Archive: Arts & Entertainment

SMART TALK

by Dr. Tilde Cedilla




MYANMAR: Coming from Cuba to the Center for English as a First Language, I have to speak English as if it were my first language, and I do. I was proficient enough to read the news on Radio Havana's English broadcast to America. (Our motto, similar in tone to Fox News, is, "We don't make the news, we just report it.")

My point is, if I could learn to say "this" and not "thees," and "yellow" instead of "jello," surely Americans could pronounce Myanmar. You actually say it the way it's spelled.

Trouble is, most journalists say MEE-an-mar. Why? They learned to say "Chechnya" the way it's spelled - CHECH-nya - so why is Myanmar out of reach?

Unlike "Chechnya," "Myanmar" doesn't even have unfamiliar sound combinations to get used to. If you can say "mute" and "immure," you can say "myan."

So I get really sarcastic at any of our patients who happen to be radio or TV journalists, or podcasters. Part of their job is to model the pronunciations of names in the news. They have no excuse for saying MEE-an-mar. I mean, they say "Netanyahu" and "Ahmadinejad" as if those political cowboys were relatives, so why is Myanmar just too much work for them?

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