Misc

Ms. Party Girl

Could you kindly post the youtube link for this guy for me? I wanna give him piece of my mind, Persian Style that is ;o)

Thanks
-YT

Redneck

Just another typical REDNECK(the announcer, The Sara Palin kind). Same bunch of rednecks who pronounce Italian as Eylatian. No wonder Americans are laughing stock anytime they open their mouth about a foreign country.

-YT

To : JJ

It's true that Iranians pronounce America as "um-ree-ka" in Iran or when they talk in Farsi, but when Iranians speak English with an American friend, they never say "um-ree-ka".

One other thing to mention

One other thing to mention is some americans can't even pronounce nuclear!! Is Nukilor correct!!
To Mr JJ. Iranians may say Elisabet or vashangton, that is mostly when they speak persian. When we speak to a native english we do not say faranseh or ..... And since you can create movements in the Iranian diaspora why don't you start a movement to correct the pronunciation(seriously)

Irani from Bezerkeley!!

The guy

is not the brightest apple on the tree.. watch his other movies...

My 2-Million Dollar question!

I wonder what Americans or other native speakers of English think when, day in and day out, their language is being mispronounced or bastardized by non-native speakers!

I get his point. But if the

I get his point. But if the pronounciation of the word is so close for the sake of those nationals let Americans pronounce it closer to what the local/nationals do.
BTW, he keeps saying "Farsi or Arabic." If you're such a stickler Mr why don't you say Persian instead, huh? Because Farsi is way past pronounciation it's actually a Persian word!

zer zer zer zer

Mokhemoono khordi baba. But next I see you I will make you call it Eeeran, and you will look even more stupid. by the way, what is with the beard and Kalhe Kachal?????

Ironically Idiotic

The guy in the video conveniently jumps over India, Italy and other short I countries so quick, why doesn’t he call India=Eye-Ndia and Italy=Eye-Taly? It only make sense, right!?

Eye

Correct: Yes the Eyes have it...

حالا

حالا حرفتو زدی دیگه پوشو برو ظرفهارو بشور که پرشده و سوسک تمام آشپزخونه رو گرفته. مخ مارو خوردی بابا. پشو برو دنبال کار، تو خونه نشسته مرتب حرف میزنه!

One more thing: Names should

One more thing: Names should really be pronounced to some extent correct. Names of country, people etc
I dont understand why americans at large want to call for example Nasrin --Nazrin now do you see a Z in that name. Now I am not asking them to pronounce Khosrow --God for bid.
Another point is you mentioned Americans should call Germany Deutchland. Deutchland and Germany are differnt names. We are just speaking about the pronunciation. Or When france should call Us Etas uni (they have actually translated it) so my point is Iran, EEron Eyeran is a matter of pronunciation. That is all Amrikoi(be lajeye asseel shirazi!!)

I have to completely

disaree with you. We should correct them until they get it right. Everytime I hear a political figure who is supposed to be knowledgeable say Eyeran; it is like a dagger in my chest. I mean come on how diffecult is it to say EEron. I applaud the cnn journalist who say it correctly and that is a start. when the journalists say it right, hopefully political figures can catch on and it will spread to the general public. Now which idiot from the beginning said eyeran anyway. We all know americans are too lazy to learn some sophisticated pronunciation, they aim for the easy way. also how come the French, Germans and British people say it correctly. I just don't buy your explanation.

Iran is not an English word

Here is a fact, back in the 20s, 30s 40s and even in the 50s Italians used to be called eyetalians and this was the way it was pronounced. But it was changed because the Italians corrected those who were pronouncing it that way. Same with Iran, calling it Iran instead of eyeran does not afflict the English grammar.

He is absolutely, profoundly

He is absolutely, profoundly correct. If you live in America or in any other country please speak the language of the host country properly. Also don't try to force your culture upon them. Remember you're the guest.

Ali Parsa,

A few years ago the preferred pronunciation of the planet “Uranus” among astronomers was changed from “your anus” or “urine us” to “yoor a nus” for obvious reason.

So Your Majesty, as much as I enjoyed reading your comment I have a few issues with some of them. To begin with, you say: “The fact is that deep in their hearts historically the Americans did not see enough reason to learn about other countries...”, this cannot be further than the truth. Americans have been around for a little more than two and a quarter centuries, and at least by a half a century ago their knowledge of other countries, history, science, technology, language and couture surpassed any country or civilization preceding it.

You say: “In general there is a phobia for foreign names and foreign cultures in America that is absent in people of most other lands...”, look around you and tell me were else on this planet you will see such diverse number of peoples living together in peace and harmony in the same place. Where else in the world you would see such places as “China Town”, “Little Italy”, “Tehrangeles”, “Little Havana”, and others like it as much as you see in “America”.

You say: “...there is less variety of especially first name in America than many other countries...”. Number one name in the Islamic World is Mohammad, followed by Osama, and then among Shiias we have names like Reza, Ali, Hassan, Hussein, and more than any other name, Saeed. At where I work, I no longer call any person by the name of Saeed by their first name since we have so many of them it gets really confusing who I’m talking about, so I call them by their last names. So, should we consider this lack name selection a flaw in our national character. If you really want to have some humorous observation try calling Saeed in a soccer match among Iranians and see how many heads turn.

You say: “In every country I know...there is a standard way of pronouncing a foreign country's name...America is about the only country in which we find drastically different way of pronouncing a foreign country's name...”, pronunciation of names in “American” is very clear. Words, and names, are pronounced according the rules outlined in these references:

American Heritage Dictionary
Merriam-Webster Dictionary (American)
Pronouncing Dictionary of American English
Oxford English Dictionary
Everymanˈs English Pronouncing Dictionary
Received Pronunciation (RP)
Longman Pronunciation Dictionary
General American pronunciations

Do we have this many references for correct pronunciation of words in Iran, or listening to radio and television should be sufficient.

I agree with you about the politicians though, most of them in George W. Bush’s administration are a bunch of idiots.

rambling man

Damn! ok, you made your point. So, how can we spell "Iran" different so that it's pronounced like how the Iranians say it?

I liked the Persia idea.

I dont know why, but it's just annoying to hear EYEran, instead of EEEEran. that's all

To Nonsense from Arsiss S

If you follow the thread you will find out why Italy, India, and Israel are pronounced the way they are. Go to the earliest comment posted and move up till you catch up.

So sam

You are saying the pronunciation of “ayr” has been changing throughout countries, so what’s to stop it from changing now? The name has now evolved to “eye” as in “I ran”. What’s the problem with it, other than sounding like cowards running away from a bunch of Mullahs and settling in the West, or the USA was going to attack us so “I ran“?

I wish we had a linguistic here.

Nonsense

It is okay to call eyetaly Italy, and eyendia India or eyesrael Israel, but it is a blasphemy to call eyeran Iran? This guy does not make any sense what so ever.

The transformation of the term "Iran"

2 groups of Indo-European migrating tribes pre-Avestan from north central Russia thru Caucuses & khawarazm(east Caspian) named  Saka(scythian) & Ayr(Brave & Noble) . "Ir"(pronounced "eer", refers to root lineage of the tribe of Arya as in Ire-land & Ir-an . Transformation of the term "Ayr" in the settled land went as follows thru history .

Ir----> Airyanem Vaejah(Avestan time)----->Aryanam(Achamenead time---->Eran Shatr/Shahr (Sassanid time) ----> Iran(land of Aryan)

How ever Ir in Iraq (lol) is just a comical coincidence & linguistic accident  with no meaning or connection to Iran . But once the Mullahs join the 2 countries as one Ommah they will call the new country Khallifate of Irghan .

Cheers!

I am confused, so are we

We can't even make up our mind whether we are eeraanian, eyeranian, eyeraanian, irrainian, Parsian, Iranian, or what. We don't know whether we speak Persian, Farsi, Iranian, or what. We don't know whether we are from Persia, Iran, irraan, irran, iraan, irun, iron, irron, eeraan, eyeraan, eyerain, or what. This is such a mess. How in hell are we supposed to convince anyone that we are serious about anything as important as changing the government in...in...in that country that we don't know how to pronounce it in English.

Eron or Eye ran?

While I agree with the above comments I think there is more to the story than that.
In every country I know, including Iran there is a standard way of pronouncing a foreign country's name that is usually learned from the news media. In Iran for example America is called Emrika or Umrica which are practically the same and acceptable. The two sound different because of our carelessness in use of vovel Em and Um. Actually the media uses both. As far as I know America is about the only country in which we find drastically different way of pronouncing a foreign country's name such as Iran and Iraq. In America, too, all major news media use Eron and Erock for Iran and Iraq. It is the public that uses Eye Rack and Eye Ran.
The discrepancy is usually attributed to arrogance and lack of immediate use for learning about other languages and cultures. We cannot fault otherwise good Americans for this since it is more or less human nature. For example in Iran we often hear the richer or "classy people" looking down at lower classes and calling them Dedhaati even if the latter are educated. Obviously the effectively educated people either do not hold this view or cleverly hide it.

The fact is that deep in their hearts historically the Americans did not see enough reason to learn about other countries, their language or culture and other people's names.It may or may not be fair to call this arrogance. Some call this arrogance and some shear laziness and lack of interest in learning new things or things outside of their immediate needs.
Years ago a minority Americans who had deep interest in international taste have published books and articles under such titles as Ugly Americans, Tongue-tied Americans, American Tourist and the disrespectful way they behave in other lands, etc.

In general there is a phobia for foreign names and foreign cultures in America that is absent in people of most other lands. Again, who knows if other people were in American people's shoes would behave the same way or differently.

Historic example of this is reflected in treatment of the Native Americans who were lined up, stripped of their naive names and given Anglo names to make life easier for the masters who did not want to bother with learning strange names. In other words the natves were told-you are not what you were called by your parents, you are what we call you because we do not recognize your past identities. Not only that, but most Americans have even shortened their own first and last Anglo names. Also there is less variety of especially first name in America than many other countries. One humorous observation I enjoy when passing by some kids, I address one boy bob, john, jim and similar common names and I often hear the boy saying "how did you know my name?' I do the same thing with the girls with the same funny results.

We might forgive the public for this culture of indifference, but it becomes ridiculous and unforgivable from the part of politicians. I recall George Bush calling Iraq "I Rock" about four months into his presidency even though his dad had bombed Iraq before George was president. More recently the vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin called Iraq Eye Rack. This shear ignorance from the part of the president or vice presidential candidate.

Little things lead to big ones. This should pose a philosophical question that is, would some American presidents like G.W. manage to abuse their power and get away with destroying America and the world if the public had more knowledge and respect for other countries?

At no time America has been misled as during the past eight years. We can only hope that the change we are promised will come about.The good news is that about half of Americans voted for change and we can only hope that we will not be disappointed this time.

I am from Eyeran, that makes my an Erainian

When a word begins with an "i" followed by a consonant and a vowel, the "i" is most often pronounced as "eye":

Ice = Eyece
Icon = Eyecon
Ideal = Eyedeal
Ideology = Eyedeology
Idol = Eyedol
Iron = Eyeron
Isolate = Eyesolate
Item = Eyetem
Ivory = Eyevory

When a word begins with an "i" followed by two consecutive consonants, the "i" is most often pronounced as "ee":

Ignite = eegnite

In most words begining with "ill", "in", "inn", "im", "imm", and "irr", the "i" is pronounced as "ee":

Illigal = eelligal
Immaculate = eemmaculate
Inside = eenside

There are many exceptions to these and many other pronounciation rules:
Italy = eettaly
But don't forget that we have other words that begin with 'eet' such as 'it', 'its', 'itself', 'italic', 'itch', 'iterate', that helped 'Italy' to be pronounced as 'eettaly'. On the other hand words like 'icon', 'iron', and 'I ran' worked against "eeran".

Pronounciation rules are not usually adhered to by the masses anyway. The way words, especially the new words, are pronounced is by the easiest and most natural to that tongue. "I ran" is extremely easier than "eerun" to the english speaking people.

It's all in the grammar

In English language (American; British; Austrlian; etc), where there is a consonant in between two vowels, the first vowel is pronounced as it is in the alphabet. There are always exceptions of course. So where r (a consonant) falls bewteen i and a (vowels), then i is pronounced eye. So this bloke is technically correct. He has been taught that way.

So to overcome this why not say Irran, or more correctly Eran. Then again why not just live with it, there are other things to worry about, eg try to change the perception others (American or otherwise) have of us; be active more in mainstream media; be more politically involved; form lobby groups etc. This way, the correct pronounciation of Iran will fall in place naturally.

JJ it's not America

It's Emrikaa and it'll stay Emrikaa until eyeran becomes Iran

:-P

Natural speech

-- Is it "Faraanseh", or France?
-- Is it "Engelees", or England?
-- Is it "Landan", or London?
-- Is it "Amrika", or America?
-- Is it "Vashangton", or Washington?
-- Is it "George Boosh", or Bush?
-- Is it "Gordon Beh-ron", or Brown?
-- Is it Queen "Elizabet", or Elizabeth?

See where this is going? There's numerous other examples.

You can correct yourself and pronounce foreign names perfectly if you wish when you are speaking Persian. But to think that foreigners in general are somehow retarded or deliberately insulting in not pronouncing your country the way you do is unreasonable.

Every time you get upset and try correct a foreigner, just remember how you and other Iranians pronounce foreign names. This is not a flaw, it's a matter of local linguistics and perfectly natural.

Wouldn't you laugh at the Iranian news anchor if she said "France" the way the French pronounce their country? Or "China" the way the Chinese say it? ...

Just use the previous name of Iran, PERSIA

All these problems will be solved once we have a goverment in Iran which is elected by Iranians people and then we will rename our country from Iran to Persia.

It's the fault of those who

It's the fault of those who spelled the name of our country as Iran. ay kash oni ke masool bood midonest ke in English, letter I followed by a vowel and then a constant is pronounced as a long I (ex: Ice) on binava ehtemalan French midonesteh!!! Lets start writting it correctly then I bet it will get pronounced right!

p.s. yade moalem ESL 101 ham be khayer!

I'm sorry, but

This guy knows as much about linguistics as IRI knows about human rights.The notion that it is ok to pronounce NAMES differently in different languages is ludicrous! There is a reason they are called NAMES. One can not arbitrary pronounce a name the way one chooses to. Especially names of countries.Yes, We pronounce America, Emrica or Amrica.But we are wrong.We admit it. But to pronounce Iran, Eyeran and claim that it is correct, is absurd. So Please keep your language lesson that you got from George Bush to yourself.