On the BBC news this evening, they were telling about this lady running for some elected position in Germany; Angela Somebody. I have only ever heard this name pronounced
An (as in, an apple) - jel-luh. However, the news lady pronounced it Angle (as in, 90º) - uh. Is this the British pronunciation, or was she saying it that way because that's the way the German lady pronounces her name?

That would be an approximation of the German pronunciation, not the British.

I think you must have misheard. My friend Angela who lived in Germany for many years tells me some pronounce it the same as in English and some with a hard 'g', making it an-gel (as in girl) -uh

Bingley

Short of "Angelika," I think.

In standard German it would be pronounced with an ng as in English singer not as in English finger. I did hear one native German speaker pronounce it with the finger ng. Probably dialectal variation.

> However, the news lady pronounced it Angle (as in, 90º) - uh.

That's pretty much sounds right to me except you must of not heard the last '-la' or the news reader lopped it off ... so you get something like 'ahn-gl-la mer-cle'. The English news readers I've heard say it always manage a pretty close pronunciation rather than just resorting to the English name.

But many in Germany know her as 'Angie' (like the song yes), which Germans pronouce more like 'Ängie'.

FWIW, my former sister-in-law's name (the in-laws were from the Bonn area) was pronounced with the ng as in "singer."

I have a friend named Angelika in Germany, and she pronounces her name /aNgElIk@/, though because she speaks French, we sometimes call her Angelique /a~Zelik/.

I think you must have misheard. No, the news lady said it twice: Angle-uh. The way Dr. Mengele's name was pronounced in The Boys From Brazil [shiver], but with a different first syllable, of course.
Angela Merkle, that's right; thank you. Is Chancellor the highest office in Germany?

Equivalent of Prime Minister. I believe they also have a President. I'm not sure what the exact distribution of duties is.

Bingley

> No, the news lady said it twice: Angle-uh

Right. Misread your original post there. I've only heard it pronounced with a hard 'g' in German, btw. And that's 'Frau Merkel' to you Jackie;-). I've had to look at a circa 30 m banner of her hung in the window of the CDU building for numerous weeks which proclaims 'A New Start'. If they say so.

> Is Chancellor the highest office in Germany?

Yup. The 'president' of the government is more like a chairman in Germany - high up, but not the main public figure.

Unless I am mistaken, the Chancellor is head of government, the President is Head of State. As in France, India and Israel, where the President is chief ribbon-cutter.

> where the President is chief ribbon-cutter.

or in the US, where the President is Chief nutter-butter...

I know, I know, but I figgered this one wasn't going to make the upgrade anyways...