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It's "Ovcharka", not "Ovtcharka" .... The word "Ovcharka" is a Russian word, usually shown in the Cyrillic alphabet, that does not have a direct English translation. It is therefore often TRANSLITERATED, a process of writing the alphabetical characters in another language (such as English) in a way that represents the same sound or sounds. Transliteration is done by rules, and there are accepted international and national rules for it promulgated by the U.S. Library of Congress and the United Nations. Applying the these rules, there is only ONE CORRECTLY SPELLED transliteration of the word "Ovcharka" into English language, as follows: O-V-CH-A-R-K-A In other Roman character languages, we see the word Ovcharka transliterated and spelled without the 'h" or with a "t" because transliteration of Cyrillic characters into Roman characters is a language-specific exercise under the rules, so the spelling may be different depending on the target language. That is why the transliteration of the Cyrillic character that looks like an oddly shaped "y" becomes "tch" in German, "c" in Serbian, and "ch" in English, per the United Nation rules. A flawed argument recently put forth on the internet is that "tch" is somehow more "phoenetically" correct than "ch". The soft "ch" sound of the words "Michigan" and "Charlotte" were sited as examples of why the word "Ovcharka" should be spelled with a "tch" contrary to UN transliteration rules. However, these soft "ch" words, "Michigan" and "Charlotte", are French derived place names and are not representative of English pronunciation. A "ch" sound, in typical English usage, for example the words "change", "charred", "chased", "chilled", is a hard "-ch" sound. Therefore, it is not necessary to add a "t" in front of the "ch" for a hard "ch" sound pronunciation. The spelling "tch" does not make the word phonetically correct. In English, "tch" would be voiced "ovt-charka", which is clearly wrong. Hence, the UN and US Library of Congress rule: OVCHARKA Click Here for more information on the naming of this great breed of dogs. |
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