Jul. 17th, 2012

theweaselking: (Default)
I've got a pronunciation question for you, and my normal go-to guy for Arabic is offline.

I've been playing Arkham City because Valve has broken me and I am a sad person. There is a villain whose name is spelled "Ra's al Ghul". It's supposed to be Arabic for "the head of the demon". Liam Neeson played him in the movie.

Liam Neeson, who is a god in at least two religions, pronounced the name "Raz" - one syllable, soft a, same sound as "raspberry". In some scenes with other characters it was "Roz", same as "Rosalyn".

Arkham City pronounces it as "Raish" - hard A like Amos, s with a definite shh sound.

My question for you, Arabic speaker: If you had to say "head of the demon", what would it be? And if it was "Ra's al Ghul", how would you pronounce the first word?

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