Submitted by mustapha, Nov 6, 2006 02:31

Dear sir, there is an ocean of difference between the name of the Lebanese singer and the name of the city Haifa. You have to be familiar with Arabic alphabets in order to understand the difference. There ae two types of H's in Arabic. The H with which the city Haifa is pronounced is called the gutteral H. It is a very heavy kind of H that only Semitic speaking people and perhaps Germans can pronounce proplerly.

Haifa the singer is pronounced with the very soft H familiar to English speaking populace. In addition there is a double 'a' at the end of her name. So her name should be pronounced thus: Haifa'a. I think Haifa'a the star would lose much of her sex appeal if her name were to be pronounced with a very heavy accented H as you suggest and without the double 'a' at the end. It has to be the very soft H sir, because in addition to pronounciations Arabic proper names usually have meaning. Haifa'a (the singer name) means delicate and soft - both in form as well as in character.

Regards

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