Phonetic Geography

Translate these place names written in the International Phonetic Alphabet into English.

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Last updated: November 7, 2022

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First submitted	February 5, 2021
Times taken	867
Average score	75.0%
Rating	4.59
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Hint	Place	Answer
ˈdɪˈtrɔɪt	City	Detroit
ˈnɔːweɪ	Country	Norway
pɜːrθ	City	Perth
iːθɪˈəʊpɪə	Country	Ethiopia
ˈsiˈætəl	City	Seattle
ˌgwɑːtəˈmɑːlə	Country	Guatemala
beɪˈʤɪŋ	City	Beijing
ˈfɪlɪˌpiːnz	Country	Philippines
ˌbweɪnəs ˈɛəriːz	City	Buenos Aires
ˈnɛðɚləndz	Country	Netherlands

Hint	Place	Answer
ʃɪˈkɑːɡoʊ	City	Chicago
ˌbæŋgləˈdɛʃ	Country	Bangladesh
ˈhjuːstən	City	Houston
ʧɛk rɪˈpʌblɪk	Country	Czech Republic
ˈbræzəˌvɪl	City	Brazzaville
ˈdʒɝmənɪ	Country	Germany
ˈwɔːsɔː	City	Warsaw
jʊərəgwaɪ	Country	Uruguay
bɜːˈlɪn	City	Berlin
ˈaɪvəri kəʊst	Country	Ivory Coast

Level 68

Nov 1, 2022

Fun quiz! Thanks, got them all. I did a phonetics course many years ago, but I think people could figure these out?

Level 60

Nov 2, 2022

Yep, I've never learned phoenetics, but I got 14/20 by guessing some and inferring characters' sounds from the guessed ones.

Level 54

Nov 1, 2022

Fun quiz, nominated. Reminded me how much i hate the way English speaking people say foreign words.

Level 76

Nov 1, 2022

The standard pronunciation is beɪˈd͡ʒɪŋ. People who say it with the 'French j' try to sound smart but they're wrong

Level 56

Nov 1, 2022

Is that how you're supposed to pronounce Buenos Aires?? Like Buenos Aries? I've always pronounced it eye-rez. Just goes to show how much I know!

Level 63

Nov 1, 2022

You're much closer to the actual Spanish pronunciation (especially if you mean a short e in 'rez'). The English pronunciation basically depends on whether you treat it like an English word with that spelling, or whether you do the best approximation of the native pronunciation with English sounds (like "Iran" as /aɪˈɹæn/ or /ɪˈɹɑːn/).

Level 79

Nov 1, 2022

I agree that what the quiz shows is not how you are supposed to pronounce Buenos Aires. And it is a good question - whether to transcribe some of the names not as English text but as text in another language. Using Spanish generates ˈbwenos ˈajɾes, which is what JonOfKent's says.

Still, the quiz is made to be taken by English speakers and from the perspective of anglophone pronunciation, however much that distorts the native sound of the name. This makes what could be very obvious a bit more challenging, as in the example of bɛrˈliːn

Level 63

Nov 1, 2022

Fun! The non-rhotic Norway, Berlin, and (especially) Warsaw threw me off for a second.

Level 66

Nov 1, 2022

Was gonna say, sounds more British

Level 72

Nov 1, 2022

Beijing is incorrect. The second syllable is a true J sound and not a ZH sound. The phonetic spelling should be like the initial J sound in Germany. I speak Mandarin and I am also an English as a Second Language teacher, so I know the phonetic symbols well. Nice quiz! I got 100%.

Level 79

Nov 7, 2022

Agreed. Thanks Julejule & PeregrineFalcon!