MovieChat Forums > Child Genius (2015) Discussion > Suddenly pronunciation matters??!

Suddenly pronunciation matters??!


These kids have been absolutely mangling pronunciation in every round, and NOW it's suddenly a crucial point?

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What is going on here? Are these judges serious? BRING BACK VIVEK!

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It's just extremely inconsistent. These kids (and sometimes the judges) have been hilariously mispronouncing words this entire time. Why are they suddenly cracking down on it? There should be consistency there.

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Exactly! There is no consistency! However - I believe that Vivek truly mispronounced the word. I believe Claire actually said the wrong word. There is a big difference. But if they are taking off points for proper pronunciation, they should have been doing this all along, and to everyone.

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That's what I mean. Pronunciation has always been weak on this show. That's because, often, the kids are reading questions on an answer sheet in the study guide but don't really know what any of it means.

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It's not sudden. They disqualified answers in the first season for the same reason.

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*beep* *beep* I'm sure the answer sheets aren't spelled phoenetically. I only knew the name of the treaty because I've heard it said. I can't pronounce French to save my life so if I had only seen it I would have gotten it wrong too.

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Claire hasn't been able to pronounce sh!t from shinola.

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Vivek should have staid and Claire should have went.

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Just last week we had a discussion about the lack of attention to pronunciation. So, I was really surprised to see a sudden and unexplained, yet oddly inconsistent, interest in pronunciation. Both Vivek and Claire mispronounced their answers (I believe Claire's was due to an Asian accent, backed by the fact that her parents couldn't hear the difference) but I also hear mispronunciations from the other kids and so wonder what and who determined when it was critical enough to knock a kid out of the contest.

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> These kids have been absolutely mangling pronunciation in every round, and NOW it's suddenly a crucial point?

No. They've always been consistent. If the kid pronounces each letter in the word -- and no others, that is deemed correct. So, yeah, there have been many answers butchered, but they usually have all the letters correct. Claire obviously added an "r" to ner answer. Vivek was a closer call, but once he started to answer phonetically, he obligated himself to pronounce the final "e" in "Versailles". So, had he said, Ver-sail-es, he would have been rules correct.

Besides, maybe they have been picky about pronunciation all along but the editors haven't bothered to show us the discussion when one point doesn't make the difference between someone staying or going home.

--
What Would Jesus Do For A Klondike Bar (WWJDFAKB)?

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I concur. And the judges may be using other rules about pronunciation that we are not aware of. On "Jeopardy!" for example, you are allowed to mispronounce (and misspell in the Final Jeopardy round) as long as your answer meets certain guidelines. For example, you cannot change the number of syllables in a word.

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I find Arnav's answer "Franz Ferdinand" the most controversial and even though he was through he should have challenged it. We rewinded it and he said all of the letters and was even closer to the German pronunciation (the correct one) than anything. Clairr gave an incorrect answer..it wasnt a pronunciation issue. Viviek was screwed because of lack of French probably.

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This! 100 times This!
I came on the boards just to see if anyone else felt this way.

This is a perfect example of why giving these kids study packets to memorize isn't the best method for the show. Poor Vivek probably just read the word Versailles, never having heard in pronounced before, and just took his best 8-year-old guess.

Ugh. I don't even care if I spoil myself with the winner anymore! (I'm playing catch up on the Lifetime website.)
Vivek was my favorite because he was the only one who wasn't a head case and/or have insufferable parents.

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Lauryn*
"We should consider every day lost in which we have not danced at least once." – Nietzsche

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Vivek is the only one who is "easy to live with."

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