# Pronounciation of Qatar **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 20, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852 "2013-12-20T22:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/1 "2013-12-20T22:19:58Z")
Is it CUT-ter or Kuhn-TAHR? I’ve always used the latter. Or is it something different? like is it pronounced exactly like guitar? or gutter? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/2 "2013-12-20T22:27:17Z")
Really, it’s kind of in between. But the common “ka-TAAAAAR” goes way too far, which is why it’s swung back to “cutter”. ---
**Author:** ![Cerealbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Cerealbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerealbox)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/3 "2013-12-20T22:39:21Z")
I’ve been told that the proper English pronunciation should probably be guitar. However, in reality the q is [this sound](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_uvular_stop), but the guitarians are very particular about the precise amount of phlegm and croak you have to produce in order for it to be the correct consonant. ---
**Author:** ![krunen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@krunen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krunen)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/4 "2013-12-20T22:47:16Z")
Isn’t it more like KAH-tar? With the K pronounced with the tongue as far back as you can. Trying to explain foreign sounds with English is of course almost hopeless. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/5 "2013-12-20T22:50:23Z")
I hear the question is muddied by the fact that G-like sounds are pronounced unusually in this immediate region relative to the rest of the Arab world. That is, the answer depends in whether you ask an average Arab or a person from Qatar. ---
**Author:** ![krunen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@krunen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krunen)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/6 "2013-12-20T22:55:53Z")
You’re correct, Wikipedia says: In Standard Arabic, the name is pronounced [qtr], while in the local dialect it is [itar]. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/7 "2013-12-21T00:49:25Z")
> [@krunen](#): > > Isn’t it more like KAH-tar? With the K pronounced with the tongue as far back as you can. . . . That’s my vote. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/8 "2013-12-21T01:06:45Z")
Until the last month or so, I always said kuh TAR. After hearing news people as recently as tonight, it’s cutter. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/9 "2013-12-21T03:22:11Z")
On the various Olympics broadcasts, during the parade of nations, it’s always pronounced “cutter”. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/10 "2013-12-21T03:23:37Z")
My 7th grade history teacher called it KAY-tar, so that’s what it is in my head. Never knew there was any other way to pronounce it until now. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/11 "2013-12-21T03:28:40Z")
I’m content to stick to the typical American mispronunciation, option 1 in the poll. Get back to me when we start calling Moscow MoskVA and St. Petersburg Sankt-Peterburg. What amuses me is the person on Diane Rehms’s show who has (one assumes) flawless Arabic pronunciation, and thus (I imagine) takes great pride in pronouncing Al-Qaeda as “Al-\aeda”. I think they do the same thing with \atar. ---
**Author:** ![Cerealbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Cerealbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerealbox)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/12 "2013-12-21T03:34:42Z")
Is there something going on in the news I should be aware of? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/13 "2013-12-21T03:59:36Z")
Ka-TAR. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/14 "2013-12-21T04:12:47Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Ka-TAR. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/15 "2013-12-21T04:28:19Z")
It’s one of those sounds that doesn’t really exist in English (like how Japanese speakers can’t pronounce an English “r” quite right, because their language doesn’t have that sound). [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar)has some approximations as sound files, but obviously not a native speaker of the language. Really, as long as you’re not saying “kwa-ter” they’ll probably appreciate that you at least tried. Surely we’ve got at least one member here that lives in that general area (an American roughneck in Dubai or a soldier in Iraq would be close enough to at least get the gist of it) and can ask a local to say it into a mic. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/16 "2013-12-21T04:55:08Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Yep. Sounds Klingon to me!\* :dubious: \*Ka-TAR, not “Yep.” ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/17 "2013-12-21T06:15:10Z")
I used to pronounce it ka-Tar, but having spent a lot of time in region, I hear it pronounced cutter. It still sounds off to me. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/18 "2013-12-22T03:18:59Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > My 7th grade history teacher called it KAY-tar, so that’s what it is in my head. Never knew there was any other way to pronounce it until now. My 9th grade history teacher pronounced Djibouti as “DAY-zhee-BOO-dee.” What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/19 "2013-12-22T05:03:20Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > My 9th grade history teacher pronounced Djibouti as “DAY-zhee-BOO-dee.” What do I win? A class action lawsuit against your school district? ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852/20 "2013-12-22T06:08:09Z")
I voted “Kuh-TAHR”, but I really pronounce it closer to “guitar” with more of a K subbing in the for the softer (even though nominally hard) G. The emphasis is still on the last syllable, but it’s not the expansive emphasis that seems more common. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-qatar/676852.md?page=2)