Re: \nabla and \partial
You are right -- my first calculus instructor, the famous number theorist K. Inkeri told us that \partial may be pronounced "doh" (i.e. d + the long wowel "o"). This usage is much known at least in Finland. I don't know, whether the Russians themselves can pronounce the Russian italized "d" (i.e. \partial) sometimes as "doh".
Jussi
Jussi