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Keith McCord ReportingThis is a story that always seems to come up when the Olympics take place, summer or winter. The story is spurred by viewers who call or e-mail us to say we're pronouncing the name of the Olympic city incorrectly. Will it be deja vu all over again?
This year, the Olympic Winter games are being held in Turin, Italy! Or is it Torino, Italy? There's a lot of spirited discussion about that.
Olympic cities give us a lot of grief. In 1992, was it Alber-ville, or Albert-ville? In '94, in Norway was it LilleHAWmer, or Lil-la-hammer? And, in 1998 we struggled with the Japanese city of Nagano, or was it NaGAWno, or NagaNO? Which brings us to the 2006 games in Northern Italy.
We've been promoting our upcoming coverage for weeks now. Here at KSL, we're going with Torino. NBC is also, because on a visit there several years ago, NBC Sports head Dick Ebersol liked how the locals pronounced it, and to be honest, it does sound great.
Dr. Cinzia Noble is an Italian language professor at BYU. She lived in Italy for 22-years. Here in Salt Lake, Dr. Adriano Comollo is the Director of the Italian Center of the West. He grew up in Torino, or Turin. Which is it anyway? We thought these two experts could set us straight.
Dr. Cinzia Noble, Teaching Prof. of Italian, BYU: "Turin is the translation for Torino, which is the Italian name. And I like the Italian name, because I'm Italian!"
Both Noble and Comollo use the Italian pronunciation and admit it's more musical off the tongue, but both say either version is fine with them.
Dr. Adriano Comollo, Italian Center of the West: "In Italy we are very flexible, we're in the middle of very many languages, so we don't care too much."
But media organizations are divided and the story is starting to show up in a number of other TV networks plan to as well. No matter which version you decide to use, just know that either way, you're referring to a very old, vibrant city in Northwest Italy, and the Italians couldn't be happier.
Dr. Adriano Comollo: "I mean, we are thrilled because Torino, when it's pronounced in many languages, means that you're 'international.' So I think it's a plus."
Boy, it was so much easier when the Olympics were in Atlanta and Salt Lake City!
