Two words for Rob Hatch, stop it with the pronunciations it is so jarring ,my pet hate is Gaannaaa and Barrheraaan, every co-commentator manages to get by talking normally, I love Sean Kellys insights and i would pay money to listen to Brad Wiggins, hell it even makes me nostalgic for Carlton" Quite Frankly " Kirby so please less of Rob and more of Sean, Adam, Carlton.
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When they first started showing the Vuelta in the States when Heras was riding for US Postal, there were a huge number of Basque riders in the peloton. Liggett hilariously just gave up trying to pronounce Gorka Gerrikagoitia and Gorka Arrizabalaga and instead referred to them as the riders with “the err... rather large Basque name.”
I’m honestly worried for Sean Kelly each time he starts talking. He talks like he’s about to have a stroke any second...
He was surely close to have one after seeing this today:
Complaining about Rob Hatch pronouncing riders' names correctly is the equivalent of British holidaymakers complaining when people in France speak to them in French.
“The pizza in Naples isn’t as tasty as wot my local Domino’s does, innit?”
I saw a YouTube interview with Hatch where he explained that he was studying linguistics in college, and that led to him getting the job with Eurosport. With that background, you can probably understand what it might be a point of pride to pronounce as many people, places and things as accurately as possible.
Yep. Derrick Rae who does lots of footy including the FIFA franchise had a great piece on why he goes out of his way to learn how to properly pronounce peoples names. No surprises that a certain demographic hates the notion despite the fact that it's clearly the correct and respectful way to do something.
A good listen on pronunciation for a 10 mins or so from around 28mins for anyone who might be interested: https://podfollow.com/1395236879/episode/93ff877211a8308af660b1245cfcac817881d9fc/view
(i mean i found the whole pod great but appreciate not everyone is into football commentary
)Yes, I've already mentioned Derek Rae, of ESPN; we really need more like them - instead of the ignorants, most UK commentators are.
People complaining Hatch pronounces names and towns correctly are the same people that probably complain about how americans pronounce Birmingham as "Birming HAM" rather than "Birmingum"
My favourite is his pronounciation of Poggia-Car. It wouldn't be so weird if he was some unknown quantityin the peloton but he's been calling him that even after Pogacar won TDF. He doesn't seem to be too arrogant to care though - it really looks like he's just on the opposite side of the linguistical talent spectrum than Hatch.
To me it is more like people complaining about British holidaymakers speaking English with a French accent to make the French understand them.
Personally I find it a little pretentious and it grates, we all say Paree Neece when we talk about the bike race but how many of us actually use a French accent unless we are talking to a French person? Rob hatch talks about Milan, he doesn't say Milano afaik.
Kelly's accent and pronunciation are so odd that it has kinda taken on a life of its own. The rural Irish accent isn't really designed to speak English properly never mind other languages.
If he can't do the pronunciation correctly it's probably better not to try than to sound like the Dolmio guy
C'mon - you can understand who he is talking about. Don't be mean.
I do remember coming home for California and seeing two guys fighting the Boldy climb hoping Pogačar would be one of them.
That commentator really used all of his imagination with his name. I was like: ok, I see it is Tadej, who is the guy talking about?
Big Doopie
BANNED
i cannot fathom how Kelly can call the people of Belgium: "Belgiums".
didn't he effin' live there!?
almost as bad as americans who call the famous tennis tournament: "Wimbleton" (as in town of wimble)...
and if I have to hear once more from Kelly that some aspect of the race is "an interesting one"...
didn't he effin' live there!?
almost as bad as americans who call the famous tennis tournament: "Wimbleton" (as in town of wimble)...
and if I have to hear once more from Kelly that some aspect of the race is "an interesting one"...
Does he not call the people of Belgium "Belgians" with an "n" not "m" ? I haven't really listened but Belgiums would be the completely wrong word
Armchair cyclist
Moderator
Kelly is quite prone to transposing syllables: Castorveggio for Castroviejo being the one I notice most. If he were one of my pupils, I would be inclined to refer him for testing for dyslexia.
His appalling attempts at Spanish names always seem to me to be at odds with one of his personal linguistic idioms: phrases like "He cannot support the hot weather" is not a use of 'support' I have ever come across in English, but seems to be based on the Spanish 'soportar'.
His appalling attempts at Spanish names always seem to me to be at odds with one of his personal linguistic idioms: phrases like "He cannot support the hot weather" is not a use of 'support' I have ever come across in English, but seems to be based on the Spanish 'soportar'.
The French use "supporter" the same way, IIRC (it's been a long time since I spoke French to somebody).
Kelly's commentary is peppered with phrases like that which must have come from speaking foreign languages.
Also to go back to the previous post and the
"how Kelly can call the people of Belgium: "Belgiums".
didn't he effin' live there"
No one who lived there would have called them Belgiums or Belgians when living there they would say Belgen or Belges in the language of the people who effin live there
I believe he learnt from David Duffield, who as likeable as he was still struggled to speak coherently in English at times. For those unaware of this legendary commentator, there are some examples of his delightful turns of phrase here - https://bikesy.co.uk/features/david-duffield/the-original-duffieldisms/
As for Rob Hatch, it's refreshing to hear people saying names as they are meant to be said rather than an anglicised approximation of them.
You love Sean Kelly’s insights?!? The guy says nothing of value. He just muddled around and then ends up saying the most Captain Obvious thing in the world. I get he was a great cyclist but as commentator he’s atrocious.
Kelly may state the obvious at times, but his predictions are generally right.
Anyway I don't really care, I'm not having to listen to CK which to me is absolute bliss.
I think that the more people who moan about his pronunciation, the further Hatch will go. I think I saw a quote somewhere about him equating such criticism with the Brexit mentality and indeed went on a mild rant the other day when riders were cross-crossing between Italy and Slovenia about how great it was not to have borders in Europe.
Rob Hatch.......... Yes. I was interested to see this thread. His commentating style is something that has bothered. me for a while too. I totally get that he wants to pronounce everything correctly but can't help agreeing with some of the posters here. It is very difficult to get who or where he is talking about sometimes. I remember tuning into Eurosport mid race a while back. I'm a fan but not so knowledgable as to always know exactly which race is on every weekend and while trying to work it out I kept hearing Mr Hatch going on all the time about what sounded like Cornwall.........I didn't know where the race was but I knew it absolutely wasn't in the west country of England . Maybe the mountains and the large lake should have given it away sooner but it later dawned on me that this highly accented word was actually Como and the race was the the Tour of Lombardy.
So in my opinion it's not just the the way he says things, it's more the very, very heavy accents that he applies. The way he says "David Gaudu" can really start to annoy after a long break away that contains the talented french rider. GorDUUUU , GorDUUUU, GorDUUUUUUUUUUU...... Please!!!
However, what really strikes me as quite strange is that Rob himself would naturally speak with a strong Yorkshire dialect. One that he has decided is not for the ears of the general public when it comes to commentating. So he puts on a different way of speaking for us. I think that is a bit odd especially when you consider that he is often co-commentating with Sean Kelly. Sean has a strong Irish accent which I love and despite the strength is perfectly easy to understand. What is even stranger is that on the odd occasion Rob is a guest on the studio sofa or included in a podcast for example he reverts to his normal Yorkshire accent. Why does he feel it necessary to commentate in his best BBC ( Eurosport) English but deem that not appropriate for the sofa? Weird!....... Schizophrenic some might say.
So in my opinion it's not just the the way he says things, it's more the very, very heavy accents that he applies. The way he says "David Gaudu" can really start to annoy after a long break away that contains the talented french rider. GorDUUUU , GorDUUUU, GorDUUUUUUUUUUU...... Please!!!
However, what really strikes me as quite strange is that Rob himself would naturally speak with a strong Yorkshire dialect. One that he has decided is not for the ears of the general public when it comes to commentating. So he puts on a different way of speaking for us. I think that is a bit odd especially when you consider that he is often co-commentating with Sean Kelly. Sean has a strong Irish accent which I love and despite the strength is perfectly easy to understand. What is even stranger is that on the odd occasion Rob is a guest on the studio sofa or included in a podcast for example he reverts to his normal Yorkshire accent. Why does he feel it necessary to commentate in his best BBC ( Eurosport) English but deem that not appropriate for the sofa? Weird!....... Schizophrenic some might say.
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