NPR, otherwise known as Nucklehead Progressive Radio loves to say certain foreign words in the foreign accent of the other language. Anybody ever notice that? It’s annoying as heck. They’ll say “latino” and try to sound like a Spanish speaker saying it. Like “Lateeenoh” Or I think I’ve even heard them say “Cooba” when referring to Cuba. And what’s with “Pockeeston”? Obama does that crap and it’s embarrassing. It’s “Packehstan” the way Americans have been saying it for decades. Like “pack” your suitcase. No really Obama, start packing your suitcase.
Why does NPR want to destroy everything about America, even our language?
And I think Obama says “Isslam” kind of like he’s a real Muslim. I guess he would know. Just say “Izzlaam” like 99% of Americans say it! And whenever an NPR host gets to say President “Hollande” of France you can tell they get a nice arrogant kick out of it. They have to really extend and make a strong “o” sound for the middle of Hollande so they sound like pretentious #!@%s. And Ofeibea Quist-Arcton is always reporting on some story where the Hutus massacre scores of villagers of a neighboring tribe, and then she ends the story in her cheesy way of saying the city she’s reporting from “Dakaaaaaaar”. Like, you just reported on an awful story of bloodshed and you’re getting all into the fancy way you say Dakaar? What’s up with that?
Also the way Claudio Sanchez, Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson and Eleanor Beardsley say their names at the end of their stories really annoys me. My kid reads my entire credit card number faster than Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson says her name. Nelson Eleanor Beardslsy says her name like she hates her job and she’s been asked to repeat her name for the tenth time.
NPR hosts/reporters never say things from the British Isles in that accent. For example they wouldn’t be giving some report on Jim Beam and break into an Irish accent when they say “Whiskey”. And they’d never say “marmalade” in a British accent, or they would never say someone is “Scottish” like a Scotsman would say “Scottish” as they attempt to say “Latino” how a Latino would say Latino. Also they never say really Germanic languages how those people would say them. Imagine if they did a story on Hoboken and said how a Dutchman would say that city name (which is derived from Dutch). Or imagine if they said “Gesundheit” how a German person says it, or they say “Malmo” Sweden when they are reporting on the multicultural paradise there, like a Swede says Malmo. Although if they were talking about “Zacatecas” Mexico you can bet they would give it their best shot at a Spanish accent.
So I guess the general rule is Germanic languages: nope, say these words like most Americans say them. But for romance languages, (especially Spanish) try to sound authentic and worldly. So if you do a story on a Welsh restaurant, NPR will not say they serve awesome “Lobscows” in a Welsh accent. But if they do a story on a Tapas restaurant in Guatemala, they’ll say the “pimientos rellenos” are very good there, and yes, “pimientos rellenos” will be in their faked Spanish pronunciation, spoken like a true American urban liberal socialite.
So anyway, listen out for these fun things next time you turn on NPR – because the biased, leftist claptrap they are actually talking about is usually not worth hearing anyway. And yes, I realize knucklehead starts with a k. That was just my attempt at a subtle joke. Actually I should have said “Knuookelhead” the way a German person would say it, because I’ll never get a job as an NPR host so I might as well break the Germanic-word-rule.
Darn right, Forest. It’s an outrage for American journalists to pronounce foreign words correctly. And why can’t Claudio Sanchez say his name like an Anglo-American? The way NPR hosts say their names is just dripping with disdain for ordinary Americans.
But your outrage doesn’t extend far enough. What about all the foreigners interviewed on NPR? Where do these mere non-Americans get the right to use foreign pronunciations on American airwaves? Ever hear a Cuban pronounce “liberty”? It’s downright disrespectful.
Kennie Boy, you sound like a dolts! The whole point is there selective use of “accents.”
Whiskey and marmalade and Scottish and Gesundheit might as well be original American English by now, they’ve been used here so long. In fact if you look in the dictionary you’ll see that they actually are now English words, with English pronunciations, and not just words in foreign languages. Whereas Hollande is a person’s name, which it would be disrespectful to intentionally mispronounce, and there is nothing “fake” about imperfectly pronouncing a Spanish phrase. Show me someone who can perfectly pronounce words in a language they didn’t grow up speaking, and I’ll show you an unusually good actor.
Pronouncing foreign words and names as correctly as possible is a way of showing basic respect for foreigners (something many conservatives aren’t exactly big on). Forest wants to believe that this is a case of liberals looking down their noses at conservatives, but his post is full of disdain for liberals. So the pot is calling the kettle black.