Pronounce Kamala

[HelenWheels]

apparently it is like Comma, as in a sentence and La

however we pronounce comma differently in UK
i guess it should be pronounced as they do in America rather than we would in UK?

the difficulty is she pronounces her name with an american accent we tend not to speak in american accents, the broadcasters all over both uk and US cannot seem to agree how to pronounce Kamala.

🤣 the vast majority of the English speaking world does not say rar-men, far-ther or rar-ther.

We say rah-men, fah-ther and rah-ther because we have rhotic accents. That's the point @Misthios was making.

It's not quite Kamala like Pamela and it's not quite Kamala like Harmony, but somewhere in between. It's a vowel sound not exactly commonplace in British English accents.

Dr Geoff Lindsey has a good video on YouTube about it.

Kamala is a super common Indian name. Like John or Mary. The correct pronunciation is ka-MUH-lah. Not the anglicised version or even the Brngsli version (Kamala is not a Bengali. Her heritage is Tamilian). Not every Indian name needs to be twisted and morphed into a Western variation, especially when isn't hard to pronounce at all.

I’m going to stick with her own preferred pronunciation as best I can - karma-la. If she pronounced it another way I’d try to say that.

It's a vowel sound that's completely normal in my 'British' English accent.

😄

Yes I say all of that - father is father and not faaaarrrrrther, water is water and not waaaaarrrrter.

Because I am Scottish and do not have a SE England / M25 accent. I hope you are really, really ashamed of your utter ignorance but somehow I don't think you will be.

So interesting, thanks!

I also based my answer off the Geoff Lindsay video.

It’s not about telling her how to pronounce her name, it’s coming up with an approximation that explains the way she says it for people with a different accent.

I’m learning Japanese and in a lot of resources they tell you to pronounce a (a very similar sound to the a in Kamala) as o, because they are based on US English. So you’ll see things telling you that KA sounds like the co in cot. That’s a good approximation if you’re American but not in any UK accent that I can think of.

Kamala Harris has said that her name is pronounced comma-la because she’s using that same o to ah sound approximation that just doesn’t work with UK accents.

Its an ah sound, not like the a sound in cat or pat but like the a in park or farm. Even in rhotic accents it’s that similar ah sound, but without the pronounced r (which my accent doesn’t have).

A Bengali speaker would pronounce Kamala as Kommla because Bengalis tend to pronounce the a as an o.

For Arabic speakers, it is pronounced as Kamala like Pamela as it is the female version of the male name Kamal.

I pronounce it Kah-mah-la. I don’t understand why people are putting an ‘R’ in there when there isn’t one in the name.

In non-rhotic accents (which are really common in the uk) the ar in farm or barn sounds like an ah sound. As a result, people with those accents often think of the r in a lot of common words as creating that ah sound (like in father) rather than the a sound in cat.

What is so difficult here? It is no longer an Indian name. Its an American name. It is Kamala's name & she hersrlf is of mixed heritage so her parents would have had different pronunciations to each other of many words(is a black Jamaican a westerner?) Its up to her how she pronounces it. It doesn't matter that USUK pronunciation of comma is different. Listen to what the girls are saying in this clip that was posted at the start - their pronunciation of comma is similar to British rp pronunciation of calmer or karma. Listen to the sound. Dont get hung up in tbe letters.

I'm irish and I'd say kah-mah-lah?

The difference between US v UK is vast, depending on where you come from. Comma sounds absolutely nothing like calmer in my Scottish accent! ‘Kaw-ma’ V Kammer’ 🤷🏼‍♀️ I call her ‘Kam-ala’ that’s how it sounds to my ears…

Everyone can argue about how her name should be pronounced and what is the correct one, but now I’ve heard how she pronounces it, I’ll still with that one. It’s her name, so what she says.

It's not whitesplaining to say you should take someone's preferred pronunciation over how you say it ought to be pronounced in the native language. In Hebrew, the name Sara is pronounced SAH-ra. In English, particularly American English, it's pronounced SA-ra (a like cat). Which is the correct pronunciation? The one the person uses.

If Kamala Harris goes to Tamil Nadu she can argue with locals over the pronunciation. If I'm addressing her, I'll use the one she uses.

I live in a very international area in London and there are two mothers called this in my daughter’s school. One pronounces it Kum-ulla and one to rhyme with Pamela. The latter is British Indian and is code-switching - when she speaks her native language she pronounces it differently. The other mother is Indian Tamil.

It’s no different to the Anglo-French speaker choosing when they do or don’t pronounce the ‘h’ in Hugo, but the colour of the speaker’s skin is playing with your bias.

Ah yes I like his videos I'll go and check this one out

I'm West Country and have the r thing

Yes. You pronounce her name as she pronounces it. Obviously.

Where is the R coming from ffs?!? How can it possibly be sounding like Carmel?! There is no R!!! It's Kamala as it is spelled it is pronounced!!

So. Many. Rs. <rocks in corner>

Oh God, this made me laugh @WickieRoy🤣🤣

My SIL called her daughter a French name and they pronounce it completely wrongly. But it's her name, so I go with the flow. I think I'll stick with pronouncing Kamala the same way she does herself, delightfully mangled by my Belfast accent. It'll have to do. If she tries to sue me, she won't get much in the way of financial gain😅