How NOT to pronounce "Zheng Jie" - BBC fail!

[GreatestCreation909]

actually that is how your pronounce it. go watch her bag check. it doesn't matter how you think proper chinese names are pronounced. it is however she pronounces it.

[ruudparklimy]

There was a time when BBC took the effort to make sure they pronounce names correctly. It's all about the effort. Clearly, they don't make any effort now.

For that matter, Korean names are usually mispronounced too. Park Ji sung is really more like pak chi song

[worldtravel101]

its the ZH that messes people up... while it may seem very similar to the english J... it is in fact slightly different... to most native english speakers it will sound very similar... to make the ZH sound... put your tongue on the roof of your mouth, instead of the back of your front teeth.. then try to say the j sound in this way it will be much closer to the chinese 州 or other words that start with this sound :)

[ClassicTVMan81]

Cantonese Jyutping transliteration of Zheng Jie's name: Zeng6 Git3.

[LavensKraw]

It's not his fault is it? If the romanization of Chinese weren't so damned weird he would not have made the mistake.

[yanggx]

rubbish mate!

[number1gailkimfan]

He also pronounced Ana Ivanovic; Arna Ivarnovic

[sarahajike]

You have to forgive the British.

I'm British because I was born here but I have a brain and I'nm cultured so yh. forgive those who havent been 'educated' or, for a better word, informed :p

XDDD

[xanyleon]

He almost called her Jumanji... Oops!

[nTerSF]

I honestly think they have no respect for the asian culture, many teachers and professors just laugh and say "can I just call you Jung, or Bing?"

[shivastotravali]

They can't say "Henin" right either, by the way.

Or "Federer", for that matter.

[shivastotravali]

The best explanation is in the video reply posted above. Here's a verbal attempt:

The last name, Zheng, is at basis like the first syllable of "jungle" -- so "jung-" (*NOT* Carl "Jung"!). To be completely accurate, curl your tongue back so the underside is up against the roof of your mouth (for Americans, this is the position your tongue is in when you say red), and then say "jung".

Excellent.

[shivastotravali]

The first name, Jie: easiest approximation is the "je-" in jet. A closer approximation would be to stick an English "Y" sound in there, as if jet were pronounced jyet (kind of like Russian nyet) but without the -t.

Class dismissed.

[ClassicTVMan81]

@shivastotravali

And also not as in Kim Dae-jung, either; in that case the "jung" in that name is pronounced similarly to the Pinyin "zhong" and his name is thus rendered in that language as Jin Dazhong.

[stevenpang]

I wrote to the BBC a couple of years ago on this topic, saying they should give their presenters training on pronounciation of Chinese names before the Beijing Olympics. No response and nothing happened.

[RoyVideo09]

not 2 bad. His pronounciation sounds like Zheng zhi, a chinese footballer in Scottish club Celtics now. I think "gyear" would be best for westerner to pronounce "Jie".

[obiwan88]

Well, it is a problem when you don't even know who or what that announcer is referring to.

Also, it's a shame to see people who claimed that they are Chinese and saying it's acceptable to grossly mispronounce Chinese names.

[RothdeMan]

@obiwan88 Oh stop it!

[vavictus]

咳 差不多呗 ；）

[arthurspooner60]

well that's how i thought it was pronounced. :o:p

[TennisPerson25]

same here

[BritishBleu]

He isn't native Chinese, so what if he can't pronounce her name like proper Chinese?

[Ehanderson5]

He is not native French or Serbian or Russian, but he can pronounce Monfils, Cilic, Safin, Djokovic, etc

[olbap69]

Que alguien me traduzca esto al chino para el autor del vídeo: ERES UN PATÁN!!

[1hmm2]

I'm Chinese ... I don't see what the problem is with his pronunciation considering the reporter doesn't even know Mandarin

[Amaglev]

Well, I don't think this is that bad seeing as I've never seen an East Asian ever correctly pronounce quite a few English words.

Who cares? We obviously know who the BBC is talking about!

Are we supposed to say Paris like the French do? No, because for us English it's Paris not Paree .. Man! just don't get why this is even a big deal.

[AnaIvanovicz]

WHAHAH Zjeng ZJIE

[wangkexue]

So funny.He said Zheng Zhi.Haha

[doom032]

Who cares they said it wrong? Also, it's not just the J they pronounced wrongly. So I personally think the maker of this video himself wouldn't pronounce it perfectly.

[Crapidiot]

its pronounced zheng jieeeeee

i dont how to explain it in english

[submit2godnow]

BBC is famous around the world for being the most pompous fools who r amazingly ignorant, yet wrap their impotence in blagging and bullshitting....no1 in america takes them seriously anyway.

[bonzialsatian]

we in the UK don't taken american tv all that seriously either mate.

[postmonition]

and how to pronounce it?

[superc]

It's pronounced "Sing See-'eh" with stress mark on "eh", watch the ESPN asian interview (in english) watch?v=UgaVcUAvACE

[untwerf]

what a crap and pointless video