how do you pronounce tapir?

Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
It is also the pronounciation for the words jaguar and tapir in the Spanish language too.
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My son was born in Colombia and is named Andres (Spanish form of "Andrew"). We pronounce it the Spanish way with Spanish vowel sounds and rolling the r.

A lot of people in Australia have difficulty with understanding that - so we have to either anglicise it for them, or simply suggest they call him "Andy" (which is my son's preferred option).

I expect a lot of these animal names have been anglicised over the years and are often taught that way in classrooms - thus perpetuating those pronunciations.

Do you think it's more appropriate to try and use the native pronunciations for animal names where they exist?

Of course, things get far more complicated when you consider the colonial impact of the Spanish in areas like South America and the Caribbean - where the names (and pronunciations) we use are less "native" and more "colonial", but still not "English".
 
Simon Hampel said:
My son was born in Colombia and is named Andres (Spanish form of "Andrew"). We pronounce it the Spanish way with Spanish vowel sounds and rolling the r.

A lot of people in Australia have difficulty with understanding that - so we have to either anglicise it for them, or simply suggest they call him "Andy" (which is my son's preferred option).

I expect a lot of these animal names have been anglicised over the years and are often taught that way in classrooms - thus perpetuating those pronunciations.

Do you think it's more appropriate to try and use the native pronunciations for animal names where they exist?

Of course, things get far more complicated when you consider the colonial impact of the Spanish in areas like South America and the Caribbean - where the names (and pronunciations) we use are less "native" and more "colonial", but still not "English".
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That is awesome that you have that connection to Colombia !

Yes, I think it is probably the case that there has been an anglicisation of these animals names and this has ended with the perpetuation of these kinds of pronounciations.

I'm not really sure when it comes to whether the pronounciation of these animals names should be done in the indigenous way or the colonial Spanish / Portuguese way which is often a corruption of the original pronounciation. I think in theory it would be great to use the original pronounciation of these words but there could be difficulties.

I think it would basically come down to who you were talking with and in what context because with most people using the indigenous pronounciation could lead to confusion or impasses in communication.

For example, take the indigenous Nahuatl / Aztec pronounciation of the word axolotl (A-sho-lot-el) which is far more similar to the English pronounciation of the word than the common name in Spanish of "ajolote" which is a corruption of the indigenous name.

If you were to refer to the animal in conversation in Mexico using the Nahuatl pronounciation then not many people would understand what it was but if you used the Spanish corruption of the word most people would understand what was being talked about.

I think it would be the same in Colombia with tapir though of course the name "danta" is often used within that country (and much of Central America) for the animal.
 
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Simon Hampel said:
I expect a lot of these animal names have been anglicised over the years and are often taught that way in classrooms - thus perpetuating those pronunciations.

Do you think it's more appropriate to try and use the native pronunciations for animal names where they exist?
Click to expand...

This is a thing that comes up a lot in the dog world. Breeds that have been in english-speaking countries for 100+ years go by anglicized pronunciations, but ones that are fairly new outside their country of origin try to stick to the correct form. Weimaraner and Rottweiler are examples of the former; if you're American and pronounce the "w" with a "v", you sound extremely pretentious. My breed, the Ibizan hound, is stuck in the middle. We try to pronounce it correctly, with an "e" for the "i" and "th" for the "z", but it's a losing battle against people pronouncing it as it looks, or with an "s" for the z.
 
Emanuel Theodorus said:
Well the word tapir in Bahasa Indonesia is Tapir, like in English. However the way I pronounced it in bahasa Indonesia is "Tah-peer"
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That is really interesting that the word which has indigenous South American origins entered the Indonesian language to refer to your native species of tapir.

It must have been called by some other name originally though in Indonesia as the word tapir entered Spanish and English after the conquest and colonization of the Americas.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
That is really interesting that the word which has indigenous South American origin entered the Indonesian language to refer to your native tapir.

It must have been called by some other name originally though in Indonesia as the word tapir entered Spanish and English after the conquest and colonization of the Americas.
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Most likely so. The spanish conquest have invaded Indonesia for about a century, which most likely also introduced researchers to this native animals. The official Bahasa Indonesia calls it that, but in parts of Sumatra, there are several names for this creature, such as tenuk, gindol, babi alu, kuda ayer, kuda rimbu, kuda arau, marba, cipan, and sipan.
 
Emanuel Theodorus said:
Most likely so. The spanish conquest have invaded Indonesia for about a century, which most likely also introduced researchers to this native animals. The official Bahasa Indonesia calls it that, but in parts of Sumatra, there are several names for this creature, such as tenuk, gindol, babi alu, kuda ayer, kuda rimbu, kuda arau, marba, cipan, and sipan.
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Thanks for sharing !

This is fascinating stuff !
 
Tay-Peer. I wasn't even aware for the longest time there was any other way. Not that I've used any other pronunciation (unlike Zebra, which I still alternate between zee-bra and zeb-bra)
 
Hix said:
I have never, in more than 50 years, heard penguin pronounced as anything other than 'peng-gwin'.

:p

Hix
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The word comes from Welsh for "white", (gwyn), "head" , (pen), so "pen gwin" would be correct. Originally the term applied to the Great Auk but was transferred to the Southern Hemisphere birds we use it for now, (rather like the word "robin" in Europe and America).

I pronounce tapir as three syllables , tay pee yur, but am aware I'm probably incorrect. I say iguana correctly but hadn't thought to transpose the "ua" = "wah" rule to jaguar, pronouncing that as "jag you are".
 
ThylacineAlive said:
Never seen a Fiordland Crested Penwing, but I've seen many other species, for example:
Gentoo Pengwing, King Pinwin, Chinstrap Pangwig, Little Blue Pingwaa, African Pingwang, Macaroni Pingwong, and Humboldt Pigwig

:D

~Thylo:cool:
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I don't exactly know why, but I laughed really hard at this.

Also, I pronounce tapir both as the word taper and 'tay-peer', while pronouncing jaguar, iguana, and penguin as everyone else does (or, as most people do). Tamandua also depends, I bounce between the longer 'oo-a' or the 'wah' sounds at the end.

The Cassowary said:
The real question is do you pronounce emu as ee-moo or eem-yoo?
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As for this, once again it depends. Not that my dialect forces one or the other, I just never strictly stick to one, though I should probably start to...
 
I say tay-pee-air. I also pronounce guanaco as gwah-nah-coe, with the emphasis on the "gwah", but that is probably incorrect, as David Attenborough (the only person other than myself who I have heard say "guanaco" aloud), says hwah-na-coe, with the emphasis on the "na". But then again, his pronunciations are not necessarily correct (have you heard the way he says Uluru, and Thylacine!).
 
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Often I prefer to say animals in the closest manner to their language of origin. Hence, 'jag-waur' as opposed to the more common [in UK, anyways] 'jag-yoo-ar'.
Often therefore I find myself saying 'tah-pier' as opposed to 'tay-pier'.
 
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