Why does President Obama say “PAH-kee-stahn,” but “Af-GAN-i-stan”? Seems to me if you’re going to pronounce one quasi-authentically, you’d do the same for the other.
Just wondering.
Please share widely!
Reality-based commentary on politics.
He takes care to pronounce “Taliban” correctly as well.
in Italy nobody corrected my pronunciation.
More Parmesan than Pakistan, but I figure we ought to apply the same Honeymoon treatment to Obama, that’s all. đŸ™‚
It’s a little irritating.
It took me a while to figure out where ‘Mumbai’ was; when Peking became Beijing, there was at least an explanatory phase until the ‘new’ pronunciation became well known.
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p>Like Burma and Myanmar.
Myanmar is the name for the country for the ruling junta. Many opposition members still use Burma, and rebels such as in the Shan State use it as well. Mumbai has just moving the English closer to what the locals said; Myanmar is analogous to Zaire: it’s a political statement.
What are the correct pronunciations of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Taliban?
I didn’t understand David as criticizing Obama for pronouncing “Afghanistan” wrong when he pronounces “Pakistan” and “Taliban” right, so much as just noting that it’s odd that he’d pronounce “Afghanistan” in a way inconsistent with the way he pronounces the other two, given that it’s a similar word that frequently appears in connection with them.
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p>(I believe that the way Obama pronounces “Pakistan” and “Taliban” is more or less correct: “ah” and “ee” vowel sounds instead of the “aa” and “ih” more common in American English, much like “ee-RAHK” and “ee-RAHN” are more correct than “eye-RACK” and “eye-RAN.” When I’ve heard Afghanis who speak English refer to Afghanistan, in radio interviews for example, the ‘f’ is considerably devoiced into something like a ‘w’ sound, and the ‘gh’ comes across as mainly a throaty ‘h’: I might render it in text as something like “ow-HAHN-ee-stahn,” but that’s rather clumsy.)
Thank all that is holy.
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p>The idea of being wiped out in a holocaust that couldn’t even be pronounced by our leader was just too much to bear during the W. years.
… who worked with (then) Captain Hyman Rickover on the creation of the US Nuclear powered submarine fleet. Must’ve been a source of great friction betwixt the two of them if Carter couldn’t pronounce ‘nuclear’…
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p>… what?
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p>Oh! You were making a gratuitous cheap shot at the 39th President in order to deflect attention from the 43rds all too obvious deficiencies! In that case… never mind. Carry on…
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