Pronouncing American Place Names Page Content Page Name (for URL) Page Title Don't put anything here Breadcrumb Text While flipping the pages of a Brazilian book entitled "Your trip to the United States" I came across a section describing the pronunciation of some American place names: <center><table class='real_table'> <tr><td width="100">Albuquerque</td><td><i>ALbácâr-rqui</i></td></tr> <tr><td>Arkansas</td><td><i>Arquen-só;</i></td></tr> <tr><td>Baton Rouge</td><td><i>Bêiten-Ruz</i></td></tr> <tr><td>Des Moines</td><td><i>Di-MÓin</i></td></tr> <tr><td>Houston</td><td><i>Rúston</i></td></tr> <tr><td>La Jolla</td><td><i>La Rôla</i></td></tr> <tr><td>Los Ângeles</td><td><i>Lôs Éndjeles</i></td></tr> <tr><td>Michigan</td><td><i>MÉchégan</i></td></tr> <tr><td>New Orleans</td><td><i>Nul Órli-ins/Órlan-s</i></td></tr> <tr><td>St. Louis</td><td><i>Sein-t LUL-is</i></td></tr> <tr><td>Syracuse</td><td><i>Sir-raquiuce</i></td></tr> <tr><td>Tucson</td><td><i>Tchú-san</i></td></tr> <tr><td>Yosemite</td><td><i>Iâ-CIM-iti</i></td></tr> </table></center> In case it is not obvious, the words in the right-hand column are supposed to approximate *American* pronunciation of the place names, using Portuguese pronunciation rules. E.g., "Rúston" would be pronounced roughly like "Hoo-stung" in Portuguese (or "Hoo-shtung" if you are in Rio), thus approximating American pronunciation. This may not seem to be all that close, but consider that applying Portuguese phonetic rules directory to "Houston" would render "Oh-stung," so "Hoo-stung" is a bit of an improvement. (Since final "n" in Portuguese words is always nasalized, it is more or less impossible to approximate the name of the city better than "Hoo-stung" - just like you can't really approximate the pronunciation of "São Paulo" using English spelling rules.) Some of the suggested pronunciation appear to be simply wrong, however (e.g. for Tucson), which would probably be better approximated by "Tu-san." Advanced Fields Category 2002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014E. AsiaE. EuropeL's FamilyL's FriendsN. AmericaN. EuropeS. AmericaS. AsiaW. EuropeY & LY's FamilyY's Friends Prototype Redirect Permissions0 Actions Config Markup Module HTML/Meta/Keywords HTML/Meta/Description Save Hook HTML Fields Main Head Body Header Menu Logo Page Content Template Sidebar Footer Tags Allowed for XSSFilter Don't put anything here HTTP Fields Cache-Control Expires Guru Fields Templates Translations Fields Edit UI Admin Edit UI Don't put anything here A summary of your changes Edit Summary Don't put anything here Don't put anything here Don't put anything here save preview cancel
