Re: New pronunciation of Bangalore

Mike Wright wrote:
Oliver Cromm wrote:
* Mike Wright wrote:

Oliver Cromm wrote:

* Paul D wrote:

Not knowing Turkish, I personally would have no idea how to say
"Türkiye" if I saw it in an English text. (I could make a pretty good
guess but it still wouldn't sound like English.)

Why do English-speaking people insist that the name of every place in
the world has to sound like English?

For the same reason that Japanese-speaking people insist that every
place in the world has to sound like Japanese and Chinese-speaking
people insist that every place in the world has to sound like Chinese?

Why does Japan insist that switching to a Japanese name must be a
prerequisite to aquiring Japanese citizenship?

Yeah, probably. So, self-centeredness it is.

No. It's called having a native language with a common phonology (and a
writing system that more or less fits that phonology).

Can you tell me how a Japanese or a Chinese should pronounce Austin,
Yorkshire, Paris, or Maghreb?

Or, for that matter, how a Frenchman should pronounce St. Louis, Misouri?

.... be true to his Germanic forbears and call it St. Klovis:-)

And, what should a Spaniard should do about Los Angeles

Call it "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río
de Porciúncula" and since it is a noun clause, permit Anglos to say it
in translation as "The city of our lady the queen of the Angels, on
Porciuncula" or "The Angels" for short:-)

and San Jose in California,

Hispanics and Anglos pronounce it similarly.

or Amarillo

.... give it also an English spelling Ammer Rio to make it easier for
Anglos to pronounce:->

and Refugio in Texas?

Most English-only-speakers faced with "Türkiye" won't have a clue.

I tried describing the old spelling <Byelorussia> as [bjEl@ru:j@] to an
American. Either he didn't have a clue even after hearing it or he just
couldn't pronounce [bjEl]; the closest two sounds he could produce
sounded like an American saying 1) "be yeller" and 2) "buy yeller".

Be that as it may, it's not just English speakers; the Hindi and
Malayalam equivalents of Turk sound like [tUr.u"ki:] and [tUlu"k@n] to
me and such Indian pronunciations influence Indians' pronunciation of
<Turkey> when speaking English.

.

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