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Introduction and Table of Contents



Were I but King of Anglophonia

When in Rome, Speak Italian

Or, since you probably don't know Italian, at least try to imitate the Italian pronunciation of Italian words. Be courteous to those who have not yet been absorbed into Anglophonia. (Don't despair. They will be, soon enough.) Don't offend their ears, or at least try to minimize the offense. In most countries, with the possible exception of France, your efforts will be appreciated and no one will expect you to really sound like a native.

However, the King is not forgiving toward television and radio newsreaders. They bear an extra burden. Unlike their more mundane fellow subjects, they are expected to know how to pronounce foreign words. (Here, of course, I'm speaking of words that remain part of another language, not once-foreign words that have become part of English. How to pronounce words that have become Anglicized is covered in Vive l'Angleterre.)

For example, the old system of racial separation in South Africa must be pronounced apart-hate. The surname of Ariel Sharon has a short o, not a long one.

Queen Leonore's Addition

In spite of its correct pronunciation, the Afrikaans word apartheid has nothing to do with the English word hate. It's a combination of the English word apart and the Afrikaans suffix -heid, which more or less equates to the English suffix -ness. Thus, the word means apartness. Perhaps those who mispronounce the word "apar-tite" assume that the Afrikaans suffix -heid and the German suffix -heit (as in Schoenheit, beauty) are pronounced the same. They are not. The Afrikaans suffix is pronounced -hate, and the German suffix is pronounced -hite.

Punishment

Transgressors of the above will have one earlobe removed, but they do get to choose which one.



Introduction and Table of Contents

Main PageBusiness Secrets from the StarsEssaysNovels & Short StoriesAnother Chance at Life: A Breast Cancer Survivor's JourneyTell a friend about this pageE-mail