Amin Mohidin on MSNBC is the only personality who pronounces Kyiv with 2 syllables.

[RicROC]

My Ukrainian PhD Linguist friend told me, Kyiv has 2 syllables, not as Keeev.
Key-yev is how the Russians pronounce it.
Ukrainians say Ka-yiv.

[elleng]

1. Ayman Mohyeldin is an Egyptian-born journalist.

Kyiv (/kiːv/ KEEV) or Kiev is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine.

KyivNotKiev is an online campaign started by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) together with the 15 member centre for strategical communications "StratCom Ukraine" on October 2, 2018. Its goal is to persuade English-language media and organisations to exclusively use Kyiv (derived from the Ukrainian language name) instead of Kiev (derived from the Russian language name) as the one true name of the Ukrainian capital.[1][2] It is a part of the wider campaign "CorrectUA".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KyivNotKiev

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. +1. Hard to get more definitive than official source in the city itself. Ukranian, NOT Russian

Wikipedia: "Transliterations based on Russian names were sustained in common practice because of aggressive Russification policies from the Russian Imperial and later Soviet governments.[11]"

But all the more definitive renditions I hear have a very short second syllable, so short it seems (to many English speaker ears) to be non-existent.

[PatSeg]

27. Oh, okay that explains it

Until the past few years, I'd always thought it was two syllables. Thanks.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. How did we get to this atrocity of Keeeev?

[obamanut2012]

4. Because that's how you say it

Unless my Ukrainian cowrker who is FROM the actual city is a liar.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. Everything I've read says it's a two syllable word.

The Ukrainians and Russians may pronounce it differently, but it's still two syllables. What I am hearing from the media sounds like one syllable.

https://www.google.com/search?q=The+pronounciation+of+Kiev&sxsrf=APq-WBtpsGtz5lLd1SSoE-WMHELtp1nbSw%3A1645787211601&source=hp&ei=S7gYYpXxIsCbwbkP6cO9yAw&iflsig=AHkkrS4AAAAAYhjGWw1jAi1-29CuLyCAu_swTZfLddIb&ved=0ahUKEwjVwvyQ25r2AhXATTABHelhD8kQ4dUDCAg&uact=5&oq=The+pronounciation+of+Kiev&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBggAEBYQHjoHCCMQ6gIQJzoHCC4Q6gIQJzoECCMQJzoOCC4QgAQQsQMQxwEQowI6CwgAEIAEELEDEIMBOhEILhCABBCxAxCDARDHARDRAzoLCC4QsQMQgwEQ1AI6CAguELEDEIMBOgUIABCABDoOCC4QgAQQsQMQgwEQ1AI6CAgAEIAEELEDOggILhCABBDUAjoICC4QgAQQsQM6BQguEIAEOgsILhCABBDHARCvAToLCC4QgAQQsQMQ1AI6CAgAELEDEIMBOg0ILhCxAxCDARDUAhAKOgoILhCxAxDUAhAKOgcIABCxAxAKOgQIABAKUKkLWOBFYIlLaANwAHgBgAHmAYgBjBWSAQYyMi41LjGYAQCgAQGwAQo&sclient=gws-wiz

[Hortensis]

16. A resident of Kiev was explaining how they say it and it was one syllable,

Keev, notably short and quick, except that the "K" was not a simple American K sound, more complex, a very quick little sound that I couldn't replicate.

I always feel whatever way residents pronounce the place they live is the most correct way, both because it is and "correct" as in respectfully polite by others. In this case, English-language media have shifted to the closest approximation they can manage.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. Well then, use the Ukranian spelling, NOT the Russian spelling. Ukranians write Kyiv

Link thoughtfully provided by elleng in the first reply:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KyivNotKiev

I always feel whatever way residents pronounce the place they live is the correct way.

Same goes for writing.

Hence, for example, Beijing and not Peiping or Peking.

[Hortensis]

19. :) Good point. Maybe you could start a thread for that.

Or perhaps wait until or if the talking heads get on it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. It is two syllables. Linguists and Ukranian linguists say it is two syllables

As to the K sound, there is a little bit of fricative noise that is part of that k sound (but not other k sounds).

If you listen to the video I posted https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=16396404 you can hear it in the way she pronounces the K.

[Hortensis]

21. I was going to mention what linguists will make of

slowing it down, but that's irrelevant to how we with our limitations pronounce it.

Yet another subject I regret commenting on. Everyone now knows one syllable indicates support for Ukraine.

Maybe in a few months after Russia mostly establishes control over a larger or whole area, and things settle down, the media will start using two syllables again. At one point there was a shift back to the English name Burma from Myanmar, around the time their coverage was increasingly about Rohingya genocide, but it didn't stick.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. You are good and should have no regrets. Testing our knowledge & ideas by posting them is great!

You are knowledgeable, evidenced by your citing of the Burma issue. I use Burma because Myanmar is the military dictatorship's coinage.

[Hortensis]

25. Me too. Least I can do.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Does she say "it is one syllable" or do you HEAR it as one syllable

Many people can't hear the second syllable because it is so short that if it was shorter it would be non-existent.

KEE iv

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Because Russification & bc many do not have a finely tuned ear for languages

..., particularly Americans.

Since most English speakers don't speak other languages (generally, not nearly as much as Europeans are multi-lingual), and because English has so many variations that in almost any English speaking group sloppy pronunciation is acceptable (except perhaps upper crust Brits), ...

... because of all that, many do not hear the second syllable because it is so short in time.

The Key-Ev pronunciation is Russian and common in English because of heavy Russification efforts from Soviets and Tsars.

Ukranian is more like Key-iv with the "i" in "iv" very short in time.

[obamanut2012]

3. My Ukrainian coworker says "Keev"

She is from Kyiv, has family still there. So, she says it with one syllable.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Mika says Key-ev

[padah513]

9. I heard Lawrence pronounce it that way too

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. That's more wrong: It's Russian. The Ukranian second syllable in the name is very short in time.

Key-ev is the Russian way to pronounce it and it is common in the West.
The Ukranian language, though obviously influenced by Russian, is not Russian.

Listen to this:

Notice how she says the second syllable is like YIEld (YIE) (longish but perhaps not as long as Americans say that word) but then when she pronounces it together the second syllable is very short in length, and to my ear gets more like a "short" vowel.

[SouthernDem4ever]

7. I always thought Keev was an incorrect pronunciation

but I kept hearing news anchors and commentators say Keev so I thought I was wrong. I always remember Key-ev being the correct way. How do these tv people spread the wrong thing around so confidently?

[bucolic_frolic]

10. I think, worldwide, local populations shorten pronunciations of their locale for convenience

The 'burbs, 'burg, town. In NJ there is Newark - NEW-irk. In DE there is Newark - NEW-ark. Talk to a NJ local and both are "Nerk".

[Deminpenn]

24. +1

Agree, locals always have a distinctive way of saying the names of the towns, cities, areas where they live. Can't count the number of times I hear "Picksburg".

[rgbecker]

28. Don't forget Louisville (Lowville) and New Orleans (Norleans).

[RicROC]

30. other mispronunciations.

Torrano
Buff-low
Rah-schter
Sayracuse
Nyork

if the world would pronounce names as the natives who live there, then....

Germany would be pronounced Deutschland
Cologne would be Köln
Munich would be München
Sweden would be Sverige
Norway would be Norge

Frisco would be San Francisco *wink*

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. Key-ev is Russian, not Ukranian pronunciation. . . . nt

[W_HAMILTON]

13. Watching CNN interview a former Ukranian president in Kyiv...

...and he pronounced it KEEV. Maybe with his accent, it may sound slightly like two syllables, something like KEY-EVE, but it definitely sounds like KEEV is closer to being correct than any of these other pronunciations I've seen.

[hlthe2b]

18. Well, given 75 years have passed since WWII and we still can't get Auschwitz pronounced correctly...

among countless other important names and locations from the time, I'm not going to worry whether or not the second exceedingly short syllable (correct for Ukrainian speakers) that is missed by most English speakers is voiced or not. I will take the time to try to mimick Ukrainian nationals and US experts on the matter, but most won't.

I cringe at a lot of US mispronunciation in the media. At least the correct spelling (non-Russian) is being adopted-- i.e., Kyiv. So there is that.


Those concerned might recall that Obama's correct pronunciation of Taliban and Pakistan were ridiculed mercilessly and the Americanized versions continued throughout the past decades.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Yup. Popular conception of American Exceptionalism comes out as American Arrogance

Cross reference American cultural imperialism and The Ugly American, which had a huge impact, leading in part to the Peace Corps. Reversed of course by Reaganism and Trumpism.

[milestogo]

26. Good. I feel weird saying Chicken Keev.

[MineralMan]

29. Your PhD friend is correct, as naturally he would be.

It's difficult for non-Slavic language speakers to get those names right. In fact, we rarely get any foreign place names right here or in England. English-speakers are not careful about following place name pronunciations from other languages.

Yes, Kyiv has two syllables, but the vowel sounds are very similar and go unheard by many people. Russians pronounce it as Kiev, using two distinct vowel sounds. In Ukrainian the vowels sound almost the same, and so the word sounds almost like a single syllable.

Bottom line is that that place is going to continue to be mispronounced by most Americans and Brits.

English speakers just don't do foreign place names very well at all. Moscow is a good example. In Russian it is written and pronounced MoskVA, with the stress on the second syllable. We don't bother with that, and revert to our usual stress on the next to last syllable. Worse, Russian (and Ukrainian) are highly inflected language, so the last syllable in Moskva changes depending on the grammatical case of the word in a sentence.

Russian and Ukrainian are cousin languages. They are not the same, but also not all that different. As a Russian linguist and analyst in the USAF, I was stationed on the Black Sea in Turkey. In my work there, I got used to the sound of both languages, and discovered that I could understand Ukrainian almost as well as Russian. It's sort of like the difference in the UK between the received pronunciation heard on the BBC and what you would hear in a Yorkshire pub. Both are English, but speech in Yorkshire takes some getting used to before you can understand it easily.

So, bottom line is that people are going to mispronounce Kiev or Kyiv over and over again. We might as well get used to it. Few Americans or Brits will ever pronounce it quite correctly, as the people who live there do. Can't be helped, really.

[Ilsa]

31. We used 2 syllables when we spelled it "Kiev" 3 decades ago.

"Kee-YEV"

[Silent3]

32. "Keev" is closer to the Ukranian pronunciation than the Russian "key-yev"...

...but, having listened to a recording of a native Ukranian saying Kyiv, the authentic pronunciation is difficult for non-native speakers.

Even if "keev" is very approximate, it's still a sign of proper respect to avoid something closer to Russian.

[Deminpenn]

34. K sounds like the ch in a eord

Like l'chaim, that throaty "kahuh". If pronounced quickly by native Ukrainian speakers, sounds like a one syllable word.

[moondust]

33. Wikipedia explains.

~
Kyiv is the romanized official Ukrainian name for the city,[24][25] and it is used for legislative and official acts.[26] Kiev is the traditional English name for the city,[24][27][28] but because of its historical derivation from the Russian name, Kiev became disfavored in many Western media outlets after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War.[29]
~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyiv#Etymology