How do newsreaders pronounce those sri lankan and indian names?

Question

i'm not being racist or anything, but i try to pronounce their names fluently, but it just comes out in a mess

Answer 1

Practice makes perfect.

Answer 2

I work in the media here in the good old USA, so perhaps I can shed a little light on this subject.

All news operations utilize wire services to obtain breaking news from all over the world. Whenever a story comes up that has a foreign name the phonetic pronunciation is always included in the text. for example say the name Ali Hamburgus Lipshitz appears in a story, the way it would show up in the text would be like this:
In South Urbania (er-bain-e-ah) today Ali Hamburgus Lipshitz (au-lee, ham-burg-ess, lip-shits) was listed as missing by the Urbania (er-bain-e-ah) men's gun club. Anybody with information is asked to call the local police.

That is how its done. Also, the reporter could just get on the Internet and find the correct pronunciation.

I hope this helps you out. If you ever have any other questions about the media, You can email me. I will be happy to answer any questions.

Answer 3

Actually, the BBC has a small, 4 person dept. for giving the correct pronunciation of foreign proper names and has had it since the early days. Back years ago when I first got into broadcasting and was working a combo job as the only Engineer and the morning newscaster, I used to listen to the BBC at night just to get the proper pronunciations.

Anyone who has listened to the American newscasters trying to stumble through foreign proper names is aware that those people can only talk American and they want to Anglicize EVERYTHING even if it changes the meanings.

Just more of American mediocracy and arrogance... and, sadly, the newscasters get away with it because the average American can only talk AMERIKAN and doesn't know the difference. One good example is the seeming need for Americans to put the emphasis on the second syllable, whether it belongs there or not and, in most foreign languages, it does NOT.!

Answer 4

BBC has a pronounciation department which is supposed to be second to none (but even they make mistakes). But they make sure the newsreaders have the correct information - i imagine other channels have something similar.

Answer 5

newsreaders are good at reading?
Many journalists who cover world events have travelled in different cultures (not neccesarily countries though) and have picked up pronounciation from experience.

Answer 6

They don't. They come out in a mess, too.

Answer 7

understandably so. When you understand the language and learn it you will know how they pronounce it.

Answer 8

phonetically.