Trump devises 'zany' way to pronounce Tanzania in foreign policy speech

He was not the first presidential hopeful of 2016 to dent his international policy credentials by mispronouncing a tricky foreign word – who could forget Ben Carson’s warning about the “hummus” terror threat?

But for critics primed to undercut Donald Trump’s major policy speech, his mispronunciation of “Tanzania” served as a useful shorthand.

The Republican presidential frontrunner pronounced the word as “Tan-ZAY-nee-uh”, contrary to the country’s actual name, which is pronounced “Tan-zu-KNEE-uh.”

Trump was quickly lambasted by political pundits on Twitter, who were joined by White House press secretary Josh Earnest, who joked: “Apparently the phonetics are not included on the teleprompter,” after journalists informed him of Trump’s blunder.

Trump mispronounced the name of the country in east Africa while calling for a foreign policy agenda based primarily on American interests.

“Look at what happened in the 1990s,” he said. “Our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were attacked and 17 brave sailors were killed on the USS Cole.”

Priya Lal, an assistant professor of African history at Boston College, said there was “no debate” about the correct pronunciation of the word.

“I would say that it really doesn’t bode well if somebody who’s campaigning to be the leader of the United States can’t even pronounce the name of the country,” she said. “That seems like the most basic starting point, it is a serious error and it is ignorant.

“What comes to mind for me is the contrast between President Obama, whose heritage is east African in part,” she added. “It really just contrasts so strikingly with Trump’s attitude. It seems quite flippant to mispronounce the name of a big country.”

In a news release announcing the speech, the Trump campaign said the speech would make “it abundantly clear that he is committed to prioritizing America first in national security, international diplomacy and global trade”.

Some commenters on Twitter protested the blowback over Trump’s pronunciation, saying that both versions of the name were accepted.

A representative of the Tanzanian embassy in Washington DC said that although most natives pronounce the word differently from Trump, the businessman’s pronunciation is typically accepted in the country.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich defended Trump on Twitter, noting that the candidate had pronounced America correctly.