Tunni is a funny bunny!
I think he’s quite fluent and intelligible, too. I can only hear something that I probably mistake for a Russian accent
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Actually, at first I thought it was pronounced “Tooney” (no stress on the first syllable).
The only Russian accent that I am familiar with is the one produced by Cate Blanchett in the latest Indiana Jones movie.
I think it’s a Georgian rather than a Russian accent.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: Sports club executive introduces new basketball coach[YSaerTTEW443543]
What do CNN anchors’ pronunciation have to do with McCain? Does McCain train the news anchors at CNN?
The first problem for English speakers is the double A. People don’t know whether to say [ej], [a], [a:] or [aʔa].
The other problem is that they get his last name mixed up with that of John Shalikashvili, who was a US general and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for several years, and they want to pronounce the initial S as [ʃ].
Obama mangles names like that too the first few times.
As for Pakistan and Iraq, Obama goes out of his way to pronounce the names of those countries not with the ordinary English pronunciation, but with the pronunciation in Urdu, Arabic or whatever other language the name is originally in. However, he does this only with the names of Muslim countries, and he pronounces names and words in the languages of non-Muslim countries as badly as anybody else does. This is bound to scare people.
His rendition of “Merci beaucoup” was pretty bad in the speech where he was disparaging Americans who expect immigrants to learn English.
I doubt it! They’ve been referring to Mikhail Gorbachev as “McHale Gorbachev” for nearly two decades now. I always imagine the Ernest Borgnine character from the old TV show McHale’s Navy.
No, we called them “Tuna fish”.
If McCain hasn’t even learned how to pronounce Saakashvili’s surname after meeting with him several times, those meetings obviously weren’t very productive.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: Afternoon traffic report sponsored by fitness studio[YSaerTTEW443543]
What about just pronouncing people’s names according to the local orthographical norms? The BBC mangles foreign words and names like that all the time, so why is it a problem on CNN? At least the CNN people don’t call Nicaragua [nɪ kæ ræ ɡju a], like the BBC does.
I pronounce my own last name differently depending on what country I’m in. I pronounce it the way that allows the locals to spell it without too many problems. Besides, the American pronunciation of my name is impossible for people in almost every country to pronounce, so they’re bound to slaughter it.
Not necessarily. I’ve had very productive meetings with people whose names I later couldn’t even remember at all! I’ve been doing work for a man in Europe lately, and we’ve accomplished a lot, but unless I look at his name written down, I just remember its general shape, and nothing else. I’ve been too focused on other tasks to concentrate on his name.
Foreign leaders mangle American leaders’ names all the time – often consistently – and they never come into criticism for it. For example many of them call George Bush “Meestah Boosh”. And what about the previous president, Meestah Clean-Tone?
And listen someday to how Vaclav Havel’s name is pronounced on French TV. WOW!
But you still haven’t answered the question of what McCain has to do with CNN anchors and why his pronunciation has anything to do with theirs.
Of course McCain doesn’t have to train the news anchors at CNN and I have never said that. However, McCain should be able to train himself to pronounce the name of the Georgian president correctly if he wants to be taken seriously. Or he should avoid pronouncing his name altogether. Instead of saying “I met with Sashkavilli”, he can simply say “I met with the President of Georgia”.
So, to answer your question, the connection between McCain and some of the news anchors at CNN is that they haven’t trained themselves to pronounce the word “Saakashvili”.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: One of the mayor’s personal assistants leaves voice message for journalist cancelling interview appointment[YSaerTTEW443543]
Should we not take seriously the many, many foreign leaders who never pronounce the name Bush correctly?
Besides that, I would prefer pronunciation confusion to actual foreign policy confusion, which is what the other candidate exhibits frequently enough.
Hi Jamie,
These Michael Moore style clips aren’t fair. If they were, you’d have to mull over this one as well.
Yes Ralf, time for politics is what it’s all about.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: Police officer reminds radio listeners not to drink and drive during the holidays[YSaerTTEW443543]
I don’t think this one makes Bush look particularly bad. The answer was contained in the question, the question was based on an assertion that nearly everyone knows is preposterous, and Bush wasn’t in the mood to go insulting anyone, including the journalist who asked the question.
However, with Obama, it’s actually very frequent that he flubs informational questions and comes out with responses that either show that he’s outrageously uninformed, misinformed or naïve about the basic principles of economics, foreign policy, etc. This is why the guy has begun refusing to debate. He’s good at getting a crowd of adorers whipped up, but when he has to debate a serious, experienced politician, like Hillary Clinton or John McCain, he comes off looking stupid.
In a black and white world that’s predestined to be black and white, you’re surely right.
Exactly, here is another “black and white statement”: ‘Barak Obama is inexperienced, and lacks the ability to think clearly, and so he is dangerous.’[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: Radio presenter announces latest news including the President’s visit[YSaerTTEW443543]
It’s not a matter of seeing things in black and white. Obama frequently misses subtleties, lacks information, doesn’t understand the proven effects of the types of programs he proposes, and then he waffles when asked to deal with the facts of the issues. Every politician flubs questions, but he does it more than normally, except that he’s amazingly talented with demagogic rhetoric and can cover it up that way, if no one asks him difficult questions. When he IS asked serious questions, and fails to answer them adequately, or even answers them comically, his campaign and supporters start vilifying the journalist and claiming it’s not fair to ask him those things.
And the propensity of the American press to ask tough questions of all other candidates – especially Hillary – and then throw him nothing but cream puffs has been so obvious that it’s even been making it to the comedy shows here.
Torsten, do you consider every opinion that doesn’t waffle to be a black-and-white statement? Some such statements can be informed by a lot of detailed observation and subtle reasoning before they are formulated into conclusive judgments. When they involve American politics, they may look black-and-white to you, because your American media options are limited and you don’t get full day-to-day coverage of anything.
Wouldn’t you say that having to vote for one guy or the other amounts to a black-and-white decision? Should we be allowed to vote “maybe”, or elect both candidates at the same time for different purposes?