Since the 2018 FIFA
World Cup kicked off, the country's name, Croatia, has been wrongly
pronounced by a good number of persons in this part of the world. Such
mispronunciation became very common among Nigerians due to the Super Eagles' 0 –
2 loss to Croatia in their opening match of Russia 2018. While some (in course
of explaining the outcome of the match to their friends) pronounced
the country's name as "Cru-shia", others confidently (or perhaps
ignorantly) pronounced it as "Co-ro-shia". That really amused and
amazed me so I decided to write this article.
Croatia is a country in
Europe, with the official name, Republic of Croatia. As a word, it
consists of three syllables and is transcribed /krəʊˈeɪʃə/. From its
transcription, Croatia is pronounced "kro-a-sia". It is just like
pronouncing "kro" and "asia" together. Please, note that
the "o" in "kro" is pronounced "o" (just like the
"o" sound in "go"). It is not pronounced "or".
Having read this, you
should be confident to pronounce Croatia as
"kro-a-sia" when they meet with Argentina to sort out of things.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the football
lovers and responsible daddies.