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Sep 30, 2007

Cabby, take me to 'Coo-tee-the-zoo' condo! (It's French lah)

Foreign condo names trip up local tongues but add a veneer of 'class'

By Nur Dianah Suhaimi & Melody Zaccheus

BUSINESSMAN Kelvin Ong has lived at the Cote D'Azur condominium in Marine Parade for five years and he still does not know how to pronounce its name.

Like many of his neighbours, Mr Ong, 42, tells taxi drivers to head for 'the condominium beside Parkway Parade'.

'It's a French name. Not everyone knows how to say it,' said Mr Ong a little sheepishly. When prompted, he called it 'coat-dee-ah-zoo'. It was incorrect. But Mr Ong is not the only one getting it wrong. Others have called it 'coo-tee-the-zoo'. The condominium's moniker, taken from a popular seaside resort in France, should be pronounced 'coat-dar-zur'.

When it comes to naming condominiums, developers these days seem to prefer foreign or fanciful names such as the Soleil@Sinaran in Novena and THR3E THRE3 Robin.

The Sunday Times tested 10 foreign-sounding condominium names on 100 people and found that the majority failed the pronunciation test. Their tongues tripped over names such as Cote D'Azur and Levelz in Farrer Road. Only 33 could pronounce at least half the names on the list.

After mispronouncing Cote D'Azur, retiree Henry Ang, 67, said: 'One of the big bosses at the developers probably went on holiday there and came back thinking it is such a great name.'

Graduate student Joanne Tan, 25, who got six out of the 10 names right, said: 'What's the point of having a fancy name if no one can say it properly? Developers need to cater to the Singaporean tongue when choosing names.'

Housewife Pauline Toh, 48, who lives at The Shaughnessy in Yishun, admitted that her friends think the name of her condominium is ridiculous. 'To make it easy for them to remember, I tell them it's like the cognac Hennessy, you know?'

Cabbies interviewed were especially exasperated with fancy condominium names which are hard to pronounce. Mr Goh Kim Teck, 60, who has been driving for 30 years, said: 'I'm Chinese-educated so it's hard for me to catch funny-sounding condo names.'

When cabbies cannot make out the condominium name, they ask passengers for the road name or a nearby landmark.

Although Street and Building Names Board guidelines advise against choosing names which are difficult to pronounce or associated with famous places, developers have a relatively free hand in naming their condominiums.

Frasers Centrepoint Homes, which developed Cote D'Azur and Soleil@Sinaran, said Singaporean home buyers are more well-travelled and informed. A spokesman said: 'We believe that these Singaporeans...will certainly favour names that are associated with desirable attributes. After all, names do connote and represent a certain identity and personality.' 'Soleil', for example, is the French word for sun.

Keppel Land said it chose the name The Elysia because its root word, 'Elysium', means bliss and tranquillity in Latin.

Architect Lim Kheng Chye, who sits on the Street and Building Names Board, said Singaporeans tend to think that foreign is always better. 'It has all got to do with marketing the property. If you're a buyer, would you buy a condo named Ah Huat or one called Martin Luther?'

Sociologist and Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore Paulin Straughan said a name 'can convey many things, be it class, prestige or social status'.

'Developers hope to convey the message that their condominiums are a cut above the rest and to tie the public to mental images of scenic views, lush gardens and cultural icons through that one name,' she said.

Mr Ong, who lives at Cote D'Azur condo, agrees. Even though he cannot pronounce the name of his condominium correctly, he thinks that the name 'makes my condo sound more high class than others with normal English names'.

'There's no way I'd trade the name for a simpler one,' he said.

ndianah@sph.com.sg

melodyz@sph.com.sg

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