Friday, February 27, 2009

Wrong Pronunciation... Eastern European Surname


When Kaspersky became more visible and popular to computer users somewhere 2004, I didn't blow the chance to be part of the up-to-date users as well. Thanks to Osama Helweh, my Syrian friend for introducing it to me.

Believe it or not, by the time Kaspersky gained its popularity worldwide, it also became the most mispronounce brand in the world!

I have heard many friends (foreign and locals), pronounced it Kasper+sky, instead of Kasper+skii, perhaps 7 out of 10. Surprisingly some of them defended their pronunciation as the utmost right... Is that weird (since we are not the native speakers of that language)?

Well, to my knowledge, surnames ended with --ski, --sky, can be either Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Finnish or Polish. Eugene Kaspersky, the co-founder of Kaspersky Lab, himself is a Russian. Spelling in Russian - Евгений Касперский. If you learn Russian, you will be able to pronounce it correctly.

Listen to the right Kaspersky pronunciation: LISTEN

Eugene Kaspersky (Евгений Касперский)

There are many popular figures who hold East European surnames such as Monica Lewinsky, Dr Robert Polisky, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and last but not least movie character, Detective David Starsky in Starsky & Hutch.

Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Starsky & Hutch

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