Considering it’s one of the most visited cities in the world, you’d think most people know how to pronounce Dubai, right?…WRONG.
Apparently, a majority of us have been mispronouncing it this whole time, and the same goes for a whole host of well-known words.
Most English speakers pronounce Dubai “doo-BYE” – but this is actually wrong (WHAAAAAT!?)
The classic Arabic version of Dubai replaces the “bye” sound with “bay”, making it “doo-BAY”.
One local resident took to social media platform Quora to explain the difference.
They said: “As someone who was born in that city and lived there for 17 years, the English pronunciation is duːˈbaɪ (like doo-BYE) with the stress on the last syllable.
“However, in Arabic, it is dʊˈbɑj (more like Duh-bae) – the “d” sound is softer (like “d” in Italian for example – not as plosive as English).” (WOW)
85 per cent of Dubai’s population comprises expatriates and immigrants, so the anglicised pronunciation of Dubai (“doo-BYE”) is the most common.
Credit: Expedia
Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news
