Is Qu'ran pronounced "koran" or "kw-ran"?
Translating squiggles
- Thread starter EFLImpudence
- Start date
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A near equivalent may be Coor'aan where the apostrophe is a glottal stop. Glottal stop is explained somewhere on t'internet but for brevity assume it's the pronunciation of a consonant without expressing air, i.e. a non-aspirant consonant sound.
BTW, it's Qur'an
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I would think it depends on whom you ask.
I presume that not all Arabs, let alone other muslims, speak with the same accent or dialect.
I remember the late Ray Moore on Radio 2 when there was debate about how they should pronounce "Kabul".
Should it be Ka-bul or Kab-ul and someone asked how the locals pronounced it?
Moore said it didn't really matter, as, if that were the deciding factor, then we should all say "Rovverhoive in Saaf Laandin".
Another case of this pronunciation snobbery - and fawning - was the changes to Peking and Bombay.
On the radio, following the changes, were BBC staff reporting on happenings in Mumbai, blah, blah, and now "Over to {an Indian person} in Mumbai" followed by "Yes, here in Bombay..."
We do not generally attempt foreign names in the local language, accent or dialect even when they are familiar names to us such as sportsmen and women.
Using "Qur'an" when writing in English is no more than obsequious pandering and/or a fatuous attempt at moral superiority.
Guilty as charged, m'lud.
I still see it as being respectful to the indigenous people.
You wouldn't address Jacques as Jack, or Jean-Pierre as John Peter, or Marie-Pierre as Mary Peter, would you?
Accepted some immigrants adopt an English name that sounds similar to their given name to avoid the laborious process of explaining how to pronounce their name. But that's when they're here, not when they're there.
Similarly in foreign countries I try to learn at least the basic words for please, thank you, yes, no, etc.
It's just normal if you ask me.
BTW, I still refer to Saigon as Saigon 'cos, in my experience so do the majority of locals, certainly the older ones. As far as I am aware, only the officials refer to it as HMC
I refer to Burma as Burma and if there is any confusion I'll clarify it with Myanmar.
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Are you one of those people who proncounces the cartoon strip Tintin with a French flourish, as "tantan"?
I don't understand what you mean. We have "English" names for some foreign places, such as Paris, Moscow and Brunswick. What do you call a place that there is no English name for, such as Marseilles? How do you pronounce the name of a foreign person, such as Einstein or de Gaulle? How do you think a foreign person should pronounce "Leicester" if he is not ignorant?
You may have noticed that, in your examples, the same alphabet is used.
Were "Jacques" written in another unrecognisable alphabet, the translation into English would indeed likely be "Jack" with a pronunciation of a soft "J" (if that is the correct term) as we have no letter for that.
Consequently "Koran" will suffice and offer no disrespect whatsoever.
The point you seem to be missing is that an Arab speaker would not understand "Qur'an" either.
...but not Nico HÜlkenberg nor Rubens Barrichello - it depends how difficult it is or alien it sounds and a 'rolled R' is never used by an English commentator.
From a cursory look at t'internet Qur'an or Quran seems to dominate.
Reading of Qur'an is only done in classical Arabic, so many Arabic speakers would read classical Arabic, but speak the local dialect.
Another cursory look gives:
So why the argument?
You say either ( ˈī-thər ), I say either (ˈē-thər).
Reading of Qur'an is only done in classical Arabic, so many Arabic speakers would read classical Arabic, but speak the local dialect.
Another cursory look gives:
http://www.grammarly.com/answers/questions/4512-spelling-of-the-quran/
So why the argument?
You say either ( ˈī-thər ), I say either (ˈē-thər).
I do remember a discussion about the correct pronunciation of Sebastion Vettel's name, between broadcasters.
nonsense.
BTW, BBC announcers have a Pronunciation Unit that advises them how to pronounce difficult names. Some people take a much more careless approach.
Perhaps EFL considers this to be obsequious pandering.
...because anyone hearing a Arabic speaker saying it for the first time would not think "That is Qur'an" it is silly.
I am correct; you are wrong.
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