2019 World championship qualifiers and draw

[DeanH]

Don't the commentators pronounce both of them like "cow"?

Aren't there cases where we pronounce Chinese names the same and spell them differently. Fu and Foo. Also, why do spell a name Pham? Wouldn't Fam be easier and still pronounced the same?

Never believe that commentators pronounce anything correctly
Remember when Brecel came on the scene

[JimMalone]

Never believe that commentators pronounce anything correctly
Remember when Brecel came on the scene

Chinese words are ridiculous complicate to pronounce though. When I was in China once, some local translators tried to teach me to spell some simple words and I hardly ever got it right. There are some sounds in Chinese you don't use in western languages and if you don't train them you'll never pronounce them correctly.

But yeah, commentators should at least try to get the "direction" of the pronounciation right.

[Stony152]

Duane Jones just missed about the easiest pot I've ever seen a professional player miss. Any of us would make it 9 out of 10 times and a player of his caliber would miss it once in a season. Maybe. It cost him the 6th frame.

[DeanH]

Chinese words are ridiculous complicate to pronounce though. When I was in China once, some local translators tried to teach me to spell some simple words and I hardly ever got it right. There are some sounds in Chinese you don't use in western languages and if you don't train them you'll never pronounce them correctly.

But yeah, commentators should at least try to get the "direction" of the pronounciation right.

I did Chinese at school many, many, many years ago; so have an eye/ear for the spelling/pronunciation of Chinese players.
Also handy with the Thai ones as well
Were my friend has problem pronouncing Liang!

And yes, I do think the commentators should make an effort.
Mr Fiulds and Jansson :wink:

[Mark187187]

Don't the commentators pronounce both of them like "cow"?

Aren't there cases where we pronounce Chinese names the same and spell them differently. Fu and Foo. Also, why do spell a name Pham? Wouldn't Fam be easier and still pronounced the same?

I imagine there are complex linguistic reasons behind Chinese name translations. Too complex even for snooker commentators (or people on forums who haven't researched the reasons) to understand.

[Stony152]

The whole pronunciation thing is annoying to me. I'm not much of an expert on Asian names, but pretty good with Eastern European ones.

So when I'm in Poland I'm appalled at the way that Polish commentators pronounce names from English speaking countries and when I'm in Canada it's just as bad with North American commentators and Polish and other European names.

John Heeegeeens.
David Bek-HAM
Manchester SEE-ty

The most annoying thing is that there's no rhyme or reason to it. Parts of names they try to say correctly and come close and other parts are pronounced as if they're in Polish. And nobody has been able to explain to me who decides which part to try to say correctly and which part to just give up on.

In Canada they don't realize that "w" is pronounced like "v" in quite a few European languages. Also that "j" is pronounced like the "y" in yes or sometimes like "h". Robert Lewandowski is famous enough that most commentators come close to getting it right, but typically it would be pronounced with a "w" sound and the "dow" like cow.

I could make a thousand word post on this topic, but I'm sure I've bored you all enough already.

[JimMalone]

Lyu dominates Jordan Brown even more than I would have thought and leads 8-0.

[cueman]

Duane Jones just missed about the easiest pot I've ever seen a professional player miss. Any of us would make it 9 out of 10 times and a player of his caliber would miss it once in a season. Maybe. It cost him the 6th frame.

I've seen some shockers today from a number of players. I really am watching in disbelief at some of the standard. Its embarrassing to call these professionals, I know there is pressure but to me they are never going to do anything in the game and its no wonder Ronnie calls many of them numpties.

I genuinely think the game would be a lot better with fewer tournaments and with a smaller tour.

No wonder so many players go on q school, get a decent enough draw and a best of 7 is short enough, that even a player who's just a solid match player, but not a good break builder or potter could qualify for the main tour.

[narl]

Lyu dominates Jordan Brown even more than I would have thought and leads 8-0.

Jordan Brown is usually on the end of a pumping.

[Steven G]

Good point. Maybe 128 is too many for the main tour. Reduce it down to 64 and have 2 Challenge Tours in Europe and Asia with qualifiers for some tournaments coming from there.

[Steven G]

To qualify my statement, so to speak, you are giving regular rewards for good performances in Challenge Tour events rather than a 2 year tour card for one good week at q-school.

[Stony152]

To qualify my statement, so to speak, you are giving regular rewards for good performances in Challenge Tour events rather than a 2 year tour card for one good week at q-school.

Or like in golf you could give tour cards to the top players on the two challenger tours and leave a few more for q-school. Something like four cards from the European Tour, four from the Asian Tour and two from q-school. Maybe have only the top 54 from the previous year keep their cards and add these ten to make a field of 64. If one of the top 64 passes on an event it can be topped up by those ranked 55+ the previous year.

And with so many events now you don't need two year cards. A year is plenty enough time to show if you have it or not.

[Stony152]

Even in tennis, which is much more popular than snooker and has a much deeper pool of talent, a 128 draw only happens at the four majors. Otherwise it's draws of 64, 48, or 32. Some of these players outside the top 50-60 have no business being in the top flight of the sport and just lose week after week. With challenger tours they'd taste more success and learn to win matches. I know there was some kind of challenger tour this year, but I didn't follow it too closely.

[Stony152]

Yan is starting to remind me more and more of Ding. He gives the impression that there's 1000 places he'd rather be than at a snooker table competing against his opponent. Plus he's playing like complete garbage.

[Neil Taperell]

Looks like there are going to be a few late night finishes today .