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Kurigram

Bengali translation: কুড়িগ্রাম

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	Kurigram
Bengali translation:	কুড়িগ্রাম
Entered by:	Abu Alam

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14:31 Sep 6, 2009

The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2009-09-10 06:54:06 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)

English to Bengali translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

English term or phrase: Kurigram

Dear Colleagues, I would need the pronounciation of the name of the Bangladeshi city of Kurigram. Anybody able to send a short audio file? Would be extremely helpful for the reading of a theater play! Thank you so much!

Best -

Henning Bochert

Henning Bochert KudoZ activity Questions: 84 (1 open) (6 without valid answers) Answers: 59 Germany
Local time: 11:35

কুড়িগ্রাম

Explanation:
A proper noun. It's a northern district of Bangladesh.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2009-09-06 17:59:40 GMT)
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pronunciation:

'ku' as in ku klux klan

'ri' as in rib

'gram' as in milligram

Selected response from:

Abu Alam
Bangladesh
Local time: 16:35

Grading comment

Very helpful, thanks for the sound files, too!!!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +1

IPA: / kʊɽɪɡrɑ:m /

Moreechika

5 +1

কুড়িগ্রাম

Abu Alam

5 +1

Ku-ree-graam

Saleh Chowdhury, Ph.D.

Answers

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

kurigram Ku-ree-graam

Explanation:
I am sending you the pronunciation guide here. If you need an audio file, let me know your email address and I'll send one.

Ku - rhymes with "ku" of "kudoz"
ri - rhymes with "re" of "recycle"
gram - rhymes with "gram" or "kilogram"

Saleh Chowdhury, Ph.D.
Bangladesh
Local time: 17:35
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Bengali
PRO pts in category: 11

31 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

kurigram

কুড়িগ্রাম

Abu Alam
Bangladesh
Local time: 16:35
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Bengali
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Very helpful, thanks for the sound files, too!!!

10 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

kurigram IPA: / kʊɽɪɡrɑ:m /

Explanation:
Please find (play or download) a small mp3-file for "Kurigram" at this URL: http://www.box.net/shared/zybvijt5va . (The word is repeated once)

Kurigram is the name of a district in Bangladesh. Mr. Saleh Chowdhury is right about the pronunciation, in that :

Ku - rhymes with "ku" of "kudoz"
and
gram - rhymes with "gram" or "kilogram" (or telegraph).

But,

the 'r' in Kurigram does NOT exactly sound like the letter 'r' in English (e.g in 'Recycle'). Please notice this in the audio file. Although there is some similarity, the difference is significant too. Mr. Chowdhury or others posting replies here are not wrong -- there is simply no letter in the English alphabet that can accurately represent this sound. Pronouncing it like the English 'r' can be an easy solution for a foreigner though, unless he/she can master the correct pronunciation.

May be the 'r' in 'Kurigram' can be called some kind of an opposite of Affricate or a "palatal flap" (although the IPA symbol used for this is a retroflex flap, but in reality it seems more palatal to me) ? It begins as a palatal approximant - the back (not the tip, as in English 'r') of the tongue approaching but not exactly touching the hard palate (as opposed to the alveolar or post-alveolar 'r' in English), and then in quick succession ending as a brief plosive or flap consonant- the back of the tongue hitting the hard palate for a fraction of a second and releasing/interrupting the air gathered/flowing during the pre-flap approximant phase.

This is of course my understanding of the mechanism and not from a standard text/resource on Bengali phonetics.

Reference: http://www.box.net/shared/zybvijt5va

Moreechika
Bangladesh
Local time: 16:35
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: