Gov. Schwarzenegger's Name Should Get Conservative Enunciation

Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggers pronunciation of California (Cal-ee-fornia") during the 2003 Recall Election generated much public discussion of the origin and proper articulation of the word. Now Karin Fallon, Director of the Beverly Hills Lingual Institute, believes it is time to return the favor.

(PRWEB) October 21, 2004 -- Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggers pronunciation of California (Cal-ee-fornia") during the 2003 Recall Election generated much public discussion of the origin and proper articulation of the word. Now Karin Fallon, Director of the Beverly Hills Lingual Institute, believes it is time to return the favor.

The Governor has a wonderful sounding Austrian name that is rarely pronounced correctly," say Fallon. It should be pronounced 'Schwarzen-egger, but even the most esteemed broadcast journalists in the country are forever saying 'Schwartz-nagger. In Austrian, the name means black acre," or rich soil. Through the years, I'm sure the Governor has become weary of correcting the mispronunciation of his name. It's reflective of his campaign slogan which was simply 'Join Arnold."

It is a problem that appears to have followed the Governor his entire public life, Fallon noted. In his first motion picture role, the 1970 low budget feature Hercules In New York," his name on the billing was changed to Arnold Strong" and his heavily accented voice was dubbed. Though his German accent remains, we have learned that his pronunciation of California" was not a mispronunciation. It is similar to the Spanish version of the word, rather than the more common American-English version which changes the vowel sounds and puts the stress on a different syllable.

American-English mispronunciations of Spanish words are commonplace today," she added. Thats why the media coverage of this issue was such a healthy byproduct of the election. It educated people about language and reinforced the cultural context of the name of America's Golden State. In that same vein, as a nation of immigrants, many with uncommon sounding names, professional communicators should take the extra effort to pronounce the governor's name correctly."

The Beverly Hills Lingual Institute is one of the leading private language schools in the country, renowned for its university style curricula, guaranteed small class size, and instructors and students representing more than 40 nationalities and ethnicities.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Jeff Duclos

vonjessenduclos inc.

(310) 374-0465

jeff@vonjessenduclos.com

Karin Falon

Beverly Hills Lingual Institute

(310) 858-0717

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