The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-07
EVEN A RUSSIAN
CAN'T SAY LWOW
His Language Has No "W," SO
Real Pronunciation Is
"LvOff."
HERES GUIDE TO SOUND
sp,oisr cgr,esso-s,no, 10 Tss srs


spsciar c9rrss vo-d,aoe 10 Tss suS
PErnoePAD. Jan 10 There II no n
n che Russian alphabet Therefore the
Russians epell Hartlepooi "Gartlepool.-
AMI call Field Marshal HIndenburg
''Gindenburg" Tn captain OF = Rus
s'an steamer which In time OF peace
plies between here and London greeted
a friend OF mine VINO had often sailed
with him IA you srs PUiug for a
gorday. ys-' Where IL your g,isbsnd7'
The Russ an alphabet also lacp- our
- and our w" Jones has 10 be speit
'pzones" williams becomes "vfiyams.-
and an American friend o. mine rsm~d
wh fren - addressed - M veefen."
Yct. IN spite OF rfsse difficulties the
Russians manage to give a very fair.
usually an exact. version OF English
proper and place names. want To
eurre-s both out % compliment 20
ebem and IN ne interest OF accuracy
also. that we should try TO turn Rus
stsn names into English more correctly
than w. DO. The reading q war news
would, IN ADDITION BE- msde easier 20
British eyes II tho narner o. Russian
piaoes IN any case ODD ioolcng could
b. pronounced 81 sight instead Of be
s ,aS j Puzzled over and gwen up as
II you were IN partnership with q Mr..
Smith and persisted IN calling him
'Smin' he might iustlaably be annoyed
II his house was called "Fernhurst."
era you always spoke Of y and spelt
70 as ''wernhurst" his opinion OF your
fsrteilirencs would not b high. That
N the way We treat Russian names,
and n the Russians DO not protest,
II IN only because they are a people
Of infinite liberation They do not. be-
ifeve me. think NOR highly Of Us or
Of our language for our slipshod Lack
% care IN this direction.
"Jwow" an Enigma.
There need be no diHiculty abou, re-
producing closely in English the sound
Of any Russian name. WHY, then. do We
spell the town which used - be called
Lernberg. BwOw? That suggests a pro-
nunclation TO rhyme with now and
Cow" The proper way to pronounce
Il IS Lvofr How "1.vOw'' ever came to
be printed 7 cannot imagine. y = spelled
with two "v's" Before a oonsonant the
Russian ~ is hard Ike ours A. the
end OF a word 90 is slightly softened and
should be represented IN English by dOu-
bic -" Whenever "w' Is used .u spell
ing Russian name Il IS wrong FOR
there Is no "w' IN Russian
We recognize this by spelling me po-
Nsh township where there has been much
hard fighting lately, lov.cz But here.
though We ret the " right W. 20
l.sF Dts.-
stan pronunciation Is Iovit"h. What the
Polish prouur glatiou rs I shall not Ven
ture 10 say No Pole will admit that
any foreigner can ever hope 70 speak
his tongue as i should be spoken. But
AZ all events 10 'his can testify hat
the Poles do not make the name o. that
place rhyme with sticks" As nearly
as may h.. they saw Loyitoh too. and
-',-s -ar I'm, ii,,-a n;.-o th-, .-:ri -
the town which W. spell Lyr"z'.t. WHY
then should not We Ana spell them
80 too
Crlcow should o' course BE- Cracot'
but that We Hrs not Nh-'v % alter W.
have sunk too deeply .u the wrong rut
Nijny-Nov Cd should BE- "Nishu.'
and n We cared for accuracy Ne should
write "Lodzh' or l.ol-cl' instead Ot
Lodz. rhym!ug with rods These
however. have become familiar. NJ
takes Map makers bro the past have
adopted local spelling without stoppiul
To ask themselyss whether the stm'
letters IN English r.uI-sented the sam,
sound as very often they do not.
Russian Says ''NoS,Na.''
II Is a pity We do not call an rore.gr
places By their right names / rrcOliec
looking ,u' or the carriage RIcdOw IN,
first time | arrived a' Warsaw and see
ing Narsava pu' up 1- the name Of the
station, and wonia Ing u / had cOm'
right Ask, an uu'-aln4d Russian 4
ne has ever been to- Moscow. he Wi
tell you he never heard 81 eaoh a pia ce
He calls b MOsEEI. / suppose long age
some traveller thought the ''v'' was
"u' and calleI II .Mascua Hence tn
French Moscou and our Mo COW
Rieff we spell rightly a. rule
though there is "a perN erse tendency q
make II Klev But we stick TO Sara to-
and Pskoy, which turns TWO soft sound
ing names 20 unnecessary harshueSs
and why We continue 10 miscill a towi
which l. both written IN nus-ian an,
pronounced Harl,on "llhsrkov" j. NOR
than / can tell
Now you tnlrE YOU have convicie'
me OF Inconsistent can see It il
your eye. said there was 10 "h
Ia the Russian a,punbct What abOu
Harkon then Well the arSt letter /
the Russian -" which can only b
represented IN English by N" bu
which is equal 10 tie scottish "ch
a. In "lo.h" The tobicro for whir
the Russlcn soldier Graves Is write
MachOrka, bur called Mahorka. with
slightly cultural sound. And. hayin
made my protest areut pronunciation
] will now turn TO another theme, tina
q tho Russian soldiers smoke.
He does not care much for cisa
rettes. and you may think ne Il RICH
when YOU hear that the cigarette
which are sent 20 the front cost onl
siT5 "a thousand Bur YOU must ltno'
that tobacco IN this form IS very chea
n Russia. and YOU must reco!lect tina
Russian cigarette - less Than ha
the size even Of the sweet 'apora|
OF America Even those which III
well 70 do smoke arr sold At about
cents hundred
Tobacco Like Bird seed.
This MahOfka. which the Russian so
der smokes iu "a very small pipe,
like bird seed TO look A., and is q
acquired taste which l personally nav
no intention Of acquiring II Is pathet
ia acc how -.uar fhe men are to y