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.
Update : A lot of my colleagues and friends have questioned this advice. However this is the correct pronunciation. Watch this hilarious sequence when he takes the oath as UN Secretary General. The lady pronounces his name like the Punjabi swear word (of course she doesn't know that). He repeats the name correctly as pun gi mun (p is aspirated and the 'u' sound is the same vowel sound as in book). Watch at 00 12 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbhV6gUy7wc
Update : A lot of my colleagues and friends have questioned this advice. However this is the correct pronunciation. Watch this hilarious sequence when he takes the oath as UN Secretary General. The lady pronounces his name like the Punjabi swear word (of course she doesn't know that). He repeats the name correctly as pun gi mun (p is aspirated and the 'u' sound is the same vowel sound as in book). Watch at 00 12 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbhV6gUy7wc
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