Monday, May 4, 2009

Roll Them RRRRRRRRR's

OK... I have been wondering this for a LOOOOONG time.

Why is it that when a news anchor (that does not have an accent) is reporting the news, they talk and talk, with no accent, but when they come to a Hispanic name or word, they all of a sudden pronounce that word or name with an accent?

They don't pronounce Irish or Scottish names with the appropriate accent....

They don't pronounce French names with the appropriate accent....

They don't pronounce Russian, Ukrainian or Polish names with the appropriate accent...

They don't pronounce German names with the appropriate accent...

They don't pronounce Sweedish, Dutch, Finnish names with the appropriate accent....

They don't pronounce Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Polynesian, names with an accent...

Do you see my point? Do ya, huh, huh?? Do ya???

9 comments:

Kristina P. said...

This is one of those situation where I never know what to do. I took Spanish for 5 years, and yet, I still talk sometimes witha a gringo accent, because I feel like an idiot pronouncing the rrs like that, even though it's correct. It's stressful!

How's your Snuggie doing?

Lissaloo said...

lol, too funny :)

Me (aka Danielle) said...

I hear ya. I don't have any answers though!

Aweir said...

Well, my sister is a news anchor in El Paso. I will answer from her perspective. Being that we are living in an area heavily populated by spanish speakers, when my sister or other anchors "mispronounce" a name of a street, person, or thing that has a spanish accent, they get complaints. I am serious. Some news anchors get a lot of grief for the way the speak and are heavily scrutinized for ticks, such as blinking too much, etc. Anyway, I bet if you lived in an area that was dominated by another group of people, the news anchors would speak or pronounce accordingly. :)

Tammy said...

Nope. They do that in Northern CA too!!!!

Saturday Night Live even did a skit about it!!!

That's why I am so befuddled about it! :0)

hendywow said...

Hi! You left a comment on my "i'm with the band" blog, sorry I don't update that one very often...It took about a year and a half to get it all off, and I haven't gained any back...Ask me more...

wendy said...

They seem to do ok with the Canadians -----just through in an "eh" or "hosser"

Nonna said...

OMGosh, you are a riot !!!

I have wondered about this myself...political correctness gone too far I think...ask anyone who speaks and they'll tell you it is painful to hear someone trying to sound like a native speaker ( there is nothing better than a well spoken person who learned the language as a child at home )

There are nuances in any language that have to do with cultural upbringing as well and it is even more awful when someone attempts to do the flourishes when the background isn't present !

Randi A. said...

See I hate that about Italian and the Food Network.

This chef, Giada, is Italian but she has no accent what so ever. Then all of sudden she says mozzarella or parmesan and she is speaking with the whole force of her Italian heritage behind her. I find it so irritating!

:o)

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