Is it “Bay-jing,” “Bay-zhing” or “Bay-zheeng”?
The 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China are rapidly coming to a close and I have yet to view a day of coverage where broadcasters are on the same page when it comes to pronouncing the host city’s name.
Have you noticed this too?
Brian Williams spent more than a week anchoring NBC’s “Nightly News” from a place he calls “Bay-jing.” The veteran news anchor makes a concerted effort to place the emphasis on the second syllable and he sounds as though he knows what he is doing.
However, lead primetime Olympic anchor Bob Costas, along with the entire cast of NBC’s “Today” show, including Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer (not to mention the majority of NBC’s sports announcers) are apparently reporting from a place they call “Bay-zhing.”
So which is it? And which of these broadcast professionals missed the memo on the correct pronunciation? (And having worked in TV news for more than a decade, believe me, I know a memo was generated.)
If you talk to experts in the Chinese language Williams is right. (And he is only too happy to brag about this fact on a video blog he recently posted on NBC’s website.)
But apparently, viewers are the only ones who view Williams’ blog, either that or Lauer, Costas and crew simply don’t care that they are slaughtering the Chinese language.
Okay, perhaps, “slaughtering” is a bit harsh, but at the very least the inconsistency of the pronunciation is annoying.
And I know I am not the only one who shares this opinion. Kaiser Kuo, who works for a China-based ad agency wrote an online guide for journalists covering the Olympics.
“The pronunciation of the city’s name couldn’t be easier,” Kuo points out. His sentiments are echoed by Carsey Yee and John Weinstein, experts in the Chinese language, who recently recorded a YouTube video clip making the same point.
“If we can’t even pronounce Beijing correctly and consistently, how can we ever hope to address deeper cross-cultural misunderstandings and conflicts?” Yee says on the video clip.
He may have a point.
But even if you think Yee’s comment is a bit dramatic he does make a great argument regarding why the inconsistency displayed by NBC news anchors (minus Williams) is in poor taste.
According to Yee: “Television networks should be setting a higher standard of pronunciation and fulfilling their role of informing and educating the viewing public. Mispronunciations are misinformation. The casual attitude of the networks towards this matter is, at best, negligent and, at worst, bordering on disrespect for China and the Chinese.”
Interestingly, on Williams’ blog he reveals that he learned how to pronounce Beijing correctly by doing some simple research when he got to China. (Hmmm… a news man doing research, what a concept.) Williams says he asked NBC News Chinese-born Beijing staff, cab drivers, plus local broadcasters, and they all told him to pronounce it “Bay-jing.”
Sounds simple enough, though, what I find even more humorous is a remark made by those Chinese language experts on YouTube. One of them astutely points out that the “zh” sound isn’t even used in the English language.
“You have to work to get it wrong,” he said.
So, basically, American broadcasters are making their job tougher than it really is. Or are they simply trying to make Beijing sound more exotic and mysterious than it really is by not pronouncing the city the way it is spelled.
What’s your take?
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