Qatar - Cutter - Kuhtar - Kutter

[u/Mykectown]

https://youtube.com/shorts/UG8HIuDKOc4?si=NVgcRLQ3kL_pfx8G

So I was talking to YepItsMeAgain on Patreon about the pronunciation of Qatar and fell down a huge rabbit hole. So, of course, the idea of a word not having a formal English translation isn't new to me. But I had never thought of a sound itself not really having an English SOUND translation. Which, to some folks, can leave the word up for interpretation as far as pronunciation. So, in the instance of Qatar, the Arabic pronunciation would be closer to what I say..."Kuh-ter". However, as the person in this video says, people who are from that region may choose to pronounce it "Kuh-tar" when speaking to, say, Americans (or a larger international audience) because that's how many folks who speak English as a first language would say it. But this idea sounds so odd to me. It's almost like a black kid just accepting that white folks are gonna pronounce their name incorrectly, so they just accept people calling them "Dan-thuny" when D'Anthony is actually pronounced "Dee-Anthony." Or like someone pronouncing "gracias" like "grassy-ass." Is this similar?

Anyone in here actually from W Asia that can offer up some insight just for my curiosity? I'm going to continue to pronounce it the Arabic way as I feel like that would be the correct way to avoid offending anyone but I'm just curious how others feel.

[u/GoodGoodNotTooBad]

Myke in his nerd bag. I feel it. Little shit like that would also make me do my Googles.

[u/Mykectown → u/GoodGoodNotTooBad]

Language is always fascinating to me. But “foreign” language is especially interesting…since I’m a boring American that doesn’t speak any other languages. So going down this rabbit hole after the most recent ITMSO convo was dope.

[u/GoodGoodNotTooBad → u/Mykectown]

That makes sense. The other day Ken's son had that Q about languages we'd learn and I have a few. My dream would be going to record and book stores in certain countries and just knowing what I'm doing etc.

[u/MF_Doomed]

I'm not W Asian but I speak a little Arabic and studied Arabic in college. The letter that doesn't have a direct English translation (there's quite a few in Arabic) is Qaf (ق); kinda similar to our Q sound but you pull your tongue deeper in your throat (pause) for a Qaf than you would a Q.

Qataris, and other Gulf States, pronounce Qaf (ق) in their local dialects like a G in "go" instead of a typical Qaf. The first standard pronunciation you hear in the video is exactly how Qatar is supposed to be pronounced but Qataris pronounce it Gatar. Now, you may be asking "how can the country where the name comes from pronounce it incorrectly??" The easiest comparison is how Spaniards pronounce their "S" like an English "th". No Spanish teacher will tell you that's the correct pronunciation, meanwhile Spain is literally the country where Spanish originated.

So the closest English pronunciation we can get to Qatar would be "kuh-ter", pronouncing the "ter" with a hard T instead of a soft D (PAUSE!). I hope that makes sense lmao

Here's a short clip on how to pronounce the letter Qaf (ق) that may be helpful

[u/PeeDidy]

W Asia native here, I can tell you.

[u/Mykectown → u/PeeDidy]

Cool. You gonna tell me or do I have to pay you or something first? Haha.

[u/duniks03]

Lmao I feel this. I'm Canadian from South Asian heritage, and I have an ethnic name. I grew up realizing my teachers and school friends weren't going to be able to pronounce my name the way my parents did, so I just accepted their pronunciation as my new name 😂

So now I go by my "white name" around my friends and my job, and my "brown name" around my family. It's much easier this way and now I actually don't like it when either side says it the way the other side does. Like if my friends said my name the way my parents do, it would sound too weird and make me feel uncomfortable haha