Latakia, Syria in the news, and pronunciation

[Storm_Crow]

As with all pipe smokers, I've been taught that the city in Syrian from which latakia tobacco comes from is pronounced lah-tah-key-uh. When I look online, I find other sources that coroberate this.

Since Syria has been in the news, the city of Latakia has found its way into more than one news story across the networks, and what surprised me was that not a single reporter pronounced it lah-tah-key-uh but rather luhtahkiya. At first I though it was just mispronounced, but after I began hearing it repeatedly, this began to make me question whether it was I that was saying it wrong.

Anyone else notice this?

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Most pronounce it the former way; but I've heard others pronounce it the latter way. It's such an odd sound either way that knowing what it means is easy.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Heard Brits and other Eurofolks say "lah-TACK-EE-uh," rather than "lat-tah-KEE-uh." *shrug*

Meh. :lol:

8)

 

[shootist51]

Some folks call elevators lifts...does it matter?
:lol!:

 

[Dutch]

Some say toe-may-toe, some say toe-mah-toe.

Down here, we say duh-may-ters. :cheers:

 

[Mr. Doody]

Some folks call elevators lifts...does it matter?

who!?!?! i demand to know! we'll fix them up proper lickety-split!



doody.

 

[Blackhorse]

I heard one of the longest trained blenders in the world (did his training in England for Lord Comoy no less) pronounce it without the "uh" on the end...just "LAT-uh-kee". I have to assume he picked this up in England, but I don't know that. But it would make some kind of sense that regardless of how the Syrians pronounce it, it's pronounced differently in different parts of the world. Who's right? Why the Syrians are.

Just try to take your out of town pronunciations downtown in the following cities and see how they look at you...

New Orleans (I think it's something like "gnawlens")

Amnyway, I live in Oregon (that's ORY-GUN), in the Willamette Valley (that's Will-LAM-ette) amid counties and towns and cities a whole bunch of which have native American name origins...good luck. My favorite is down in the coast...Yachats (that's YA-HOTS). Go figure.


Here's a link to a thread with a zillion and one:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=544651

 

[Pietru]

I pronounce Latakia as /lætəkiːə/ lat-uh-KEY-uh

 

[Johnny]

Always thought it was Luh-tack-ee-uh until I went to a tobacconist where they pronounced it Lah-tuh-kee-uh. Whatever works I guess. I was taking a catering order at work the other day and the woman on the phone kept pronouncing tomato toe-mah-toe. I've been on this earth for 32 years and that was the first time I ever heard it pronounced that way. I couldn't help myself from correcting her every time...you mean toe-may-toe, right? :twisted:

 

[monbla256]

As with all pipe smokers, I've been taught that the city in Syrian from which latakia tobacco comes from is pronounced lah-tah-key-uh. When I look online, I find other sources that coroberate this.

Since Syria has been in the news, the city of Latakia has found its way into more than one news story across the networks, and what surprised me was that not a single reporter pronounced it lah-tah-key-uh but rather luhtahkiya. At first I though it was just mispronounced, but after I began hearing it repeatedly, this began to make me question whether it was I that was saying it wrong.

Anyone else notice this?

What do Syrians know about how to pronounce there language. This is America, and we do it OUR way ! They OBVIOUSLY are WRONG! I have 5 former co-workers who were from Syria and I asked them about it and they ALL pronounced it WRONG, NOT how WE do! :twisted: :twisted:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

It's more fun to mispronounce things just for fun, once you know the nuances.

Really, it's just geeks being geeks about geeky things--that's who cares.

Except the French, which are a gas to mangle their language aw-frawn-say. :lol:

Think Oregon has it bad, BH?

(how people back east say it.......(how we say it

[Nevada]
Nee-VAW-duh..............................Nuh-VÂD-uh

[Pioche]
PIE-otch-ee......................................pea-OASH

[Ely]
EE-lye..........................................EE-lee

[Owyhee]
OH-WHY-hee................................uh-wah-ee (like "Hawai'i")

...just to name a few (we kind of share "Denio.") :lol:

8)

 

[Storm_Crow]

As with all pipe smokers, I've been taught that the city in Syrian from which latakia tobacco comes from is pronounced lah-tah-key-uh. When I look online, I find other sources that coroberate this.

Since Syria has been in the news, the city of Latakia has found its way into more than one news story across the networks, and what surprised me was that not a single reporter pronounced it lah-tah-key-uh but rather luhtahkiya. At first I though it was just mispronounced, but after I began hearing it repeatedly, this began to make me question whether it was I that was saying it wrong.

Anyone else notice this?

What do Syrians know about how to pronounce there language. This is America, and we do it OUR way ! They OBVIOUSLY are WRONG! I have 5 former co-workers who were from Syria and I asked them about it and they ALL pronounced it WRONG, NOT how WE do! :twisted: :twisted:

“In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.” - Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad

 

[unwelcomeguest]

Down here, we say duh-may-ters. :cheers:

This could possibly be the best post ever :lol:

 

[ruraldean]

Brit here: I pronounce Latakia as /lætəkiːə/ lat-uh-KEY-uh as above.

Never heard a Brit miss off the final "uh" though.

And Syrians are foreign, so what would they know? :shock:

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

And Syrians are foreign, so what would they know? :shock:

Best line of the thread. :lol:

 

[Aristokles]

Well, transliterated Arabic spells it as "Al Ladhiqiyah" which sure looks to me pretty close to Latakia. Maybe the fellow with the weird pronunciation is from southern Syria, or midwest Syria :lol:

 

[KevinM]

Worked with a Hispanic lady who thought that as the person reponsible for corporate communication I oughta unilaterally decree in the name of diversity that the names of Hispanic employees, when tthey appeared in print media, should have the little Espanol "hypertext" marks indicating pronunciation. She also thought that, in spoken communication -- speeches, presentations -- Hispanic names should be pronounced with a Spanish cadence. My basic reply was, "Wellyeahbut, we're speaking and writing in English. So everything gets Anglicized." She was muy POed. At one point, I recruited some Hispanic volunteers to help on translations. But the volunteers seldom agreed on anything and the time spent in meetings became embarrassing.

P.S. Everyone knows that Latakia is pronounced "laht."

 

[Sloppy Joe Hemingway]

I just point and say, "I'll have some a that!" That way, no one makes fun of my pronunciation. :lol:

 

[user 2031]

I just point and say, "I'll have some a that!" That way, no one makes fun of my pronunciation. :lol:

LOL That's a good thing about living in the South, no one expects you to be able to pronounce stuff right. :lol:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m2gKr8ewD0g" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Sloppy Joe Hemingway]

I just point and say, "I'll have some a that!" That way, no one makes fun of my pronunciation. :lol:

LOL That's a good thing about living in the South, no one expects you to be able to pronounce stuff right. :lol:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m2gKr8ewD0g" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Thanks, that just made my afternoon!