How Do You Pronounce 'Maldives'? Why It Matters.

Have you noticed The Maldives is in the news a lot lately?

How to YOU pronounce it?

I used to pronounce it ‘incorrectly’. I hear really smart and senior news people pronouncing it the same way I used to pronounce it – Mal-dives (with Dive pronounced like Drive). I’m guessing it’s a ‘generational thing’ on how we were taught to say place names like The Maldives.

These days, it’s easy to access resources on how to pronounce names (including place names) correctly. I recommend the ABC Pronounce guide

According to ABC pronounce (and other resources) The Maldives is NOT pronounced MAL-dye-ves.

Mal (as in Malcolm) Dives (like drives).

The correct way is more like the MOL-deevs

The Mal is pronounce more like Mol or Mawl.

The Dives is pronounced like deevs.

What do you do if the reporter has already pronounced it incorrectly in the recorded package – yet the newsreader knows the correct pronunciation? Do you aim for correctness or consistency?

In my opinion, from working in news and now teaching at a university:

1. if a place is going to be in the news a lot, spread the message across the newsroom how to pronounce the name correctly.
2. Be aware that many senior staff (over 40) were probably educated at school on out-of-date and incorrect ways to pronounce names. Dare to update senior workers on how to pronounce place names.
3. If the reporter has already mispronounced the name and the newsreader pronounces it correctly and you can’t change the reporter pronunciation, tolerate the inconsistency (because there are probably more urgent matters to correct in getting the bulletin to air. Try to prevent the mistake in future stories/bulletins.

My main point is that more senior staff were possibly educated at a different time and they may pronounce place names incorrectly. (They may also think their way is the correct way)

Dare to keep staff updated on correct pronunciation. If they get it wrong – dare to inform them of the correct pronunciation.

As a young radio newsreader in the US, I was always told by my bosses if my Australian/British way of pronouncing words was wrong for the audience – words like aluminum, jaguar, Nicaragua.

Bosses took the time to try to stop mistakes happening again. (Nicaragua was big in the news back then!)

One last point. Your audience DOES care about how you pronounce local suburb names.

Nothing marks a reporter as an ‘outsider’ (a ‘blow-in)’ or out of touch was mispronouncing a local suburb name.

Reporters often move around stations, so it’s important to inform them about how to pronounce (and spell) local suburbs.

In broadcast media (with audio) pronunciation is important.

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