Pronouncing ‘Beijing’ correctly

In the shadow of Olympic venues, Brian Williams has anchored NBC’s “Nightly News” this week in a city he calls Bay-jing.

Yet Bob Costas, Meredith Vieira and many of NBC’s sports announcers seem to be working in a different, more exotic place: Bay-zhing.

So which is it?

Williams is right, if you talk to experts in the Chinese language. He’s even recorded something about the Beijing pronunciation puzzle for NBC’s website, although it doesn’t seem to be required viewing for everyone at the network.