Dafabet Northern Ireland Open

[Shockerz]

On the TV they said Mark Williams was through to the final and had made a small adjustment; anyone know whether it was to his game or cue?

[Csmith]

That's great. I didn't watch a lot of snooker in the 80s, but when we got our first all sport channel in Canada I did see Thorburn, Stevens, and Werbeniuk play a few times. When I look back at some of the tournaments in those days with 3-4 Canadians in the last 16 or even the quarter-finals I lament the fact that there is nobody on tour now.

I've lived in Poland for the last 8 years and I love the Eurosport coverage. It would be even better if I had a fellow Canuck to cheer for.

I cheer for Marco Fu. He may represent Hong Kong, but I think he has a dual citizenship to Canada which works for me!

[Odrl]

Very much looking forward to Yan Bingtao against Lyu Haotian tonight. I have followed their progress quite keenly for a number of years now, and it's nice to see both of them doing well this week. Yan has had a remarkably good start to his professional career and already looks like a title contender in only his second season, while Lyu has struggled more than I expected, but we're starting to see more of him at venues lately. Obviously Yan is the favourite tonight, but I think it will be good for Lyu to play against another Chinese youngster rather than a Selby or an O'Sullivan. :smile:

I find it a little weird how the English-speaking commentators pronounce his name though. The syllable "tian" in Haotian should be similar to the one in Tian Pengfei, but for some reason the commentators like to introduce a "sh" sound to it, kind of like in the word Shanghai. Coming from a country where a Slavic language is spoken, the concept of pronouncing the same syllable completely differently in two separate words feels a little foreign to me.

I think the English-speaking commentators are the worst offenders in general when it comes to butchering names from other countries. You can see this in sports such as cycling, where the competition is very diverse in terms of countries. Rarely do the commentators even make an effort to pronounce things correctly, mainly they just pretend as if everything is an English name and pronounce it accordingly. It's a good laugh sometimes, but also a little lazy when you think about it. :wink:

[Stony152]

I cheer for Marco Fu. He may represent Hong Kong, but I think he has a dual citizenship to Canada which works for me!

That's true. I believe he mostly grew up in Canada and learned to play snooker there. I think the problem now is that kids growing up first trying 8 ball or 9 ball because most pool halls have smaller tables with larger pockets. Snooker is so difficult, that it can be really frustrating for recreational players.

I think the other factor is American culture and TV. Snooker is pretty much unknown in the US and Canadians tend to follow what's popular there. These days, unlike in the 1980s, you never see snooker or darts on Canadian TV. I'm just thankful for Eurosport and YouTube.

[vmax]

On the TV they said Mark Williams was through to the final and had made a small adjustment; anyone know whether it was to his game or cue?

Both, he's using a new/ish cue and has worked with the sightright system to get his cue back on the line of aim. Said he had drifted off the line over the past few years.

[JimMalone]

Very much looking forward to Yan Bingtao against Lyu Haotian tonight. I have followed their progress quite keenly for a number of years now, and it's nice to see both of them doing well this week. Yan has had a remarkably good start to his professional career and already looks like a title contender in only his second season, while Lyu has struggled more than I expected, but we're starting to see more of him at venues lately. Obviously Yan is the favourite tonight, but I think it will be good for Lyu to play against another Chinese youngster rather than a Selby or an O'Sullivan. :smile:

I find it a little weird how the English-speaking commentators pronounce his name though. The syllable "tian" in Haotian should be similar to the one in Tian Pengfei, but for some reason the commentators like to introduce a "sh" sound to it, kind of like in the word Shanghai. Coming from a country where a Slavic language is spoken, the concept of pronouncing the same syllable completely differently in two separate words feels a little foreign to me.

I think the English-speaking commentators are the worst offenders in general when it comes to butchering names from other countries. You can see this in sports such as cycling, where the competition is very diverse in terms of countries. Rarely do the commentators even make an effort to pronounce things correctly, mainly they just pretend as if everything is an English name and pronounce it accordingly. It's a good laugh sometimes, but also a little lazy when you think about it. :wink:

I'm not an expert about languages, but in Chinese it's very much about the accentuation. When I was in China they told me I shouldn't even try to pronounce a word if I wanted to go to a specific place by taxi, but had to show the driver written this place on a card, cause I would certainly pronounce it wrong.

Words that seem the same (in the english translation) can have a totally different meaning if pronounced differently. It has to do much with the symbols of their language. I know from Japanese that words or names that seem the same to us cause they have the same translation can be written with totally different symbols (for example in Haruki Murakamis novels in the german version there is sometimes explained when it matters that a characters name is written with this and this signs) I guess this will be true for Chinese as well.

[Stony152]

I think the English-speaking commentators are the worst offenders in general when it comes to butchering names from other countries. You can see this in sports such as cycling, where the competition is very diverse in terms of countries. Rarely do the commentators even make an effort to pronounce things correctly, mainly they just pretend as if everything is an English name and pronounce it accordingly. It's a good laugh sometimes, but also a little lazy when you think about it. :wink:

I mostly agree with you, but the butchering of names runs both ways. I live in Poland, speak fluent Polish, and watch a lot of sports coverage in that language. (I have the option of watching Eurosport in English) Polish commentators are just as lazy and completely mispronounce English names. The weird thing is that there seems to be no pattern to what is pronounced reasonably correctly and what is pronounced as if it were part of a Polish word. It drives me bananas, but my Polish friends only know that something is wrong because I've told them.

Wayne Rooney - Wayne is said correctly, but Rooney is Roo-nay
John Higgins - is John Hee-geens

Most foreigners pronounce the letter "i" the way it is pronounced in their native language so Manchester City becomes Manchester See-tee and Sydney becomes Syd-nay. The most annoying for me as a snooker fan is the way that the Polish commentators say "kick" They call it a "keek" Hopefully the new chalk will eradicate kicks so I don't have to hear that any more.

Now Lisowski is a Polish surname which his family as Anglicized. It should be Lee-sovski.

Murphy is basically unpronounceable for a native Polish speaker.

[DeanH]

On the TV they said Mark Williams was through to the final and had made a small adjustment; anyone know whether it was to his game or cue?

Both, he's using a new/ish cue and has worked with the sightright system to get his cue back on the line of aim. Said he had drifted off the line over the past few years.

I think when he played with that Acuerate cue it ruined his alignment.

[Stony152]

I instantly recognize the voices of Johnson, Hallett, Foulds, McManus, O'Sullivan, or White. But when it comes to Studd and Hendon I still really don't know for certain which one it is, even after having heard them on Eurosport for a long time. Am I the only one?

[DeanH]

Murphy is basically unpronounceable for a native Polish speaker.

Go on, phonetically, how would that go? :biggrin:

Wayne Rooney - Wayne is said correctly, but Rooney is Roo-nay

Reminds me of that African football commentator when Rooney scored in the world cup

[DeanH]

I instantly recognize the voices of Johnson, Hallett, Foulds, McManus, O'Sullivan, or White. But when it comes to Studd and Hendon I still really don't know for certain which one it is, even after having heard them on Eurosport for a long time. Am I the only one?

No, same here

[jonny66]

"ti" in the middle of an English word is generally pronounced "shh". lotion, potion, commotion, whereas a T is usually a hard T if it's at the beginning of a word. English is a mongrel language and borrows spelling systems from it's parent languages, so it's just a mess really and it confuses the **** out of almost everyone who learns it as a second language.

Anyway, back to snooker and I really like this referee, I'd like to help her re-spot the pink

[Stony152]

Go on, phonetically, how would that go? :biggrin:

Murphy and even more so Murray are very difficult if you're not a native English speaker.

For Murray, Polish people people would say something like Moo-rye if they tried to use strict Polish pronunciation rules. or More common is Mah-ray, which is just as wrong and annoying.

[Stony152]

No, same here

I feel better now. Thanks. Some people say say that John and Patrick McEnroe sound exactly the same, but I instantly know which one it is. But these two guys............... I think it's Studd right now, but I'm not 100% sure.

[Stony152]

Anyway, back to snooker and I really like this referee, I'd like to help her re-spot the pink

At the risk of sounding like an old pervert, I'd like to do that too.