Okay, so most of us know the drill. If you’re reading a piece of evidence and you come across a name that you can’t pronounce just make it up right? Nobodies going to know the difference. While that may work for obscure authors like Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi (real person India year) It’s probably not going to work as well this year when you get to the Russian President. (See the video link below where Hilary Clinton during a debate stumbles over his name) Who… has a very Russian name. Here’s pronunciations of both the President and the Prime Minister of Russia. This should really build up your Ethos in a round. (pun intended)
Vladimir Putin
Prime Minister of Russia
Name: Vladimir
Phonetic Pronunciation: vlah-DEE-meer
Name: Putin
Phonetic Pronunciation: POO-teen
Dmitry Medvedev
President of Russia
Name: Dmitry
Phonetic Pronunciation: dee-MEE-tree
Name: Medvedev
Phonetic Pronunciation: mehd-VYEH-dehf
(Here’s a link to audio if you still need help on his last name:) http://inogolo.com/pronunciation/d1581/Dmitry_Medvedev
“Merdevdalya… whatever.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyDkzmZJ3qE&feature=player_embedded
Very helpful – thanks from us newbies!
also, if you find yourself in a round, stuck on a hard russian name, that would be a great time for a little bit of humor or something to make yourself likable. remember Anna Snyder’s post not so long ago about laughing at your mistakes…?
…pronouncing these russian names is harder than spelling schwarzenegger backwards in your head…
Keep in mind that some of these names can get….. ridiculous. Example: Schaller Lebensmitteltechnik <== Russian Company. And yes, I cite it — so watch out 😉
Yeah, that reminds me of a couple of things.
You can joke about it if you’re going for the charismatic speaker persona. That works for a lot of people. (I probably wouldn’t joke about high up government officials though)
and YES. Names do get ridiculous. Another thing to throw in there is work out with your partner how to pronounce the names of your aff sources so you don’t contradict each other. (that also makes the other team sound like they’re pronouncing it wrong even if they aren’t)