Re: How you pronunce foreign place names

li [Eugene Oh] mi tulis la

> E.g. "Beijing" in English -- upon encountering this word, do you
>
> 1. Attempt to pronounce it as close to the native as possible
> 2. Use English rules of pronunciation to read it [beIdZIN]
> 3. Pronounce it Englishly, butwith some exoticisation [beIZIN]
> 4. Pronounce it otherwise?
	1. [peI.dZ\iN]  (not sure what tones)
	2. [beI.dZiN]
	3. [peI.dZiN]
	4.

>
> ...
> "Paris"
	1. [pa.Ri]
	2. [pEr\Is]
	3. [p@.r\i:]
	4. [p{.r\i]
> "Seoul"
	1. [s@ul]
	2. [so:l]
	3. [soul]
	4.
> "Kagoshima"
	1. [kagoSima]
	2. [kagoSim@] [kagoSIma]
	3. [kagoSma]
	4.
> "Iraq",
	1. [i4{q]
	2. [ir\{k] [aIr\{k] [@r\{k]
	3. [ir\ak]
	4.
> "Madrid",
	1. [mad4iD]
	2. [m@dr\Id]
	3. [madr\id]
	4.
> "Havana",
	1. [aBana]
	2. [h@v{n@]
	3. [haban@]
	4.
> "São Paulo"
	1. [s6~w~ pawlu]
	2. [saU pAlou]
	3. [saU paUlo]
	4.
> etc.


> Using Beijing as an example, I find that for me, rule 1 kicks in when
> speaking to other people who know Chinese; rule 2 when reading a
> passage, or when speaking in a decidedly English-only environment
> (such as with people of a multitude of races in the conversation); and
> rule 3 never.
>
> The curious thing is, the above pattern does not happen to, e.g.
> "Paris", which I always pronounce as per the French, "Madrid", which
> is always missing the final -d for me, Japanese place names, always as
> the Japanese would, or any other "prestige" languages/places like
> Arabic or German; whereas the pattern applies to Seoul, to Havana, to
> many Eastern European place names and so on.
>
> Subconscious cultural uppity-ness?
	That's usually where you'll see rule 3.