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When speaking to an English-speaking person, I try to syllibate them correctly, but without interupting the normal rhythmic flow of English. and use phonetics that approximate native language, without sounding forced. For example, I don't strongly trill Rs
Antigua and Barbuda -- TEE and BEW
Cuba --Kew
Nicaragua -- nick-a-RAH-gwa
Colombia -- Same as Columbia
Venezuela -- vene-ez-WAY-la
Guyana -- ghee-YONNA
Suriname -- sir-i-nom
Bolivia -- in English
Chile -- Chilly
Uruguay -- OOR-a-gwye
Netherlands
Luxembourg
Liechtenstein --LIK-ten-shtyne
Czech Republic
Belarus -BAY-la-ROOSS
Montenegro -- monty-NAY-gro
Cape Verde two syllables
The Gambia -- Da gambia
Guinea-Bissau --ghinny bis-SOW
Guinea
Burkina Faso -- fosso
Benin -- ben-NEEN
Niger nee-ZHAIR
Chad
Equatorial Guinea
Sao Tome and Principe -- Sao nasalized, to-MAY. I don't think Ive ever said Principe. If you say "and" in English, it makes no sense to say Sao Tome in Portuguese.
Angola
Namibia
Mozambique
Tanzania -- tan-za-NEE-a
Mauritius mo-REE-shus
Seychelles --say-SHELL
Eritrea - air-a-TREE-a
Qatar --QA-tarr (I know how to say the Q in Arabic, so I keep it in back of my throat.
Bahrain -- ba-HRAIN
Iraq --ear-ROCK
Lebanon --LEB-a-nun
Azerbaijan AZZ-er-bye-JOHN
Iran -- ear-RONN
Turkmenistan -- turk-MENN-i-stan
Uzbekistan -U as in put, BEK-
Kazakhstan ka-ZOCK-stan
Kyrgyzstan --KEER-giz-stan
Tajikistan ta-JEEKY-stan
Afghanistan af-GANN -stan
Sri Lanka sree-LANG-ka
Bangladesh BANG-la-desh
Myanmar MYONN-MARR
Laos -- like "allows" without the A
Cambodia --***-BOE-dia
Vietnam -- vyet-nom
Brunei --brew-NYE
Papua New Guinea --POPP-yewa
Guatemala should be on the list, the G is pronounced as W in Spanish,and the second syllble a distinct "tay". WAH-tay-MA-la
Japan -- juh-PANN
Australia -- us-TRAIL-yuh.
I, like all Americans, rhyme France with Romance, not Wisconsin.
Italy -- rhymes with "little E".
Mali -- Molly
Guatemala should be on the list, the G is pronounced as W in Spanish,and the second syllble a distinct "tay". WAH-tay-MA-la
Australia -- us-TRAIL-yuh.
Italy -- ittle-ee.
Mali -- Molly.
Well as a non-English speaker I pronounce countries as close they would in their native languages or as I would in Finnish. "I was to Venesueela, Uruguaà and Tshiile". I don't see the reason why I should pronounce them like Venezuila, You are gay or Tshili just because I speak English.
I don't like that many Anglo's use long A's (Class, Mass, Jazz etc.) for almost all countries and cities in the world.
They know how to say the short A (Car, Bar, Jar etc.) so why don't use short A's (ah's) when pronouncing countries like Angola, Bangladesh, Vietnam and the -Stans?
I don't like that many Anglo's use long A's (Class, Mass, Jazz etc.) for almost all countries and cities in the world.
They know how to say the short A (Car, Bar, Jar etc.) so why don't use short A's (ah's) when pronouncing countries like Angola, Bangladesh, Vietnam and the -Stans?
You should use the pronunciation that is consistent with the language you are speaking. If you're speaking English, say Italy. If you're speaking Italian then say Italia. All these strained attempts to mimic foreign pronunciations in English make it sound like you're trying too hard to sound sophisticated.
I never really thought about how to pronounce a lot of these. I just go by how I've heard others pronounce them.
Antigua - an-TEEG-wah
and Barbuda - bahr-BOO-dah or BAHR-boo-dah (no idea where the stress is)
Cuba - CYU-bah (not correct, but how I've always said it and how I've always heard it)
Nicaragua - nih-kah-RAH-gwah
Colombia - koh-LOHM-bee-yah (to distinguish it from Columbia - cuh-luhm-bee-ya)
Venezuela - veh-neh-SWAY-lah
Guyana - gee-AN-ah (hard g) or gee-AHN-ah
Suriname - ser-ih-NAH-mah ? (er like in 'bird')
Bolivia - boh-LIH-vee-ya but if I were saying it in Spanish, I'd probably say boh-LEE-vee-ya
Chile - CHEE-lay or CHIH-lay
Uruguay - ER-uh-gway
Netherlands - NEH-ther-lands
Luxembourg - LUHKS-ehm-berg
Liechtenstein - LIHK-tehn-stin (long i)
Czech Republic - chek ree-PUH-blihk
Belarus - BAY-lah-roos or BYAY-lah-roos
Montenegro - mahn-tay-NAY-groh
Cape Verde - kayp VAIR-day
The Gambia - the GAM-bee-yah
Guinea-Bissau - GIH-nee Bih-SAU ?
Guinea - GIH-nee
Burkina Faso - ber-KEE-nah FAH-so ?
Benin - beh-NEEN
Niger - NI-ger (hard or soft g) or NEE-ger ? I really don't know
Chad - chad
Equatorial Guinea - eh-kwih-TOR-ree-yahl GIH-nee
Sao Tome and Principe - SAH-oh TOH-may prihn-CIH-pee-yah ?
Angola - an-GOH-lah
Namibia - na-MEE-bee-yah
Mozambique - moh-zam-BEEK
Tanzania - tan-zah-NEE-yah
Mauritius - mohr-REE-shee-uhs ?
Seychelles - say-SHEHL ?
Eritrea - air-IHT-ree-yah
Qatar - kah-TAHR
Bahrain - bah-RAYN
Iraq - i-RAK or ih-RAK, but not ee-RAK
Lebanon - LEH-bah-nahn
Azerbaijan - i-zer-bi-JAHN
Iran - i-RAN or ih-RAN
Turkmenistan - terk-MEH-nih-stahn
Uzbekistan - ooz-BEH-kih-stahn
Kazakhstan - KAH-zahk-stahn
Kyrgyzstan - ?
Tajikistan - ?
Afghanistan - af-GA-nih-stahn
Sri Lanka - shree-LAHN-kah
Bangladesh - bahng-lah-DEHSH
Myanmar - MEE-ahn-mahr and Burma - BER-mah
Laos - LAH-ohs
Cambodia - kam-BOH-dee-yah
Vietnam - vee-eht-NAHM
Brunei - broo-NAY ?
Papua New Guinea - PAH-poo-wah noo GIH-nee
I'm an Anglo, so any 'a' I don't follow with an 'h' is pronounced like mass or man or plan. That's just the way I learned to talk. There's also a lot of times when a short 'a', 'ah', sounds like a short 'u', 'uh' and something like beh-NEEN can come out as bih-NEEN . I think Americans tend to slur vowels a lot. And I didn't put in a lot of 'y' sounds like I probably should have, because if you say certain letters together, like 'ee' and 'ah', you get a natural sounding 'y' sound between them.
Last edited by rodentraiser; 08-19-2015 at 04:31 PM..
Poor English speakers. In Russian and Ukrainian, it's always clear how to pronounce words except for stress.
That's what I love about the Cyrillic alphabet.
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That's what I love about the Cyrillic alphabet.
