On the Pronunciation of Foreign Words, Masks, & Nuclear War

The Great Gate of Kiev, from Mussorgsky’s masterpiece Pictures at an Exhibition, is how I first learned of the city. Up until a few years ago, the only way I ever heard it pronounced was kee-EV. Gradually, news broadcasters began to call the city Keev, citing something about “That’s how the locals pronounce the name of their city”. That being a rather questionable proclamation, I decided to investigate.
Over the past few days, I have carefully listened to several Ukrainians speaking about their capitol city, and not a one called it Keev. They also did not say kee-EV, however all pronounced it with two syllables. I challenge anyone to find me a native Ukrainian who calls the city Keev. That is not to say that kee-EV is any closer to the “proper” pronunciation, but it is no worse. And it sounds much more lyrical to my ear.

When a language is spoken by a non-native, and is also transliterated from a different alphabet, there is no correct way to pronounce it in English.

Should the world now adapt the practice of only saying the names of foreign cities the same as the locals? By that reasoning Germany should be called Deutschland, Cairo – Al Qahirah, Moscow – Moskva, Rio de Janeiro, Hee-o. I won’t even mention the inaccuracies when attempting to pronounce the name of a city where the local idiom is a tonal one. It simply cannot be done. It is an impossibility to assign a politically correct spelling or pronunciation to any geographical location. In the big picture, it does not matter.
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