what is the correct way to pronounce Budapest?
 

I hear people say<BR><BR>Budapesht<BR><BR>is that more correct?<BR><BR>I have also heard people pronounce Istanbul<BR><BR>Ishtanbul<BR><BR>is this ok? or not..<BR><BR>many thanks

/budapesht/ is how it's pronounced in Hungarian, but I'm not sure it makes any more sense to say it that way in English than it would to say /paree/ instead of /paris/. /ishtanbul/ is not correct in either English or Turkish.

In Hungarian "s" has a "sh" sound.<BR><BR>Budapesht is correct.<BR><BR>Don't know about Istanbul.

After visiting Seville, I sometimes would mention that city and have someone say, "you mean, Suh-vee-yah". I've known English speaking people to talk about what they did in "Paree". All of these seem like rather strange affectations. To me, if you are American or if you speak English, when you are speaking English you pronounce the name of the city in English. So why would you say "Budaphest" just because that's how it's pronounced in the native language?

Patrick!<BR><BR>Your point of view is fine provided you don't expect foreign people to pronounce American place names the way you do.

For starters, how about Tucson, AZ; Worcester, MA; La Jolla, CA?

Budapesht is how the hungarians say it. <BR>Regards from Vienna<BR>Silvia

You are right, Harzer. I live in Naples, Florida and we get a lot of Italian visitors here. When they are speaking Italian I usually hear them call our town Napoli, which is fine with me. But when they are speaking English, they usually change to "Naples". Same thing for us. If I'm in Paris and speaking in French I'd probably say "Paree", but if I'm speaking in English, why would I pick out that one word and say it "in French"?

Patrick, I agree with you one hundred percent.

I think Silvia might be able to confirm this, but when I was in Hungary I heard the city pronounced Bood-ah'-pesht with the accent on the "ah" sound.

I believe stress in Hungarian is always on the first syllable.