So how do YOU pronounce the countries Iran and Iraq?

So how do you pronounce the countries Iran and Iraq?

I believe the correct pronunciation for "ir" is kind of like it it is spelled, not 'ee". The correct pronunciation for "an" is "ahn" and "aq" is "ahk".

What got me interested in this was years of massive irritation with Americans constantly pronouncing it "eye-ran" and "eye-rak". You cannot underestimate how irritating that is for most non-Americans. George W. Bush was your classic of this.

However, I have noticed a real shift in this since Obama came to power. More and more, Americans in the media are pronouncing it "ir-ahn" and "ir-ahk". It is especially true of John Stewart, the only American media I trust (jk).

As a side note to the specific countries mentioned, I also like hearing the media say "Puk-a-stahn" more and more.

So, how do you pronounce Iran and Iraq and give us some reasons why. I am not looking to argue, just curious as to why we pronounce as we do, even when we know we are wrong.

Iran - Merriam-Webster Pronunciation

EDIT: FOR PURPOSES OF THIS POLL - 'IR' IS ALSO THE SAME SOUND AS "E" OR "EE" as they are sounded much the same.

Ir-rahn/Eye-rak

Like an Apple product. iRan. iRaq.

@Turambar said:

Ir-rahn/Eye-rak

You bastard ......... don't make come in there and punch you.

There's not two r's, so why would I pronounce it as such? I make a gruff h sound in the back of my throat like I was coughing or saying "here" sans the "ere", followed by the customary "rahn".

@Stonyman65 said:

Like an Apple product. iRan. iRaq.

Screw it, I have an ip-od, and im-ac and I get my music from it-unes.

Eye-ran Eye-rack

I never cared before, but now I guess I'll get some sort of sick satisfaction knowing that I'm annoying someone with my bad pronunciation.

Haha, this is weird. I was googling this just yesterday. I use option C, and I can't say it's for any reason other than where I am from.

Ir-rahn

Duh.

@Stonyman65 said:

Like an Apple product. iRan. iRaq.

I remember those products!

@Turambar said:

Ir-rahn/Eye-rak

Probably what I say most of the time.

They are properly pronounced Ee-rahn and Ee-rahk.

That's how I pronounce.

They are properly pronounced Ee-rahn and Ee-rahk.

That's how I pronounce.

@PeasantAbuse said:

I never cared before, but now I guess I'll get some sort of sick satisfaction knowing that I'm annoying someone with my bad pronunciation.

It's people like you that are the reasons we can't have nice things .......... bloody contrarian.

@mandude said:

Haha, this is weird. I was googling this just yesterday. I use option C, and I can't say it's for any reason other than where I am from.

In all fairness to everyone, it does have a lot to do with your regional accent. I use the extra long "a' all the time - plah-nt, cahs-le, dahn-ce - so it is an immediate reaction to pronounce them with the extra long "a". What I find odd for me though is that Americans pronounce Mazda correctly and we don't. They say Mahz-da and we say Maz-da. If they can say Mahz-da right, why not Ir-rahn and Ir-rahk? For me, I will try to say Mahz-da.

@jakob187 said:

They are properly pronounced Ee-rahn and Ee-rahk.

That's how I pronounce.

Exactly, I was surprised this wasn't an option. But maybe because I'm Asian, that's the natural one for me.

I cringe a little when an American says Eye-rahk or Eye-Ran-So-Far-Away.

@jakob187 said:

They are properly pronounced Ee-rahn and Ee-rahk.

That's how I pronounce.

I thought about using that, but it seems to emphasise the eeee too much. It sort of is, but it is greatly contracted. That is why I went with "ir" and not "ee". My guess is we are talking about the same sound.

I've run into too many people that don't understand you when you pronounce them properly, so I use the classic redneck pronunciation of 'eye-ran' and 'eye-rack'. 
 
"Ear Ron? Oh you mean Iran."

'e/ear'-ran and 'e/ear'-rack. I used to be an 'eye'-ran and 'eye'-rack person but I thought it sounded a little hill-billy-ish of me so I stopped.

does it really matter it bother me the way people in the UK pronounce garage. really just comes down to whats acceptable in the country.

just like the diffrence in pronunciation of romeo thinking someone stupid because of an accent is just dumb.

There's not two r's, so why would I pronounce it as such? I make a gruff h sound in the back of my throat like I was coughing or saying "here" sans the "ere", followed by the customary "rahn".

@chrismafuchris said:

There's not two r's, so why would I pronounce it as such? I make a gruff h sound in the back of my throat like I was coughing or saying "here" sans the "ere", followed by the customary "rahn".

Because they're Arabic names and so they should be pronounced with respect to the language.  That back of your throat stuff is wrong for Iran, it's only appropriate for Iraq (and only softly at the end), otherwise both names have their r rolled.

That country we invaded and that country we're probably going to invade

Who give's a shit honestly.

(Also I find it humorous how people reply seriously and very angry to almost all of my posts around the sites. Do people actually think I'm to be taken serious with some of these comments?)

non of the above. I-ran/e-rahk

@Turambar said:

Ir-rahn/Eye-rak

Yup same here it's how every latin country pronounces it.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@chrismafuchris said:

There's not two r's, so why would I pronounce it as such? I make a gruff h sound in the back of my throat like I was coughing or saying "here" sans the "ere", followed by the customary "rahn".

Because they're Arabic names and so they should be pronounced with respect to the language.  That back of your throat stuff is wrong for Iran, it's only appropriate for Iraq (and only softly at the end), otherwise both names have their r rolled.

You're not one of those tools who leaves all the vowels off the ends of Italian words in situations where it's not even appropriate in Italian are you?

@JasonR86 said:

'e/ear'-ran and 'e/ear'-rack. I used to be an 'eye'-ran and 'eye'-rack person but I thought it sounded a little hill-billy-ish of me so I stopped.

This is the general attitude I take. I don't know the correct pronounciation of every word in every language, and don't pretend to. But, if I find I am doing something incorrect, I don't want to sound like a hick and I make an effort to correct myself. It doesn't make me better and I don't think it makes anyone a lesser person for the way they pronounce words (usually based on accent anyway), but I want to get it right. A classic example of that for me is the word harassment. I say harass-ment whilst all around me say ha-rass-ment. The former is the technically correct, yet I find myself being corrected.

@JasonR86 said:

'e/ear'-ran and 'e/ear'-rack. I used to be an 'eye'-ran and 'eye'-rack person but I thought it sounded a little hill-billy-ish of me so I stopped.

This is the general attitude I take. I don't know the correct pronounciation of every word in every language, and don't pretend to. But, if I find I am doing something incorrect, I don't want to sound like a hick and I make an effort to correct myself. It doesn't make me better and I don't think it makes anyone a lesser person for the way they pronounce words (usually based on accent anyway), but I want to get it right. A classic example of that for me is the word harassment. I say harass-ment whilst all around me say ha-rass-ment. The former is the technically correct, yet I find myself being corrected.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Contrarian said:

@JasonR86 said:

'e/ear'-ran and 'e/ear'-rack. I used to be an 'eye'-ran and 'eye'-rack person but I thought it sounded a little hill-billy-ish of me so I stopped.

This is the general attitude I take. I don't know the correct pronounciation of every word in every language, and don't pretend to. But, if I find I am doing something incorrect, I don't want to sound like a hick and I make an effort to correct myself. It doesn't make me better and I don't think it makes anyone a lesser person for the way they pronounce words (usually based on accent anyway), but I want to get it right. A classic example of that for me is the word harassment. I say harass-ment whilst all around me say ha-rass-ment. The former is the technically correct, yet I find myself being corrected.

Those two examples don't really correlate. One is how to pronounce a word in its native tongue and the other is how to pronounce an English language word, which can vary depending on where it's being said and in what context. They also don't relate because Iran and Iraq are countries' names while harassment is just a common language word, so it's not privy to the same measure of respect and formality that a country's name would be held to.

Your are correct, but that wasn't my intent. They were intended as two conversations contained in one. How do you pronounce Sri Lanka? I have always said Shree-Lunk-a.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Contrarian said:

@JasonR86 said:

'e/ear'-ran and 'e/ear'-rack. I used to be an 'eye'-ran and 'eye'-rack person but I thought it sounded a little hill-billy-ish of me so I stopped.

This is the general attitude I take. I don't know the correct pronounciation of every word in every language, and don't pretend to. But, if I find I am doing something incorrect, I don't want to sound like a hick and I make an effort to correct myself. It doesn't make me better and I don't think it makes anyone a lesser person for the way they pronounce words (usually based on accent anyway), but I want to get it right. A classic example of that for me is the word harassment. I say harass-ment whilst all around me say ha-rass-ment. The former is the technically correct, yet I find myself being corrected.

Those two examples don't really correlate. One is how to pronounce a word in its native tongue and the other is how to pronounce an English language word, which can vary depending on where it's being said and in what context. They also don't relate because Iran and Iraq are countries' names while harassment is just a common language word, so it's not privy to the same measure of respect and formality that a country's name would be held to.

Your are correct, but that wasn't my intent. They were intended as two conversations contained in one. How do you pronounce Sri Lanka? I have always said Shree-Lunk-a.

i don't pronounce them often, but d

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Contrarian said:

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Contrarian said:

@JasonR86 said:

'e/ear'-ran and 'e/ear'-rack. I used to be an 'eye'-ran and 'eye'-rack person but I thought it sounded a little hill-billy-ish of me so I stopped.

This is the general attitude I take. I don't know the correct pronounciation of every word in every language, and don't pretend to. But, if I find I am doing something incorrect, I don't want to sound like a hick and I make an effort to correct myself. It doesn't make me better and I don't think it makes anyone a lesser person for the way they pronounce words (usually based on accent anyway), but I want to get it right. A classic example of that for me is the word harassment. I say harass-ment whilst all around me say ha-rass-ment. The former is the technically correct, yet I find myself being corrected.

Those two examples don't really correlate. One is how to pronounce a word in its native tongue and the other is how to pronounce an English language word, which can vary depending on where it's being said and in what context. They also don't relate because Iran and Iraq are countries' names while harassment is just a common language word, so it's not privy to the same measure of respect and formality that a country's name would be held to.

Your are correct, but that wasn't my intent. They were intended as two conversations contained in one. How do you pronounce Sri Lanka? I have always said Shree-Lunk-a.

Ceylon. :P Well, I;m no expert on Sri Lanka but that's how I say it too (Ceylon was a joke, don't be calling it Ceylon to a Sri Lankan).

I live dangerously, I will try that on my one and only Sri Lankan friend. Maybe he likes British colonialism (he does live in London). It looks too much like the enemy in Battlestar Galactica.

I'm from the north of england, so I chose C.

Iraq city bitch Iraq city bitch Iraq city bitch Iraq city bitch ten ten ten ten twenties on yo titties bitch

bottom one, but I pronounce USA in the german alphabet because it's way better sounding

(ooh ess aah I believe)

Iran is long E with an AH and Iraq is long A with an AH and you sort of swallow a K at the end.

@CookieMonster said:

I'm from the north of england, so I chose C.

England has so many variations of accent .......for such a small country. How "odd" does it feel to force ourself to say it differently?

@PeasantAbuse said:

Eye-ran Eye-rack

I never cared before, but now I guess I'll get some sort of sick satisfaction knowing that I'm annoying someone with my bad pronunciation.

:D

Haha, I came here to post the same thing.

I haven't ever used them so I don't know. But I get it when others do.

@Contrarian said:

It is especially true of John Stewart, the only American media I trust (jk).

You shouldn't joke about stuff like that. He and Colbert are the only trustworthy ones left since Cronkite died.

Pronounce them both with an "eye" followed by a derogatory statement against them thar Muzlims and finish off with a good ol "hyuk hyuk".

Usually I try to pronounce them using option D / the most accurate way I currently know.

A.

i prounounce it  ee-rahn , probably wrong but my spanish accent makes me say it that way.

@eugenesaxe said:

@Contrarian said:

It is especially true of John Stewart, the only American media I trust (jk).

You shouldn't joke about stuff like that. He and Colbert are the only trustworthy ones left since Cronkite died.

I say joke, but I am serious. I can only get CNN and Fox on cable here (I mean for American news), although I do get PBS and that generally seems balanced when I watched it. If not for John and Stephen (are there really people who believe Stephen is real?), I wouldn't even know of the likes of Hannity & O'Reilly. I watched bits of them to see what the fuss was about and man, they are truly, truly awful. It isn't news, it is flat out biased and obnoxious opinion. Facts can never be replaced by opinion.

I get my unbiased news from the most ironic of places, government run BBC and (Australian) ABC. They have a charter where they are not allowed to show bias. They must give relative equal time to different views. John gives me the laughs I really want, but he is so utterly accurate in his barbs at not only the Republicans, although they cop the most at the moment and deservingly so. I stopped reading my daily Murdoch paper 3 years ago and I have no intention of giving him my money again.

@Marz said:

i prounounce it ee-rahn , probably wrong but my spanish accent makes me say it that way.

But I bet you sound delightful with your wonderful accent. Like I said before, "ee" and "ir" is much the same sound, unless you overly accentuate and lengthen it. It is completely different to "eye".

I pronounce it correctly, but I find the response to mispronunciation to be a bit overdone.

I have several international friends who roll the "R" in "America," and I feel no need to correct them as it's part of their original tongue; in American English, the letter "I" proceeding a consonant is usually pronounced as "IY," as in "Ibex" and "Italic."

I will punch anyone who pronounces "Italian" as "IY-talian," however.

Eye-ran and Eye-rack generally. Still, I try to use the Ir-rahn and Ir-rahk pronunciations as much as possible

@mlarrabee said:

I will punch anyone who pronounces "Italian" as "IY-talian," however.

The term ii-ties is generally a racist term in our parts. I hate hearing chav English people use it -as an insult really.

A: eye-rak and eye rahn.

@Contrarian said:

@CookieMonster said:

I'm from the north of england, so I chose C.

England has so many variations of accent .......for such a small country. How "odd" does it feel to force ourself to say it differently?

I wouldn't say I find it "odd", or force myself to say it differently. It comes natural to me. The only thing is I find people from the south to be too posh-sounding, and sometimes they can't pick up what I'm saying, but thats expected really.

And by south I mean 'south of birmingham'.

I usually try to avoid those words.