Why do british people try to pronounce french/spanish/etc words correctly, but don't try fo arabic/hindi words

Question

I am talking about proper nouns, for example they always pronounce Iraq or Gandhi wrongly even when I have pointed out the correct pronounciation, but they always make great efforts to pronounce the French names correctly

Answer 1

Maybe the people you met arent very good with these languages. A third of english words are nearly identical to french words. There are few british people who have had much experience with arabic languages.
That and its different alphabets like someone has already mentioned.
I personally didnt know there was another way to say Iraq or Gandhi so maybe they just dont know?

Out of interest how DO you say Iraq and Gandhi correctly?

Answer 2

I suppose the fact that we have French or Spanish lessons in School probably helps with our pronouncistion of these words. We do not have Arabic or Hindi lessons and are less likely to run into native speakers of these languages. If someone told me I was pronouncing them incorrectly and taught me the correct pronounciation though I would give it a go!

Answer 3

Not sure to be honest, its not often that a British person speaks a arabic or hindi word or visits them places on holiday.

Spain, France and other European places are the most popular destinations for British tourists so I think they try and fit in more.

You dont often travel to USA, Asia or Australia so you wouldnt feel like you need to make so much effort when your there. It costs so little to travel to France and Spain that they are almost our second homes.

If you talking about people in THIS country not doing it.. its due to the fact they are on home soil and will speak the words how they see fit.

British people talk English and most speak that only (I am gibraltarian so speak spanish too) but I would not expect a British person to say a spanish word correctly in general conversation while in England.

Answer 4

British people don't "try" to pronounce Spanish/french/any western words correctly its just that they see them written down so can grasp how they may be pronounced the vast majority of British people cant read Hindi or mandarin or Urdu so how are we meant to grasp the phonetics of the language i have never learned french but i can guess at how to pronounce the syllable aux from English words with it in it

but really why would the native population of the UK want to learn how to speak Hindi in the first place? when in Rome do as the romans do.... !!!

Answer 5

'iraq' and 'gandhi' are both proper nouns which have a standard 'english' pronunciation.

to pronounce 'iraq' any other way than 'irak'' would be as pompous as saying that the capital of italia was roma or that koeln was a city in deutschland.

most british people have the good grace to make a fair effort to pronounce foreign words as close to the original as they are able.

but to come up with exotic ways of saying perfectly good english words would be simple pedantry.

and how do you pronounce 'machynlleth'?

Answer 6

I'm British and Punjabi is easier to pronounce because I speak it. But other British people can also speak french, Spanish etc better because they go on holiday there so need to learn a little of the language. We used to learn french and Spanish in school because we are part of the EU so its good to learn it as a European country.

Answer 7

maybe because the latter are less familiar, a lot of french words have evolved in to the British language over the decades maybe? Also, french and Spanish are now taught in schools from a younger age, where things like pronunciation are emphasised.

Answer 8

Because Britain had an Empire, many British oeople (I am one but don't share this attitude)are very insular in their attitudes and think the rest of the world should learn English.

To be fair, TV newsreaders are carefully trained to pronounce unfamiliar names of foreign politicians accurately and you cannot tar everyone with the same brush.

Answer 9

Hello,

I'm native to England and i speak quite a few languages Arabic being one of them veryb fluently. For example a Spanish speaker speaking English we can understand them but they still have that accent.

Answer 10

The Brits are not known for their linguistic talents, and I am not so sure they have the aptitude to pronounce any foreign language correctly even if they try.