RTÉ newsreaders

denishurley

I've noticed lately (and just heard Eileen Whelan do it while ago, which reminded me I'd meant to start a thread on the subject!) that RTÉ Radio 1 newsreaders have begun to pronounce the word 'kilometre' with an emphasis on the 'o', kill-o-metre rather than kill-ommeter, which I'd have thought was the more common way.

I'm presuming it's an order from on high rather than all the newsreaders simply saying it this way, any other examples of words where a certain pronounciation is given preference?

JayeL

I remember them doing that when the speed limits changed to kilometres but I thought they had come to their senses. They also had newsreaders pronounce the T in "tsunami" and render the S silent (the resulting word sounded like "toon army").

They might be technically correct, but no-one actually pronounces either word that way. Maybe Dublin 4 could reflect this, rather than try and convince us they're the authority on language....

Groom!

The reporters all pronounce "news" differently.

Some say neuws and others say noos.
What's the story?

newcavanman

There really is only one news reader on RTE radio, and that is Michael Murphy . The man is in a class of his own, and an example to all those who seek to do the same job .

Firetrap

A lot of them seem to have developed an aversion to pronouncing the letter R. So you'll hear them going on about the gad-dee

dambarude

I know he's not a newsreader but the way Pat Kenny pronounces 'r's is often ridiculous.

"Join me tonight, for the Frontline, on Awh Tee Eee One"

two wheels good

denishurley wrote: »

....RTÉ Radio 1 newsreaders have begun to pronounce the word 'kilometre' with an emphasis on the 'o', kill-o-metre rather than kill-ommeter, which I'd have thought was the more common way.

I'm presuming it's an order from on high rather than all the newsreaders simply saying it this way, any other examples of words where a certain pronounciation is given preference?

I suggest "kilo-metre" is correct\standard. For example we don't say "kill-ogram". (But I note the online dictionary I use speaks it as "kill-ometre")

I certainly hope that RTE has a department that standardises\advises on pronunciation.
I wish they'd point out to RTE staff and correspondents to use "There are\there is" in the "correct"\conventional way - not the USA way which is to say "there's" for plural and singular! Though it's not the newsreaders who are guilty of this (hanging) offence.

That_Guy

"GORE-DEE were called to a scene in Dublin...."

Pisses me off no end.

snubbleste

When Anne Doyle says sexual, it makes me go weak

Wertz

Murders in Jersey...

"In the capital, St Heli-aay..."

Nope, St Helier, the R is not silent.

L1011

"Minister for Jobs and Enterpriiiizze" there. My ears, my ears.

Poly

President of France-Nicolas Saaarkozziiiiii.

Fcuk him, if RTE want to pretend to be French they should address him as as ze petit bollix

LordSutch

Maybe RTE should have a pronunciation department like the BBC.

I was amused at Ryran Tubridy's surprise when he learned about their existence at the Beeb. Ryan of course is currently doing an eight week stint at BBC Radio 2 for the summer months, and you can hear him pausing & thinking hard before tackling unfamiliar place names, which is a good thing & a big step up from RTE, where anything goes - Portlaoise comes to mind, as does the word 'Noos' (News), and then there is the case of the letter R or os it OOR?

FlutterinBantam

LordSutch wrote: »

Maybe RTE should have a pronunciation department like the BBC.

I was amused at Ryran Tubridy's surprise when he learned about their existence at the Beeb. Ryan of course is currently doing an eight week stint at BBC Radio 2 for the summer months, and you can hear him pausing & thinking hard before tackling unfamiliar place names, which is a good thing & a big step up from RTE, where anything goes - Portlaoise comes to mind, as does the word 'Noos' (News), and then there is the case of the letter R or os it OOR?

Bring back Lorna Madigan

TimmyTarmac

Bring back Lorna Madigan

Or even better, bring back her one time boss as Head of Presentation in Radio Eireann, Bridget Kilfeather. They say even Terry Wogan was afraid of her.
There were no 'rindabouts', 'nooz' or destroying of vowels in the fifties, sixties or seventies.
They say if the bould Bridget was around today, Derek Mooney would still be in the Postroom and Meeriam would be a hairdresser.

mike65

I was just watching the News At One on RTE News Now, Murphy really puts everything into it! So much movement and gesture all unseen until they stuck a camera in the studio.

cml387

Who mentioned Lorna Madigan?

Head of pres. in RTE, she it was who came hurtling down the stairs crying "did one of my girls say 'Copper Knickers' on air?!" when Eileeen Dunne used a somewhat peculiar emphasis when saying "Copernicus".

fricatus

Wertz wrote: »

Murders in Jersey...

"In the capital, St Heli-aay..."

Nope, St Helier, the R is not silent.

Or the way the name Javier is pronounced as "Have-ee-ay" in a bizarre case of a French tail being pinned on a Spanish donkey... any new Bridget or Lorna should take up full-time residence in the Sports Department.

Worse again is pronouncing Spanish as if it were Italian. One time I heard someone on RTÉ pronounce "Albacete" as "Alba-chetty" :eek:

goose2005

fricatus wrote: »

Or the way the name Javier is pronounced as "Have-ee-ay" in a bizarre case of a French tail being pinned on a Spanish donkey... any new Bridget or Lorna should take up full-time residence in the Sports Department.

Worse again is pronouncing Spanish as if it were Italian. One time I heard someone on RTÉ pronounce "Albacete" as "Alba-chetty" :eek:

Soccer player's names can be very variable too, as can Jose Maria Olathhhabal

LordSutch wrote: »

Maybe RTE should have a pronunciation department like the BBC.

I was amused at Ryran Tubridy's surprise when he learned about their existence at the Beeb. Ryan of course is currently doing an eight week stint at BBC Radio 2 for the summer months, and you can hear him pausing & thinking hard before tackling unfamiliar place names, which is a good thing & a big step up from RTE, where anything goes - Portlaoise comes to mind, as does the word 'Noos' (News), and then there is the case of the letter R or os it OOR?

I'm amazed RTE don't, all newspapers have a "Manual of Style" etc.

europa11

In RTÉ, such a "Manual of Style" would be quickly consigned to the Sports Dept., most likely to re-emerge as the previously unheard of Spanish footballer, Manuel Ostile.

TimmyTarmac

I believe that there is a style guide on the company's intranet with audio samples of the pronounciations voiced by the Doireann Ni Bhrian. Now, there's a superb voice. Anyhoo, I heard her discuss it one morning with the late Gerry Ryan on his 2FM show a number of years back. In fairness to him he owned up to his unusual way of saying "paedophile".

So there really is no excuse for the fcukers now, only laziness.

HugoBradyBrown

Yes, there's a lot of nonsense talked in relation to broadcast pronunciation. I think it was the dramatist Ulick O'Connor who used to argue that the best English in the world is spoken in Dublin, which probably means Donnybrook for our purposes. Modern professional linguists and other scholars in this field maintain, of course, that the contemporary requirement is descriptive linguistics, rather than prescriptive. In consequence, an individual's idiolect and individual pronunciation must, if it is sufficiently clear to be understood, be left intact, authentic and genuine. Policy development in the station has been to allow the full range of our own Irish sound systems to flourish, and to cease to treat any regional 'accent' (to use the common, though inexact, term) as an impediment to understanding. Rather than using the discredited system of 'elocution training', the purpose now is simply to ensure that the mouth, airways and diaphragm are freed up, and that the subject speaks sufficiently slowly and loudly to be picked up. (And wonders can be done with sound levels in any case, so that even the naturally retiring radio or TV presenter can be assisted to make an impact without needing to strain or shout.)

To dispose of the issue of the pronunciation of foreign words: far too much is made of this. All that the listener or viewer wants is to grasp the gist of a foreign story. The names, beyond presidents and prime ministers don't matter. The niceties of French pronunciation hardly matter in France itself, outside the Paris version of the M50, so they should not trouble us in here. Similarly, with the exception of Spanish pronunciation (a known speciality of the Sports Department), no creative energy should be expended wastefully in having more than a stab at other foreign words, names or phrases. No matter how good or accurately we get them, some linguistic 'hurler on the ditch' will be there with a barrel of pitch, waiting to upturn it on our heads. It's far better to realise that we are talking to the Irish nation, not to the Italian Academy of Language or to the Immortals of L'Académie française. (I always advise that if anyone wants to know how to pronounce Romanian or Thai placenames, they can try the BBC, who have the resources to lavish on such luxuries as a Pronunciation Unit.)

The only exception that we should make is to require announcers to be able to pronounce Irish placenames with a measure of accuracy, and steps are taken from time to time to assist in this. But even here, the purpose is not to convert each member of the talent pool into a cainteoir dúchais with intermittent dentition, but, rather, again, for them to be able to give a good rough impression of the word or placename or phrase that the scriptwriter has in mind.

In short, the business is communication with the ordinary listener or viewer, not prissy perfection! "Only connect!"


Hugo Brady Brown

FlutterinBantam

Put it to you this way Hugo, if I hear a broadcaster who is too lazy to

pronounce their words properly,makes no attempt with grammar and structure,

the only connection they will get from me is the off button.

In my opinion pronunciation is important, nobody gets it word perfect but the

lazy diction of some highly presenters is insulting to me as a taxpayer.

It's 'get' Miriam, not 'geh'.

mike65

HugoBradyBrown wrote: »

I think it was the dramatist Ulick O'Connor who used to argue that the best English in the world is spoken in Dublin, which probably means Donnybrook for our purposes

I doubt that, if O'Conner said such a thing he would have been referring to vernacular "Dublinese" the fruity language so beloved of Joyce and Plunkett.