How to say: Erkki Tuomioja
| 16:32 UK time, Thursday, 24 August 2006
A daily guide to pronunciation of names and words in the news from Martha Figueroa-Clark of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Pronunciation Unit.
"Today's pronunciation is Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. Our recommendation is AIR-ki TOO-uh-mi-oy-uh. As with all our advice, this is an anglicised pronunciation and is not intended to represent a native pronunciation. This is so that the pronunciation flows as naturally as possible in an English-language broadcast."
Comments
In common speech we pick and choose which foreign proper nouns to pronounce correctly and which to Anglicise. Why do we do that?
For example. The Italians call their capital city "Roma" and they spell it like that. We say "Rome" and even spell it differently. Why?
Newsreaders, when speaking of French politicians, will say "Mister" followed by a perfect French pronunciation of the names. Why?