NPR correspondent?

[Johnny L.A.]

What is the name of the NPR correspondent whose name sounds like 'Duwahili Sykautau'?

[Erdosain]

Her name is Doualy Xaykaothao (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102828890).

That's a new one for the list of unusual names.

[Johnny L.A.]

Wow. No wonder I couldn't find it!

Now... Off to look up Cloudy O'Sanchez. ;)

[Onomatopoeia]

Her name is Doualy Xaykaothao (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102828890).

That's a new one for the list of unusual names.Hah! So that's how she spells it! It's shallow, I know, but I always listen to her reports hoping to get a feel for how she spells her name based on how she pronounces it. She says "Dwah-Lee", and she aspirates the 'h', so I'm not clear how one gets Doualy from that. Oh well.

Doualy's voice has an easy tone and delivery I could listen to all day, much better than another NPR correspondent of Asian descent, Luisa - I twy, but I can't pwonounce my Ahs - Lim.

[Onomatopoeia]

Correction - It's actually Louisa - Bwitish Constabulawy - Lim, not Luisa.

[WordMan]

That's a cool name, but the name I love is Ofeibea Quist-Arcton (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4513318) - it just sounds so exotic and cool, especially when she ends her piece with her name and "Dakar" - but she says it all dramatic "da-Kaaaahhhh"

And I have a huge crush on Sylvia Poggioli (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101034), based on her voice alone. She means business - she has that Christiane Amanpour "I have forgotten more about journalism than you will ever remember" kind of authority in her reporting...

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

Now... Off to look up Cloudy O'Sanchez. ;)I just about busted a gut - thanks.

(Tuesday I was wondering how to address my neighbor Claudia - who is from Nicaragua. Do I just anglicize it, or go for it and try to pronounce it as she does, and risk sounding like a really white idiot?)

[tilde]

I just about busted a gut - thanks.

(Tuesday I was wondering how to address my neighbor Claudia - who is from Nicaragua. Do I just anglicize it, or go for it and try to pronounce it as she does, and risk sounding like a really white idiot?)

Ask her what she prefers; have her help you work through the pronunciation slowly.

But a good phonetic approximation for you to practice, since you are aware of Cloudy O'Sanchez, is cl-ow-the-ah. The "DEE" is very subtle, almost a hard "THE".

[Gesturing Mildly]

That's a cool name, but the name I love is Ofeibea Quist-Arcton (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4513318) - it just sounds so exotic and cool, especially when she ends her piece with her name and "Dakar" - but she says it all dramatic "da-Kaaaahhhh"



Oh, I looooove her voice. I heard a bit recently where she was playing some board game with some little children - it was wonderful to hear her interact casually with them.

Do you all get Marketplace? There's a correspondent on there, her name sounds like Anna, or Hannah Jaffe Walsh. I can't ever hear it right, so I can't figure out how it's spelled.

[suranyi]

And I have a huge crush on Sylvia Poggioli (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101034), based on her voice alone. She means business - she has that Christiane Amanpour "I have forgotten more about journalism than you will ever remember" kind of authority in her reporting...

Ah yes, she does most of their reports from Europe, doesn't she?

[Sateryn76]

I'm always giggling at "Snick Paprikash"

I'm not even sure I know what her name is....

[Erdosain]

Do you all get Marketplace? There's a correspondent on there, her name sounds like Anna, or Hannah Jaffe Walsh. I can't ever hear it right, so I can't figure out how it's spelled.

You mean Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal? I swear they create these names in a laboratory. Anyway, you're thinking of Ina Jaffe (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100677), although I could have sworn she was Ina Jaffe-Walt or something like that.

What I want to know is why Anthony Kuhn (the correspondent in China) pronounces his last name "Key-yoon." It seems a bit of an affectation to me.

[Erdosain]

I'm always giggling at "Snick Paprikash"

I'm not even sure I know what her name is....

Snigdha Prakash. She doesn't appear to work for NPR anymore. I think part of the problem is that many of them smush their names together so you can't tell where the break is. Like Joannesilburner. I was also surprised that it's actually Ira Flatow, not Ira Plato. I don't know where I got that P from.

[DoctorJ]

You mean Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal? I swear they create these names in a laboratory. Anyway, you're thinking of Ina Jaffe (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100677), although I could have sworn she was Ina Jaffe-Walt or something like that.
Different person. Chana Joffe-Walt (http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/05/who_am_i_and_where_did_i_come.html) mostly works with the Planet Money podcast now (though she used to be on Marketplace, and may still be occasionally--I don't listen to it that much).

[Gesturing Mildly]

You mean Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal? I swear they create these names in a laboratory. Anyway, you're thinking of Ina Jaffe (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100677), although I could have sworn she was Ina Jaffe-Walt or something like that.


Yeah - that. I think there are two different people. The latter sounds younger and does more human interest stories, IMO.

I'll obviously never work for marketplace - my name is way too boring.

EDIT: NEVERMIND! Thank you DoctorJ!

[WordMan]

Ah yes, she does most of their reports from Europe, doesn't she?

Yep - based in Rome. She says "This is SYL-vyah POH-jolie" and I get a nice little shiver...

[FallenAngel]

Speaking of NPR staff, who's the female health reporter that sounds like she has a wicked case of adenoids?

[FallenAngel]

Disregard. It's Joanne Silberner.

[jsc1953]

I just about busted a gut - thanks.

(Tuesday I was wondering how to address my neighbor Claudia - who is from Nicaragua. Do I just anglicize it, or go for it and try to pronounce it as she does, and risk sounding like a really white idiot?)

If you work for the BBC, you would address her as Clod-ee-a from Nick-ar-agg-yew-a. They don't believe in Spanish, apparently.

I can't believe this thread is here, because the same random thoughts crossed my mind recently. We probably heard the same report from Dolly Kai sow chow. (There are many NPR correspondents whose names are just streams of sounds in my brain, with no clue how they look written down.)

[anu-la1979]

I think I swerve every time I hear Lakshmi Singh mispronounce her name on-air. I mean, Alfonso Guzman Lopez just straight up says his name the right way.

Then I think about how I casually mispronounce my legal name to make it easier on the Western ear and am flooded with a sense of hypocrisy. My real name is a lot harder than hers, though.

[Erdosain]

Different person. Chana Joffe-Walt (http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/05/who_am_i_and_where_did_i_come.html) mostly works with the Planet Money podcast now (though she used to be on Marketplace, and may still be occasionally--I don't listen to it that much).

There are Joffes and Jaffes? This madness must stop!

(Thanks for the clarification! I couldn't understand why Ina Jaffe-Walt wasn't coming up in Google.)

[TV time]

I have often wonder if it is mandatory when applying for a job at NPR for spell check to reject your name or you can't get a job. No wonder that they let John Edwards go. He couldn't pass the name test. Could Juan Williams be far behind?

[jsc1953]

I knew there was another one that always baffled me...Saraya Sigh Harry Nelson. Or as it's actually spelled, Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7407153).

[jsc1953]

Scanning the list has taken all the mystery and romance out of listening to NPR....now I actually have spellings in my head. Who knew it was "John Ydstie?"

[Baron Greenback]

I like Daljit Dhaliwal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daljit_Dhaliwal), who started off with the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK and is now working in the US. I like saying her name, however inexpertly. It's an unusual combination of <linguistic whatevers> for me.

[NGC2024]

Scanning the list has taken all the mystery and romance out of listening to NPR....now I actually have spellings in my head. Who knew it was "John Ydstie?"

I completely agree. I was not prepared to surrender my "Lacksh Mee Schwing" imaginings.

[Johnny L.A.]

Actually, that's one I knew how to spell! :p

[dnooman]

Wow. No wonder I couldn't find it!

Now... Off to look up Cloudy O'Sanchez. ;)

Never had you pegged as a Coheed and Cambria fan.

[Johnny L.A.]

Ar? :confused:

I thought I made it up.

[dnooman]

Ar? :confused:

I thought I made it up.

I forget how to parse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Sanchez

[rivulus]

I forget how to parse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_SanchezThen there's Mark O'Warman.

[Ferret Herder]

That's a cool name, but the name I love is Ofeibea Quist-Arcton (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4513318) - it just sounds so exotic and cool, especially when she ends her piece with her name and "Dakar" - but she says it all dramatic "da-Kaaaahhhh"
Coincidentally, yesterday's letters segment from NPR's Talk of the Nation mentioned how many listeners liked her reports and especially her signoff, and they played a clip of her doing just that. :)

[Necros]

I think I swerve every time I hear Lakshmi Singh mispronounce her name on-air.
How should it be pronounced? She's of Puerto Rican and Trinidadian ancestry, so I have no clue how it should be said...

[jsc1953]

Yeah...I would say that, technically, it's not possible to mis-pronounce one's own name.

[Ferret Herder]

BTW, at least some of the staff at NPR (http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/04/whats_your_npr_name.html) have noticed the existence of the create your own NPR name (http://liana.tumblr.com/post/95793665/your-npr-name) game.

[Kingspades]

Yep - based in Rome. She says "This is SYL-vyah POH-jolie" and I get a nice little shiver...
"And even though Sylvia Poggioli exclaims 'mama mia!' whenever she hears us say it, this is NPR: National Public Radio."

[foolsguinea]

Hah! So that's how she spells it! It's shallow, I know, but I always listen to her reports hoping to get a feel for how she spells her name based on how she pronounces it. She says "Dwah-Lee", and she aspirates the 'h', so I'm not clear how one gets Doualy from that. Oh well.Seems perfectly normal French-based orthography to me. The French spell "ou" the demivowel that sounds like "w" to us.

[Love Rhombus]

BTW, at least some of the staff at NPR (http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/04/whats_your_npr_name.html) have noticed the existence of the create your own NPR name (http://liana.tumblr.com/post/95793665/your-npr-name) game.

Oh lord, I can't! It would be worse than my porn name!