American and English Pronunciation - which would you say?Bat-('n) or B'-Ton?

At a Toastmasters meeting the President chose as her theme, 'passing the baton'.

The word baton is used as a metaphor. But also in the context of a conductor's baton.

Sousa with a conductor's baton. 1911

Stravinsky with a conductor's baton. 1929.

Batons, used by Toscanini, an Italian who fled to the USA in the thirties. in the Smithsonian museum, Washington DC, USA.

 The speaker repeatedly said baton, pronouncing it with intonation on the second syllable. I was language evaluator, but did not like to correct her nor argue with her, especially since I was Immediate Past President of Braddell Heights Toastmasters Club.

This was in Singapore.

Who to ask? As far as I was concerned, I was the expert.

UK
I looked up the word in an English dictionary. As expected, I was right.

In Singapore, the standard is British English, because historically Singapore was British, and school children do English exams with exam papers flown to the UK and marked there. At a club in Singapore, I expect British English to be the norm.

USA
However, I checked in a US dictionary and was relieved to discover that Americans pronounce the word with emphasis on the second syllable.

Useful websites

English and American pronunciation
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/baton

You can hear the American pronunciation here.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/baton
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/baton

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker

How to learn the German umlauts

German flag.

The signs above the letters in German are there to help you with the pronunciation. So in that respect German is easier than English, which adopts words and prinunciations from all over the world. In German what you see is what you say.

Two Germans told me:

There is only one sign above the letters in German, called the umlaut, like a small circle. There are only three letters which have the umlaut in German.
 ⟨ä⟩, ⟨ö⟩ and ⟨ü⟩,

A
The first is a small circle above the a. It turns the a as in the English word apple into an ay as in the English word maid and the German word pronounced maid-shen meaning girl.

O
The second umlaut is above the o.
Schönberg (German: beautiful hill)
Alternative spelling: Shoenberg. Pronounced like Shern-berg.

U
The third umlaut is above the u.

Useful Website for travellers:
https://www.amazon.de/German-All-One-Dummies-CD/dp/

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, is a teacher of English and other languages to colleges, students and businesses.