How do you say Qatar?

jane01
By jane01

This is a topic that pops up on QL regularly. How to pronounce Qatar...the 60 minutes team who produced an episode on Qatar had the same question :

The word "Qatar" has popped up a lot in conversations at "60 Minutes" lately. And how exactly does one pronounce the name of this tiny speck of a Middle Eastern country?

Well, some of us have been pronouncing it "kuh-TAR," others have said something closer to "cutter," and still others have said "KUH-tar." One producer was even overheard calling it "gutter." Several of us just threw up our hands and added an "...or-however-you-say-it" after stating the name of the country Bob Simon visited for his report on the broadcast this week.

By nomerci• 17 Jan 2012 21:21
nomerci

Well, does it matter? Generally, countries are not called by their native names. Every language has their own name for a certain country. The same goes for Qatar. I can't see anything wrong with that.

By anonymous• 17 Jan 2012 21:05
anonymous

My work sent me on a cultural awareness program when I first arrived and they told us that it is "Cutter rhymes with Butter"

By anonymous• 17 Jan 2012 13:05
anonymous

Yes. It was called the kingdoms of ancient Canaan, which consisted of the tow rivalry sister-kingdoms, Judah and Israel. Now they just call the whole thing Israel.

By hislam• 17 Jan 2012 12:53
Rating: 4/5
hislam

I didn't catch your query.

"Qotur" mentioned in Quran means country not specifically Qatar

قطرٌ من أقطار الأرض

means one of the earth's countries / zones regardless if this is the origin of today's "Qatar" name or not.

And, No DC, it's very few countries that are mentioned in Quran clearly with its known name.

And, again NO DC, Israel as a country is not mentioned in Quran; it's Israel the prohet and his sons and people who are mentioned there.

Just a question, did they ever had a "homeland" where they settled for ages?

By s_isale• 17 Jan 2012 10:28
s_isale

DC - he is talking about proper pronunciation.

By Captain_Lost• 17 Jan 2012 10:15
Captain_Lost

DC.. He's talking about the arabic pronunciation used in Quran (In General).

And i support hislam's comment..he explained it in the best way

By anonymous• 17 Jan 2012 10:01
anonymous

ask LP !

By anonymous• 17 Jan 2012 09:41
anonymous

dph_poenja: so you saying Qatar are mentioned in the Quran /: lol seriously, I won't be surprised! lool seems every middle eastern country is mentioned in the Quran. But hey Israel is mentioned in the Quran too ^_*

By dph_poenja• 17 Jan 2012 09:36
dph_poenja

I actually don't have the privilege to often listen to locals talking. And for the times I manage to be present during a conversation, I cannot recall them pronouncing the name. However, in the arabic that is used in the Quran, the "Qa" (in Qatar) would be pronounced "Qo" with a thick "Q" and "ta" as "Tho" hence my assumption of it being pronounced Qotor. What I am missing is how "Qo" developed into "Qa" or "Ka" in the arabic spoken nowadays.

By hislam• 17 Jan 2012 09:26
hislam

...

By hislam• 17 Jan 2012 09:25
hislam

Do not hear it from locals talking in slang language

By anonymous• 17 Jan 2012 09:13
anonymous

Gutter!

By anonymous• 17 Jan 2012 08:55
anonymous

dph_poenja: Say whaa!????

By dph_poenja• 17 Jan 2012 08:49
dph_poenja

Forgive my ignorance here, I seem to be missing some link between the Quranic arabic pronunciation and the common/modern arabic pronunciation... In Quranic arabic, is it not pronounced "Qotor" or "Qotr"? I always thought this was the formal pronunciation, with people resolving to say it as Kah-tar, or Kah-tr due to many non-native tongue speakers having difficulty in pronouncing the "Q" part.

By hislam• 17 Jan 2012 08:09
Rating: 3/5
hislam

It's "Cutter" with a thick "C" from the upper inner part of your mouth.

Locally the pronounce it as "Gyttar" as the Q is replaced with G (not J) but why "y" intead of "a" as the second letter; this is something I never found out.

But definetly it's not the "Kataar" that most of the English speaking tend to call it.

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