« Doug Marlette on the Cheney hunting accident | Main | The Worst Thing About Being Pro-Choice »
February 17, 2006
Dodo Rant: Say it right, Gringos!
In his post Dems Lose Again In Israel, Aaron reports that Israel's army is going to use llamas as pack animals.
(I wish that Aaron would have named or linked his information source, but that's not the topic of this rant.)
If Aaron's report is correct, then I hope that the people who use the llamas will know the correct way to pronounce llama, because most people in the USA don't know - which is the topic of this rant.
The llama is an animal that is a native of the South American nation of Peru. In case you didn't know, Peru is a Spanish-speaking nation. Actually, it's a Castillano-speaking nation, but most gringos don't know the difference between Castillano and Spanish.
Anyway, there is a funny thing about Spanish-speaking nations. All of the native animals in those nations have Spanish names, and all of their names have Spanish pronunciations. Amazing, isn't it?
It just so happens that the llama is one of those animals. It's name is Spanish, which means that the proper way to say its name is the Spanish way.
Sadly, in the good ol' USA, most gringos (a.k.a. people who have English as their native language) constantly mispronounce the Spanish name llama. To make matters worse, Walt Disney Studios and Nickelodeon Studios are teaching the mispronunciation to children.
Well, my gringo readers, here is a Spanish lesson for you.
In the Spanish language, the LL letter combination is pronounced like a Y, which is why the Spanish word tortilla is pronounced "tore-tee-ya", instead of "tore-tee-la".
Likewise, the proper way to pronounce the Spanish name llama is "ya-ma", not "la-ma".
By the way, during cold weather, it's nice to wear garments made out of llama fur. Last Sunday, my llama-fur sweater kept me warm during church while my pastor complained about the coldness of the worship area.
To close, here is a photo of two natives of Peru. One is a llama. The other is my wife. I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which.
Posted by Dodo David at February 17, 2006 09:59 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.lifelikepundits.com/cgi-bin/mt3/mt-tb.cgi/2151
Comments
I did! first line of the post...
Posted by: aaron at February 18, 2006 01:06 PM
This guy is an idiot. Does he propose that Americans start pronouncing Paris, as "Paree", or Roma as "Roma", or the car Jaguar, as "JagUar"? We have the right to "Americanize" words all we want, or we would be calling Florence, Firenza. Every country changes words to fit their speech and language patterns. Is the point, because it happens to be Spanish, we must do it the "Spanish way"? Get real. Enough is enough. I am sick of pandering to non-English speaking people in the United States.
Posted by: Dave at February 21, 2006 06:45 AM
I think it was helpful. I speak spanish but some words like llama I did't know it was already spanish :).You know there is always someone that has to be negative. The United States used to be a good place but now because ignorant people . It makes me sick to be American all the hate and thinking just because you were born here makes you better. Christians are the worse because they act the same way and then go to church . Different people make the world interesting . God did not intend for American to be God And judge the rest of the world for being different.
Posted by: Star at July 17, 2008 10:58 PM
It's a shame that our human nature would rather place judgement than except and embrace the language differences we all have. Yes, this is the USA and we are a wonderful mix of cultures and languages, and should be free to nurture those cultures, teaching our children to never forget their heritage. And yes, we are free to "Americanize" words just like the rest of the world.
When we look down our noses at cultural diversities, and down our noses at someone who doesn't "say words right" or look down our noses at those who think we should be "educated in the proper way" to pronounce words then we are at fault of assuming our way is better. We are guilty of being narrow minded and seeking our own way and selfishness doesn't solve anything.
Once we accept and embrace that some will always use Americanized words it's not such an issue anymore and we don't take it so personal. You talk. I talk. Potāto vs Potȃto That's life! Aint it great? Freedom of diversity, that's what America is all about. But when we begin to place our own personal standards on others that's when all the fighting begins.
So I implore future readers and commentators ... "Love Thy Neighbor."
Posted by: lytesource at August 6, 2008 09:24 PM