Arabic

[koster]

How is the Arabic word rawdha (meaning a place of gardens and trees) pronounced?

Is the 'h' silent or pronounced?

[Clanad]

Im sure you are aware that the city of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia is a transliteration of your word. The "h" in that word is silent as far as non-native speakers are concerned. "Rawdha" also seen as 'rawdaw" contains a sound difficult for non-native speakers. (I'm working on Hebrew and have recognized your word through that study). The "ha" has a "stop" pronunciation that (as best I can approximate) comes out as "ha" but pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the ridge of the roof of ones mouth just behind your top row of teeth. The resultant sound is near "dad" with an exhale in the middle. Not particularly clear to you, I imagine, but the best I can do.

[KARL]

The dh at the end of Riyadh is pronounced the same way as th in that, this, etc. - a voiced sound as opposed to th in thing, think, etc. This sound's pronunciation is indicated in English dictionaries by the symbol/letter � (which may not come out right once posted on this site) from Icelandic, a language better placed than English in that it actually has letters to represent all its sounds. In English examples abound where different sounds are represented by the same letter (you basically need to memorise the pronunciation). Often when non-English language names are transliterated into the roman alphabet the virtually non-existent phonetics of English cause a problem. A familiar example arose when Koreans tried this and now lots of people call their company "Hi, un-die" whereas it has been explained to me it is, in Korean, nearer Hyundeh where y is as in yes and eh is as e in bed (definitely not ay as in day or ai in daily).

[koster]

Many thanks for your answers.

I wonder if Riyadh has a different pronunciation in English and Arabic (just like Paris has a different pronunciation in French and English).

According to dictionary.com and other online dictionaries, the pronunciation in English is /riˈyɑd/, not /riˈyɑ�/.

It's interesting to see that the word stress is on the second syllable. I didn't know that.

According to Wikipedia, the Arabic name is ar-Riyāḍ. Perhaps the d with a dot under it is the difficult to pronounce sound you mention.

[KARL]

I have just returned to this (usually don't follow the thread) and would add that, yes, English speakers (mis)pronounce lots of foreign names differently, not least if the sound does not exist in English (such as that of Qom in Iran). Also, lots of (probably all) the sites you will look at in the English language will offer the English language "solution". The despair gripping the French whenever English speakers attempt French (regardless of how correct the grammar, syntax, etc.) is legendary. The sound that 'U' represents does not exist in English and the customary (English speaker) pronunciation of � and also 'et' and 'ez' at the end of words as "ay" (compare day) is detested by the French. If you listen to Arabs in conversation, they will say "Riya�", not "Riyad" - that is why the h is added in the standard spelling because � would not be recognised by 99%-plus of those who nevertheless are familiar with the Roman alphabet.

[KARL]

A conversation has reminded me of another common example, even two: Abu Dhabi is generally pronounced "Aboo �abi", but Egyptians and Iranians, neither of whom have � in their phonetics, pronounce it "Aboo Zabi" (reminiscent of the solution Germans and French often adopt when speaking English). The variations are similar in "Ramadhan" which in the west is commonly spelled and pronounced "Ramadan". Moreover, the sound denoted in English by th is treated by Egyptians as a simple t - as in "thelatha" (three) which they pronounce "telata".