of Minority Affairs सलमान ख़ुर्शीद

Ministers of State
E. Ahamed: External Affairs and Human Resource Development ई अहमद
V. Narayanasamy: Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; and Prime Minister's Office वी नारायणअस्वामी
Harish Rawat: Agriculture and Food Processing Industries; and Parliamentary Affairs हरीश रावत
Mukul Roy: Shipping मुकुल रॉय
Ashwani Kumar: Planning; Science and Technology and Earth Sciences अश्विनी कुमार

The other ministers can be seen taking oath here

Malwan Railway Station - Pronunciation advise

2011-07-11T19:06:00.000+05:30

The terrible rail accident that happened yesterday, happened near the Malwan railway station. The correct pronunciation of the place is

mal (rhymes with mull)-waa.n (rhymes with blanc (of Mont Blanc))

If you can read Hindi, this is how it reads

मलवाँ

Commonly Mispronounced Words 11

2011-07-09T13:47:00.000+05:30

Consumer

The Oxford English Dictionary defines this noun, as "

noun

a person who purchases goods and services for personal use:

a person or thing that eats or uses something.

The British pronunciation for this word is /kənˈsjuːmə/ con (rhymes with gun) sue (rhymes with you) mer (rhymes with murmur)

The American pronunciation for this word is /kənˈsuːmə/ Everything else remains like the British version, except the second syllable is pronounced without the 'you' and with an 'oo'

So depending on which country's accent you follow the pronunciation would be कनसूमर or कनस्यूमर

The most common Indian pronunciation of this word is कनज़्यूमर i.e. with a 'z' sound. That is incorrect and hence finds its way into this blog. The department of the government of India that advertises the most is the Dept of Consumer Affairs. Yet I find that in most ads the word is mispronounced.

Kalki Koechlin Pronunciation advise

2011-07-08T07:16:00.000+05:30

One of the most mis pronounced names among Bollywood stars. So much so that even awards ceremony hosts get it dreadfully wrong. The correct pronunciation is

keck (rhymes with check)-lan (rhymes with pan) (although the last sound is slightly nasalised, but if you cannot nasalise it is ok to pronounce it like the local area network LAN)

If you can read Hindi,

कॆकलॅँ

the last sound is closer to the sound of टैं in टैं बोल गया

Yingluck Shinawatra - Pronunciation advise

2011-07-06T13:34:00.000+05:30

Well, another Asian country has a woman prime minister for the first time. In Thailand, Thaksin's sister Yingluck Shinawatra becomes the first woman prime minister of that country. Her name is pronounced as

yeeng-luck shin-nah-WAHT

यींगलक शिनावात

Well the first vowel is long and the last syllable is silent. Otherwise pretty much straightforward.

Novak Djokovic - Pronunciation advise

2011-07-04T06:04:00.000+05:30

Well, another first time winner of Wimbledon singles. Though he has been around for a while, many channels are getting the pronunciation wrong. So here is a pronunciation guide for the 2011 Wimbledon men's singles champion - Novak Djokovic

know-vaak JOE-kuh-witch (stress on the first syllable of the surname)

If you can read Hindi, this is how it would be

नोवाक जोकोविच

The second 'ओ' sound in the surname is shorter, and hence the pronunciation is closer to जोकअविच.

Petra Kvitova - Pronunciation advise

2011-07-03T07:43:00.001+05:30

With the erstwhile Iron Curtain countries increasingly dominating world tennis, the challenge for broadcasters is increasing. What with the maiden winner of this year's women's singles at Wimbledon being Petra Kvitova. When the pronunciation of the name of her erstwhile country is featured as a major challenge in the Max New York Life advertisement, the name of a subject of that country is not going to be easy. But in case you are interested in getting it right here is the advisory (source WTA)

Petra Kvitova = पेत्रा कवितोवा = pet-rah keh-VIT-oh-vuh

All the 't' sounds are the soft sounds. Most channels are going with peTraah quit-oh-wah or पेट्रा क्विटोवा. Well now that she has won the Wimbledon, it would be unfair to associate the word 'quit' with her name.

My common bloopers - 4

2011-07-02T18:55:00.000+05:30

The H- Bomb or the eich Bomb as I call it, threatens to blow up in my face many a time. But first the basics. The eighth letter of the alphabet is supposed to be pronounced as eitch and not etch as 99% of English speaking Indians pronounce it. All my English teachers were gloriously oblivious of this fact and hence it took me years to get this right. But even after I got it right, the H-bomb does blow up from time to time.

Like everyone I also detest HIV. It has more to do with the fact that I often end up pronouncing this as etch ai v. Immediately after I bite my lip, but it is too late.

Gopinath MuthukaaD - Pronunciation advise

2011-06-28T10:58:00.000+05:30

The second Indian to ever win the prestigious Merlin award is a gentleman by the name of Gopinath MuthukaaD. Though the name doesn't seem to be difficult, it is being mauled in various ways on all channels. So I thought this might help.

Well first let's try and break this name up

Go-pee-naath mutu-kaaD

If you can read Hindi, the name would read like this गोपीनाथ मुतुकाडअ. A small vowel sound at the end would make it better, like a schwa, but you can also read it as मुतुकाड

If you can read Malayalam (you would not be having trouble in the first place :)), the name would read like this

ഗോപിനാഥ് മുതുകാട്

My common bloopers - 3

2011-06-28T10:47:00.000+05:30

The recent hike in petroleum products brought back another of my old bloopers and I found it very hard to beat this one. The word 'kerosene' is pronounced in a way that it rhymes with 'scene'. But ever since I was a kid, I pronounced it in a way that it rhymed with 'sin'. Probably it had something to do with the long queues that I stood in, to be able to procure a couple of litres. Well I finally figured out the correct pronunciation and would never err when the word to be pronounced was 'kerosene'. But if the word to be read becomes 'kerosene oil', the original 'sin' invariably returns.

Oh how I struggle to say 'kerosene oil'. It has been 15 years since I last used kerosene for any purpose. But I pray hardest that the price of kerosene does not go up (or down for that matter). I just don't want that word to make it to the news.

My common bloopers - 2

2011-06-20T21:03:00.000+05:30

Well while growing up I thought guitar and sitaar were like Seeta and Geeta. And hence that is how I pronounced them too - गितार and सितार. The latter is obviously correct, but the former even more obviously incorrect. For 2 decades now I have known that the 't' sound is an aspirated sound and a hard sound. ट. But alas, even now when I am not careful, the earlier sister of sitaar resurfaces. I am reminded of Dushyant Kumar when he said

ek aadat see ban gaee hai tu

aur aadat kabhee nahee.n jaatii

एक आदत सी बन गई है तू

और आदत कभी नहीं जाती

So if someone were to call me and ask me how 'guitar' is pronounced - every day of the week and twice on Sunday I would give the correct pronunciation. But if the word was inconspicuously hidden away in a two page document and I was asked to read it 2 times out 10, that notorious sister of sitaar will resurface. I am working on it. But then, probably Dushyant Kumar got it right.

My common bloopers - 1

2011-06-18T07:09:00.000+05:30

Well through this blog I have often pointed out the errors made by others. It seems to suggest that I am 'washed in milk'. Well I am not. So I have decided to start this thread too which includes words which I know I pronounce wrong and am very conscious about this word when it comes up, but I still get it wrong on air.

The name of the country Chile is pronounced as chee-lay and rhymes with जी ले or if you remember that Kimi Katkar-Hemant Birje song from Tarzan - jee lay lay jee lay lay.

Anyways, most Indians, including your current interlocutor (uwaan uwaan I want to use this word), pronounce it as Chilli. I wonder why. I am tempted to lay the blame at the door of my geography teachers, but then I have known the correct pronunciation for 5 years now and still end up making the same mistake. What is worse is that when you do get it right, some smug half-baked idiot comes along and says

"तेरे को चिली बोलना भी नहीं आता. क्या चीले चीले कर रहा था"

The Tamizh letter 'zh' and the way it is pronounced

2011-05-24T07:24:00.001+05:30

Kanimozhi's dad Karunanidhi called her his literary heir. She certainly is doing her bit in propagating the language, albeit involuntarily. The six times national award winning lyricist Vairamuthu beautifully described the letter with "tamizhukku zha azhagu" "தமிழுக்கு ழ அழகு" or " तमिरुक्कु र अरगु" - which means the beauty of Tamizh language is defined by the letter or the sound 'zha'. The sound is just a special kind of 'ra' like the sound in television is a special kind of 'za'

In the last six months more people have asked me how the name is pronounced (and hence the letter 'zh') than in the last four decades. That is largely because in the last six odd months almost everyday's new bulletin has had that name. And it has forced many people to try and get the name right. But first the correct pronunciation of the name

The name has two components - kani कनि which means fruit and mozhi मोरि which means language. Hence she has been ordained as someone with a language as sweet as a fruit.

Now about getting the pronunciation right. Especially for those who do not have this letter in their alphabet. And by the way, for all those who think all Madrasis are the same, please note that even a kannaDa or telugu speaking person will struggle with this sound - as it does not exist in their native language. Only MalayaLam and Tamizh has this sound and Marathi has a close approximation of this sound in ळ (बाळासाहेब). So how do I get the others to say this. One way is of course to listen to someone say it and learn it. You can try this link

Click here to listen to a news bulletin with the right pronunciation

Of course, you will have to wade through the headlines till you hear something like the name Kanimozhi. But an easier way is also available. Consider the words as kani+mori i.e. the first part of cunning and the first part of Moriarty. Remember how we say the letter R when we imitate a foreigner. So don't say the r in this word the Indian way. Round the 'r' instead of trilling it. Like Brits or Americans do. In fact Americans are more suitable for this example because of their rhotic accent. That means Americans will not swallow the 'r'. They will say car with the r whereas Brits because of their non-rhotic style will say ca. The r is swallowed.

So once again the first part of cunni-ng and the first part of Mori-arty. And lo and behold you have the pronunciation

cunni(ng)Mori(arty).

And by the way cunning has two 'n' but while pronouncing it only one n is heard. So it is not cun-ning (कन्निंग). It is cun-ing (कनिंग)

Of course if all this is too complex, use the following approximations

कनिमोरि

कनिमोड़ि (Note the dot under the ड)

कनिमोळि

Remember the 'oh' sound is short (which again does not exist in Hindi or the Naagari languages). But the versions that I hear in the non Tamizh bulletins - which are to be avoided at all costs are

कनीमोज़ी

कन्नीमोज़ी (I know we are obsessed with virginity, but this is too much)

कन्नीमोडी

कन्नीमोरी

कन्नीमोई (the blasted virgin if you take the first part in Tamizh and the second in Punjabi)

I think the error was the way it was transliterated in English. 'zh' should never have been used. Nobody except Google Transliterate understands it correctly. Probably 'r' would have been better.

"But that's another story"

"लेकिन वो क़िस्सा फिर कभी"

58th National Awards 'announced'

2011-05-22T10:58:00.000+05:30

The recent announcement of the National awards was a sound for sore ears. Every possible name was mauled in every possible way. I doubt if the head of the jury bothered to see any of the films that he was announcing, although he claimed that he was mauling the names because he could not do his homework owing to the taxing schedule of watching films.

Getting rid of corruption can start by pronouncing it right

2011-03-26T06:20:00.000+05:30

This is a post that has been on my mind for quite a while. India's is one of the most corrupt nations in the world according to the Transparency International's index (ranked 87th). Now I do not know how it is possible to compare corruption and not having lived in other countries - cannot validate such rankings from experience. But I do happen to know that there is a lot of corruption in India, and suddenly there seems to be a spurt in the number of holier than thou individuals demanding that corruption be eradicated from India. While the thought is laudable, I get very irritated when even senior and very educated people pronounce it as 'coe-ruption' or 'कोरप्शन' with a shorter vowel sound of 'o'. The only version I am aware of, is 'cur-ruption' or 'करप्शन'. There are many people - within the media and without - who insist on using the former erroneous version. I wonder why. I would have written this post a long time ago, but for the number of people who used the incorrect variant. That made me wonder if there was indeed an acceptable variant. Over a year of sporadic Google searches, I have concluded that this is indeed an error.

The most famous votaries of the 'coe-ruption' version are Vinod Dua (award winning anchor NDTV) and Arun Jaitley (senior BJP leader and lawyer). There are many others in the media who use this variant. My request to the readers of this post is not to get swayed by the exalted status of the 'coe-ruption' brigade - and stick to the correct version. If people think that we can get rid of करप्शन (cur-ruption) by pretending that it is कोरप्शन (coe-ruption), that would be unfortunate!

A better way to get rid of corruption is to begin by getting rid of the corruption in its pronunciation.

A brand which does not know its own spelling and pronunciation

2011-03-17T16:36:00.000+05:30

Recently a leading company which owns the Nakshatra brand of diamond jewellery, launched a range of substitute diamond jewellery (cubic zirconia). The name of the brand was Rivaaz. That was the cue which forced me to write this post. It is not everyday you come across a leading brand that does not know its own spelling. Well Rivaaz is one such brand. Well in response to this post, I am sure they would say they were trying to rhyme with topaz, but anyone who knows Hindi/Hindustani/Urdu would know the word 'rivaaj' रिवाज which means "usage/custom/practice/fashion". It is often misspelt or mispronounced as 'rivaaz' (like probably the brand did), but everyone knows the meaning of the word. It is a natural fit with a jewellery brand. Hence a good choice. The brand paid crores to Sameera Reddy, Riya Sen and Sreesaanth to endorse this brand. But could not pay 10 thousand to a language expert - a genuine one - not the pseuds who claim to know Hindi just because they are from the cow belt.

The power of the word though best comes out in Saahir's immortal song in Pyaasaa

ye mahalo.n, ye taKhto.n, ye taajo.n kii duniyaa
ye insaa.n ke dushman samaajo.n kii duniyaa 
ye daulat ke bhuukhe rivaajo.n kii duniyaa
ye dunyaa agar mil bhee jaaye to kyaa hai

taajo.n and samaajo.n will be followed by rivaajo.n and not rivaazo.n. But I guess this ad agency would not know who Saahir was! Or probably this was a subtle message to remind us that the diamonds are not the real thing :)

The conundrum called Guangzhou

2010-11-29T11:23:00.000+05:30

The Asian Games happen once in four years. Only 16 editions have happened so far. Though only about 50 nations participate (thus 25% of the total no of countries), it actually caters to close to half the world's population (thanks to India and China alone).

Why am I building this case? It is because it is appalling that most top Indian media houses - while going gaga over India's performance at it - did not get the pronunciation of the venue correct. I know I had earlier ranted about Beijing's pronunciation, but well I cannot help it. So here I go again.

Apart from the News Services Division of All India Radio (some of whose newsreaders got the pronunciation right), most of the media units got it wrong. Some even sent reps to the city, and I don't know what to say about someone who goes to a city and still cant get the pronunciation right!

The correct pronunciation is 'kw-ahng-cho-oh'. क्वांगचोओ if you can read Devanagari.

But the versions we got!

गुआंग जो

गुअंग ज़ो

गुआंग्शो

ग्वांगज़ौ

ग्वांगजौ

and many more subtler variants. Makes me wonder if these media units have something called quality control.

NDTV, CNN IBN, Aaj Tak - no one got it right! It is surely an indicator that if these respected units do not do the basic homework to get such 'in the news' proper nouns right, how much they would maul the not so much 'in the news'

Sometimes I wonder why I rant at all. But then again at times I ponder.

कभी कभी मेरे दिल में ख़याल आता है :)

Wonder why Britain did not protest?

2010-10-19T08:28:00.000+05:30

Many of you would have watched the India UK hockey semi finals in the recently finished Commonwealth Games with elation, only to be devastated in the subsequent final. While the Indian team provided a lot to cheer for, the commentators also kept us in splits. Unfortunately I do not quite know who it was (though I think I have a fair idea), but it would be unfair to write the name unless I am sure. So this anonymous Hindi commentatory mauled all the British players names. Heck, he turned the Gibraltar umpire Nathan Stagno whose Christian name is to be pronounced as nay-thon (rhyming with marathon), into naah-thon. Reminded me of my class fellow Selvanathan, and I was half expecting someone from the great Indian diaspora to be the umpire. If you can have Bhullar from Canada and Selvadorai from Australia, you can have Selvanathan from Gibraltar. I was very disappointed to see a bald headed Caucasian (I think the extra white skin was to dispel any remnant of doubts in my mind) turning out to be 'naah-thon'. Anyways this is still harmless. Now we get to the less harmless zone.

Iain Mackay (muh-kay) became maah-kay. Not very happy outcome if you thought as a Punjabi. Glenn Kirkham (closer to कर कम) became kir-cum. Not very happy outcome if you thought as a Tamilian. While Glenn got away with a mere insinuation of having a bee in his bonnet. The Mantell brothers were not too lucky. Both of them were pronounced as 'men-tull'. Extremely surprising, since the standard Delhi pronunciation for 'mental' is 'man-tell''. If he had stuck to his normal erroneous ways he would have been fine. He suddenly wanted to be an 'angrez' - have short vowels and schwas. That was his undoing.

I was wondering, should not the British government make a diplomatic incident about it. Heck, man. Sheila Dixit was not even a guest in New Zealand. These guys are guests. And you insinuate (more than that actually) about their mental health. Certainly calls for calling the Indian High Commissioner Mr. Surie to your office and reading him the riot act. Eh, British Foreign Office?

The furore over Dick-shit

2010-10-07T21:06:00.000+05:30

It is funny to see the Indian media going all self righteous over the alleged racial slur by the NZ news anchor who said two things

1. that he found it very funny that the name was dick-shit

2. that it was appropriate since it was an Indian

part 2 of the comment was obviously obnoxious and silly, but we live in a world full of silly and stupid people and cannot go around reacting to all of them. The other part is what I will restrict myself to, since this is a pronunciation blog.

Now will someone tell these half-baked Indian television anchors that they should first get the pronunciation right themselves before pointing fingers at others. 90% of the anchors pronounce the name as 'thick-shith' (the 'th' indicates the softer sound). The correct pronunciation of the name is 'theeck-shith'. Both the first and last consonant sounds are soft. If you can read Devanagari script then read it as दीक्षित.

You cannot blame an English speaking person for approximating the way he hears most Indian anchors pronounce it, as 'dick-shit'. And then wondering what kind of name that is!

While on this topic, I am appalled at the way, the Indian anchors are mauling the names of all the medal winners in the Commonwealth Games 2010. I think the African continent would be particularly sore with the way we are mauling there names. But many Indian names are being mauled as well. Will try and cover that later.

It is pronounced as तरूर not थरूर

2010-04-19T09:19:00.000+05:30

The entire Shashi Tharoor controversy has me gasping every time a reporter calls his name as Thharoor or थरूर i.e. the aspirated sound. I am quite exasperated. This is a classic north vs south pronunciation battle. There is no word in the English language (leave out the French ones) where T is pronounced as त. T is always pronounced as ट or ठ. Actually closer to the latter. Hence most South Indians (given a better grounding in English than their cowbelt colleagues) whose name consists of the soft त sound, add an 'h' to the 't' to indicate the softness of sound. This is construed north of Vindhyas as the aspirated version and mispronounced. Hence you will have South Indian bank clerks making a draft for 'Maruthi India Limited' and surprise surprise. It is actually cleared by the clearing banks too.

So gentlemen and ladies, next time you see a 'th' in a south Indian name, take my recommendation, go with त instead of थ. It is possible that in some rare instance the correct sound might actually be the latter, but it will not sound as jarring as using थ where त is required.

Commonly mispronounced words 10

2009-12-02T09:38:00.002+05:30

Continuing with my rant regarding the mispronunciation of South Indian Names. One of the most common names on news bulletins (given our security situation) is P Chidambaram. His full name will read as पळनिअप्पन चिदम्बरम् or PaLaniappan Chidambaram (although some would use the version Pazhaniappan too, but since he himselves spells it with an L, we will go with that). However, most newsreaders (English as well as Hindi) pronounce it routinely as "Chidaambaram". The trigger for this mail was watching Barkha interviewing the home minister in front of invited audience. Chidambaram looked miffed with her. It could be because of the way she mauled his name. Mr Chidaambram, Mr Chidaambram - she went. How disgusting for someone who is looked up to by so many. But then she is merely symptomatic of the lot.

Well if you are reading this and you have missed it so far - it is not Chidaambram or Chidaambaram or anything of that sort. It is and shall remain Chid (rhymes with with)-um (rhymes with yum)-bur (rhymes with fur but with a more prominent vowel sound)-um (rhymes with yum).

Commonly Mispronounced Words 9

2009-10-13T20:14:00.002+05:30

This is a topic about which I can write reams. However there was a recent article by Sakuntala Narasimhan in the magazine Vidura, which kind of sparked off this mail. The Nobel prize winner Venkataraman Ramakrishnan is another person who sparked this mail off. Now the name is Venkataraman and is supposed to be pronounced as 'when-cut-a-raaman' or in Devanagari 'वेंकटरामन' and yet, even seasoned announcers will announce the name as 'when-cut-rum-un'. It cannot really be that difficult!

Commonly Mispronounced Words 8

2009-10-03T06:41:00.002+05:30

If you want to have a smooth finish on your walls before you paint it with expensive emulsions, what would you use. Did you say 'putty'? Well you are absolutely right. Thats a cement like material which is used for the above purpose. But if you pronounced it as 'पुट्टी' then you have made two errors.

One, you used the wrong vowel sound - 'oo' instead of 'uh' i.e. 'उ' instead of 'अ'

Two, you doubled the consonant sound - 'tt' instead of 't' i.e. 'ट्ट' instead of 'ट'

The point no. 2 is a common Indian error because of our predilection for the 'paPPoo' and 'muNNee' sounds. I will feature it in a detailed entry soon.

But the funny thing is that the guys who make the products 'JK Cement' or Birla themselves call the product 'पुट्टी' or see it as a combination of 'put' and 'tea'. The correct pronunciation is of course "पटी" or a combination of 'per' and 'tea'.

I think the marketers do not use the correct pronunciation because they think the people will not understand it. But that is stupid, when you are showing the product on the screen and pronounce it the right way, people will learn the right way. That is why I get really irritated if people in mass media do not make the extra effort to get it right. And then again there are those, who would say, in English it is 'पटी' but in Hindi it is 'पुट्टी'!

God help India!

Commonly Mispronounced Words 7

2009-09-23T17:11:00.002+05:30

I was sitting in the newsroom one day and chatting with a newsreader. We were talking about how gaffes were made in pronunciation. Then she told me about one word, which a large proportion of the population, including the English educated people, mispronounce. And that word is, SPORTS. Sounds shocking isn't it? But it is true!

Most of us approximate the sound of 'OH' in Sports to the 'OH' sound in 'Golmaal'. So it is pronounced as 'स्पोर्ट्स' - whereas the correct pronunciation would be closer to (though not exactly) 'स्पॉर्ट्स'.

The 'OH' sound in Sports is actually a long vowel and hence the vowel sound should be slightly longer, something like "स्पअऑर्ट्स"

If the vowel sound is shortened, it will sound dangerously close to 'SPOTS' "स्पॉट्स".

So, next time you listen to this word on the broadcast media or hear any friend or colleague pronounce it, watch how they pronounce it.

Commonly Mispronounced Words - 6

2009-09-16T15:01:00.003+05:30

Another word which is commonly mispronounced on even the official newsmedia is 'tier'. Ever heard something called the railway bulletin on the radio. When they give you the status of reservations, check out the word 'tier'. It is always pronounced as 'tyre', whereas the correct pronunciation is 'tear'. It is surprising how many people pronounce it wrongly. I once accosted a Hindi announcer who was pronouncing it as 'tyre'. She very coolly told me

"Hindi mein 'tyre' hee bolte hai.n"

I could barely conceal a smile. What all justifications people find for their frailties!

'Th' in English

2009-08-20T13:22:00.003+05:30

One day a friend came to me (he knew of my radio background) and said. What a funny RJ she is (he was referring to an RJ on AIR Rainbow FM who had been a colleague)? She says 'those' in such a funny manner. It almost sounds like 'Hose' or 'woes'. I doubled up with laughter. The poor RJ. Being ridiculed for being right.

Now the correct pronunciation of 'th' in 'those' and in 'the' and in 'then' is closer to the 'z' sound in English than the 'द' sound that most Indian speakers approximate it to. If you have read the word 'Ramadan' in English text referring to the Islamic holy month and wondered why 'd' was used instead of 'z'; then the answer lies in the correct pronunciation of the phoneme 'th'.

There is a similar problem in the pronunciation of the word 'hadees' written in English as 'Hadith' which stems from the correct pronunciation of the 'th' used in words like 'health' and 'thing'. But that I will feature some other day.

Commonly mispronounced words 5 - Zanjeer

2009-08-18T17:37:00.000+05:30

A reader of this blog had left a comment asking me to give links of an Urdu Dictionary which is written in Devanagari or Roman script. Now that set me thinking. The problem with the internet is there is an abundance of information but there is no way of checking the credibility. Now before I put anything up here, I check and I double check, but in spite of that I am mortally scared of an error creeping in. But there are many others who don't care. Let me give you an example. Prakash Mehra died on 17th May 2009. Only I know how many times I would have winced when some TV/radio presenter pronounced one of his greatest hits as 'zanzeer'. And this included some seasoned presenters too. Now I decided to check it out online. I searched for the word 'ज़ंज़ीर' on google. I found 155 pages spelling it like that. Then I typed 'ज़ंजीर' and found 8030 hits. Finally I typed 'जंजीर' and found 22300 hits. Anyone who did not know the right answer and searched all three options would have come to the conclusion that the right word is 'janjeer'. Democracy is dangerous. And then there would be those, who would hear some media person calling it 'zanzeer' and just do a google search to confirm. He would find 155 pages and think that must be the right spelling.

This is a word which has been constantly mispronounced over the years - being such a popular film. However, Prakash Mehra's recent death just made the wound fresh once more.

So if you are reading this and are in a position where the way you pronounce a word is likely to be heard by more than 1000 people, please, please, make some effort to check out the pronunciation before going out and institutionalising errors.

Commonly Mispronounced words 4

2009-08-15T17:21:00.002+05:30

Some words really baffle me. When you have amateurs mispronouncing the words, one can rationalise it. But when you have subject matter experts mispronouncing simple words pertaining to their subject matter, it makes you wonder. One such word found in the financial services sector is 'equity'. The word is simple. 99.99% of the people who belong to the financial sector would know and understand this word. A high percentage of even the non-finance guys would know and understand this word. But the murder of this word is to be 'seen' to be believed. Everybody starts with the 'ee' sound - as in 'ee hai bambai nagariyaa' or the 'ee' sound in 'bee' and call it 'ee-quit-ee'. The correct (and the only acceptable) pronunciation is eck-quit-ee. The eck will rhyme with 'peck' or the 'heck' in 'what the heck'.

Next time you watch CNBC or NDTV Profit or any so called stock market expert wax eloquent about certain stocks, please watch out for the pronunciation of this word. I would surely not buy the tips of a person who recommends equity but does not know how to pronounce it. But then I would not buy stock tips at all.

Commonly mispronounced words - 3

2008-08-27T13:18:00.003+05:30

The alphabets of Hindi and Urdu constantly give rise to quaint situations. I still remember the story told fondly by a duty officer at All India Radio. It so happens that there was an AIR artist by the name of Jaleel (I forget the full name). He happened to be sitting in the duty room listening to the transmission one afternoon. His recording was to be played that afternoon. When the programme is announced - to his shock and dismay the announcer pronounces it as 'zaleel'. Now, in normal situations most people won't bother. But it so happens that Jaleel means great while zaleel means lowly or debased. So I am sure the gentleman called Jaleel did not take very kindly to the pronunciation. There are many such words which arise out of the 'za' and 'ja' confusion. The one I am featuring today is

जंग - Battle; confused with

ज़ंग - Rust

Commonly mispronounced words - 2

2008-08-27T11:12:00.006+05:30

Mass : This word is pronounced throughout India as mahs. And it rhymes with the other commonly mispronounced word bass (mispronounced as 'bahs'). But the only acceptable pronunciation for these words is

m-ass (ass as in donkey or the beginning of the word ass'et)

bays (rhymes with case)

You can hear the correct pronunciations of these words at the links given below

Pronounce the word 'mass'

Pronounce the word 'bass'

Commonly mispronounced words

2008-08-17T20:20:00.002+05:30

I am starting a new series today. Have picked this up over the years as a voice-worker.

Gross - Now this word has had me fighting pitched battles. I insist (and I am right) that it be pronounced as 'grows' to rhyme with 'borrows'. While most people in India pronounce it as 'gross' to rhyme with 'dross' or 'Ross' of Friends fame.

मिज़ाज - This is to be pronounced as 'miss-aaj' to rhyme with आज and बजाज. This is commonly mispronounced as 'mij-aaz' to rhyme with 'जहाज़'

The Beijing identity crisis

2008-08-17T10:25:00.005+05:30

I had mentioned this in passing in the earlier post, but I am flummoxed. The world media cannot be so stupid. I mean how many variations can you have for the pronunciation of an Olympic centre. Here goes

pay-ching

bay-jing

bay-zing

bay-zhing (oh the la-di-da 'i went to alliance francaise' varieties)

bee-zing

bee-jing

pay-jing

bee-zhing

bee-zing

No I am not exaggerating, I have heard all these on the various channels across the world। I am adding a video from someone called 'the two chinese characters'। This should help those who are

unable to make out from the transliteration above. The native pronunciation is pay-ching and the anglicised pronunciation given below is bay-jing. All other variants, however exotic, are incorrect.

AP News Pronunciation guide

2008-08-10T10:44:00.002+05:30

The AP pronunciation guide is available online. Though it is broken into four sets alphabetically and hence a search takes slightly longer than on the VOA site. But still helpful.

For names starting from A-C
http://www.aol.com.au/news/story/AP-News-Pronunciation-Guide-A-C/578061/index.html
For names starting from D-K
http://www.aol.com.au/news/story/AP-News-Pronunciation-Guide-D-K/578071/index.html
For names starting from L-R
http://www.aol.com.au/news/story/AP-News-Pronunciation-Guide-L-R/578081/index.html
For names starting from S-Z
http://www.aol.com.au/news/story/AP-News-Pronunciation-Guide-S-Z/578091/index.html

How to pronounce Olympic medallists' names

2008-08-10T08:59:00.001+05:30

The Beijing games have started (and it is pronounced as bay-jing or pay - ching) and you have results coming in thick and fast. But how do I pronounce Chen Xiexia's name. And by the time you have got a hang of the Pinyin (the standard Mandarin romanization system), you get a few choice Croatian corkers. There is no single website which gives you the pronunciations. I have added a very useful link which gives you a quick and dirty guide to pinyin. Since China IS going to end up at no 2 on the medals tally (they were just four golds behind the US in Athens 2004), so this guide will help you get at least 70 medallists names approximately right. Use it. Will try and put other guides on as and when I find them. If you have any links - do send them to me.

Pronunciation

2008-02-08T14:10:00.001+05:30

I must first admit that I have a fetish for the correct pronunciation. In the quest for the correct pronunciation (the word/name might be in any language) in my career as a radio jockey and voice over artist, I have searched high and low for pronunciation dictionaries and websites and articles and what have yous. When I first acquired this knowledge and these resources I felt that these should be meant for me alone. After all, I had worked very hard for it. But then as age catches up, one feels a greater need to share. So here goes.

This blog is intended to be a repository of links and pointers to getting names and words right while saying it. You can write in asking for any clarification on pronunciation and I would try my best to find out the right pronunciation.