*Poll* Proper pronunciation of Qatar

[BDawg]

When Wolf Blitzer was reporting from Qatar, he said it's people pronounced is cutter.

 

[dethman]

kah-tar.

 

[AndrewR]

Originally posted by: BDawg
When Wolf Blitzer was reporting from Qatar, he said it's people pronounced is cutter.

I was watching a report the other day and both the emir and his wife pronounced it "Kah-tar". Since he's the leader of the country, I'll follow him.

 

[Doboji]

My friend Ramzi is from Qatar... and yeah it's pronounced "cutter"

-Max

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

When I was in the middle east, everyone pronounced it (in a non-kidding fashion) "gutter".

 

[deftron]

Kay tar

 

[Alphazero]

Originally posted by: glenn1
None of the above. The word Qatar in Arabic includes a letter which does not exist in English, ghayn. To make the ghayn sound, forcefully expel air (similar to the sound of the h in the word "heat") while prounouncing a character like the letters "gh" at the end of the word "enough." An English transliteration of the word simply renders it as Qatar which is the closest we can reasonably come to pronouncing it in a way that would be understood by an Arabic speaker. The name of the dictator of Libya begins with the same character, which is why his name (Moamar Qaddafi) gets spelled and pronounced so many different ways in English, none of which are completely correct.

It's not a ghayn, but a qaf followed by a t'a.

Text

 

[Superdoopercooper]

I don't know, but I wish someone would figure it out and filter to all the news-folks

I was watching my local NBC, and the woman TOTALLY butchered it. She said KAA-tar

I think it is ka-TAR, but I'm not sure. I think her pronunciation was TOTALLY incorrect. I think Peter Jennings may have the closest pronunciation