
CNN
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The pronunciation of Qatar, a small country on the Arabian Peninsula jutting into the Persian Gulf, is a no-brainer for Arabic speakers and speakers of similar languages. However, to English speakers, it is literally one tricky letter after another. That’s because even the word Qatar is a Romanized version of the original Arabic قطر , which means each letter isn’t exactly as it seems. Let’s try our best to figure it out.
American English speakers will typically say “kuh-TAR,” with the stress on the second syllable, which sounds like the word “tar.”
British English speakers add an “a” sound more equivalent to “cat,” and give more…