How do newsreaders pronounce those sri lankan and indian names?
Actually, the BBC has a small, 4 person dept. for giving the correct pronunciation of foreign proper names and has had it since the early days. Back years ago when I first got into broadcasting and was working a combo job as the only Engineer and the morning newscaster, I used to listen to the BBC at night just to get the proper pronunciations. Anyone who has listened to the American newscasters trying to stumble through foreign proper names is aware that those people can only talk American and they want to Anglicize EVERYTHING even if it changes the meanings. Just more of American mediocracy and arrogance… and, sadly, the newscasters get away with it because the average American can only talk AMERIKAN and doesn’t know the difference. One good example is the seeming need for Americans to put the emphasis on the second syllable, whether it belongs there or not and, in most foreign languages, it does NOT.!
