Donald Trump is not the first politician to make headlines over his pronunciation, but the way he said the word 'Tanzania' in a recent speech probably tells more about his international policy credentials than poor pronunciation skills. The Republican presidential frontrunner made the unusual pronunciation of the name of the East African country while making a major policy speech on US foreign policy. Ironic?
.@realDonaldTrump’s pronunciation of Tanzania https://t.co/e4uxlVpYaT
— POLITICO (@politico) April 27, 2016
Earlier on in the US presidential campaign, candidate Ben Carson dented his hopes of making it to the White House by mispronouncing Hamas – warning instead about the “hummus” terror threat. And back in 2012, presidential candidate Herman Cain infamously mispronounced "Uzbekistan". Perhaps advisers to these politicians need to get themselves onto Forvo once in a while to help out their struggling bosses? Meanwhile, in the UK there was also a stooshie over pronunciation this week. Prime minister David Cameron poked fun at Ukip leader Nigel Farage in a House of Commons debate. Praising Labour MP Ben Bradshaw for referring to the Ukip leader’s name to rhyme with “Farridge”, rather than “Farrahge” he said: “I’m glad he takes the English pronunciation of Farage rather than the rather poncey foreign-sounding one that he seems to prefer.”
What does the Home Counties-raised, Eton-educated @David_Cameron park his car in? How would he pronounce it? — Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) April 27, 2016
Farage, who has intimated in the past that his name rhymes with the the word ‘garage’, asked in a tweet what “Eton-educated David Cameron” parks his car in. Perhaps if the party leaders took some time to listen to how garage is pronounced around the English speaking world on Forvo, they'd see that both pronunciations are accepted. As is often the case in the world of politics, a little bit of thought and research wouldn't hurt before politicians pronounce.