I often get inquiries from well-intended journalists- “I’d love to work
with you”.
Sure- I love helping everyone.. and have I mentioned that writing and
reporting are my passions? But with this said- we’ve chosen a
profession that usually requires talking (with a bow here to some
wonderful video journalism I’ve seen that has only nat sound, SOT’s and
text). When someone says ‘I’d like to work on my ‘articulation’’ my
first questions are “Why? Has anyone told you that you’re not speaking
clearly?’. The answer is usually along the lines of ‘no- but I thought
I’d work on everything I can to move my career ahead’.
If you’ve been speaking ‘normally’ all your life.. and if nobody at work has
given you any constructive criticism re. ‘the way you speak’ -then I
wouldn’t worry about it. Bear in mind that I’m distinguishing ‘voice’
from ‘speaking/articulation’. Blog 2 addressed voice: if it’s too
high.. too weak.. too raspy.. that’s something different. But speech
sounds and words hinge on the precision of neurology and kinesthesia (how
the jaw/tongue/lips do the fine dance together to create words).. and most
of us are perfectly fine in this category. If you’re not
distorting any consonants or vowel sounds and the ‘articulation’ seems
fine.. then you’re home free.
There are, however, a few situations that merit clarification:
Hyper-enunciating- There’s no need to pronounce every sound in every word to
match the way it’s spelled. We are talking to people.. and therefore should
speak as we would in a personal conversation. Eg. the word ‘percent’ .
When we say it ‘normally’ our tongue tip hits our gum ridge to make the /t/
sound.. but we don’t release it- as we would at the beginning of a word..
such as ‘tick’. (sorry, they’re on my mind- tall grass and tick season
for dogs…). There’s no need to make a specialized fuss over the /t/
sound at the end of most words.
Names based on different languages- this gets trickier and has a grey area.
Here in the New York City area we proudly named the Kosciuszko Bridge after
Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a Polish-Lithuanian volunteer in our American
Revolutionary War. When I first moved here, I woke up one morning and
was warned to avoid the “kaZHOOSHko” Bridge and I remember thinking-‘ wow,
where’s that’? The anchor’s pronunciation gave homage to the integrity of
the language- but most New Yorkers affectionately know it by its mutilated
name: Kos-see-OSko. If you’re a reporter new to a town or city and you
want to get your information out correctly (and not completely blow your
credibility)- your best bet is to immediately do your homework- and learn
how every street, bridge, river, person’s name, building, highway (etc.) is
pronounced locally. Many pronunciations- like Woburn in Massachusetts
or Houston Street here in NYC- can ambush you. When it comes to names
based on a different language- if you speak or choose to respect the
language represented by the name- saying it with some authenticity is also
a valid option. But your most important goal is to clearly share
information with your listeners- so you need to know that the pronunciation
you choose will be recognizable. It‘s a name by name, station by
station decision- and not one to be made on your own.
Regional and international dialects- When I was in college my roommate
called and asked me to look for something she’d left in her packet. I
rummaged through her desk.. no luck. She was really saying ‘pocket’..
but she was from Rochester, NY. Similarly- I worked with a client from
Tennessee- and asked management if they wanted me to tweak some of his
‘southern vowels’ because I was confused by some words he said. Eg.
dill/deal.. Tom/time. Interestingly- I was told that he had a
following- largely southern- and that everyone else didn’t mind chuckling
through some regional variations.
The idea that everyone is supposed to sound completely ‘regionless’ is
unrealistic.. but when dialects have us thinking ‘huh’ ? it may be time to
consider making some tweaks. On the local new front: local-sounding news
reporters and anchors have great credibility. If they choose to move on-
it’s another story. It will probably hold them back.
As for journalists for whom English is not their native language- or perhaps
they were raised bilingually- as long as their perceived dialect doesn’t
interfere with my comprehension I don’t have a problem with it.
(Aren’t we the ‘melting pot’ nation?) Mind you- others do.. I worked with a
terrific reporter from Argentina.. she asked to eradicate her dialect (a
pretty impossible goal. English is so irregular that you invariably
get caught up with inflection or ‘inappropriate’ adjective/noun emphasis)..
she got as far as being hired by a local news station- but the ND told her
he wouldn’t be comfortable letting her report live since she couldn’t
benefit from a ‘pre-talking checkup’. She returned to Argentina.. then
moved to Miami.
Proper pronunciation of words: Now here the standards become more clear cut.
I may sound haughty telling you that a demonstration was “short laived’
(long /i/) but in this case I’m giving my listeners the proper pronunciation
of the word. It is not ‘short lived’ (short /i/ as in big). Same
thing with harass and harassment. The accents should be on the first
syllables.
When in doubt- as with status (long /a/) or status (short /a/ as in back)-
I’d settle the decision with the pronunciation recommended by a specific
dictionary. This way you’ll have attribution to reference when the
complaints come in.
Joanne Stevens
Previously featured on
the Radio Television Digital News Association
as the News Coach blog series.