You may say potato and I may say po-taw-tow, but, most likely, we're both native English speakers.
Try doing the tomato/to-maw-tow thing with a native foreign speaker - and you'll see why TV-types can't seem to agree on how to pronounce the name of this city, host of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games."When we try to pronounce words in a foreign language, it sounds like we're speaking a foreign language," says Ken White wryly. "We're a little hesitant to do that. We have to put ourselves out on a limb."
White knows of what he speaks.
A native English speaker, he holds a bachelor's degree in Russian, a master's degree in Japanese and has just about completed his doctorate in Buddhist studies. That's not enough? Well, he also speaks Chinese, Korean and Navajo. Just for good measure, he's also studied Sanskrit.
To White, an American who now makes his home in Nagano, the Tower of Babel was a significant event in human history. He loves language.
So it is with some authority that he deals with the "How do you pronounce Nagano?" question.
But having it explained and putting it into practice are two different things. (And if you think putting it into practice is difficult, try putting it into print.)
English-speaking Americans generally have two strikes against them in the Nagano pronunciation battle. The first is emphasis on syllables. The second is vowel sounds.
So let's go back to potato and po-taw-tow.
In that old song, the vowels may take different sounds, but the syllables are emphasized the same. When Americans say Nagano, they naturally put an emphasis on the second syllable.
In Japanese, syllables receive no emphasis.
"You have to say it flat." In fact, "if you say it in a monotone way, that will help," White says.
So, to correctly pronounce Nagano, the first thing to do is de-emphasize the second syllable.
"That's a start," White says.
The second part sounds easy, but seems to give Yanks an equally difficult time.
In Japanese, White explains, the vowel "a" can make only one sound: "aw". So the "a" after the first "n" in Nagano has exactly the same sound as the "a" after the "g". Got that?
Naw-gaw-no. Say it flat, with out emphasis and make sure those "a's" say "aw" - and you've got it.
After that potato and tomato are, well, a piece of cake.