Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 474 posts

Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers

#21

Post by makeitdouble »

axiosgunnar wrote: post #7

It annoys me when people use Github for blogging because that‘s what they‘re used to, especially if it‘s not the best medium. What do you think, are elaborate markdown tables the best way to show how to pronounce something, or… a wav file?

The main value is I think for people to stop and think about where they stand on the issue.

I read through the post and agree with you that I still don't have a clear understanding of the correct sounds, but I doubt I would have gone sound by sound trying to hear the differences.

Overall my takeaway is that there are common names and sound that are worth remembering, I checked a few like Nguyen, and will probably check others when coming across some Chinese name that reminds me of the article.

Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers

#22

Post by Epenthesis »

macdice wrote: post #10
yesenadam wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "A" as in the "au" in "caught" Not an expert, but I can't offhand think of a language where this is even approximately how a is pronounced—which ones are you thinking of?

Try "ah". This confusion could be caused by the caught-cot merger, possibly in combination with the father-bother merger.

Thanks for the suggestion. It was difficult for me to think of an example without resorting to IPA, since my own American accent is fully cot/caught + father/bother merged.

Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers

#23

Post by felipellrocha »

axiosgunnar wrote: post #7

It annoys me when people use Github for blogging because that‘s what they‘re used to, especially if it‘s not the best medium. What do you think, are elaborate markdown tables the best way to show how to pronounce something, or… a wav file?

I mean, that sounds like a you problem more than anything.

Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers

#24

Post by [deleted] »

yesenadam wrote: post #4
Epenthesis wrote: post #2

A good addition might be to point out good first guesses for the vowels in non-English names (Examples used assume a General American accent): * "A" as in "ah" (like "ah, I see") * "E" as in "e" in "pet", or the "ai" in "pain" * "I" as in the "i" in "pit" or the "ea" in "peat" * "O" as in the "o" in "cot" or the "o" in "cone" * "U" as in the "u" in "put" or the "oo" in "doom" (Americans might notice that this approxi…

> "A" as in the "au" in "caught" Not an expert, but I can't offhand think of a language where this is even approximately how a is pronounced—which ones are you thinking of?

[deleted]

Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers

#25

Post by thaumasiotes »

Epenthesis wrote: post #2

A good addition might be to point out good first guesses for the vowels in non-English names (Examples used assume a General American accent): * "A" as in "ah" (like "ah, I see") * "E" as in "e" in "pet", or the "ai" in "pain" * "I" as in the "i" in "pit" or the "ea" in "peat" * "O" as in the "o" in "cot" or the "o" in "cone" * "U" as in the "u" in "put" or the "oo" in "doom" (Americans might notice that this approxi…

> Exception/refinement: If you know the name is from an Indian language, read "a" as the "u" in "putt"

Used to be written that way; compare Calcutta -> Kolkata, suttee -> sati.

> (Examples used assume a General American accent that pronounces "cot" and "caught" differently)

In combination with the directive to read "a" as in "caught", I don't know how to take this except as a call to add lip rounding to the pronunciation of foreign "a". But that can't be right?

Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers

#26

Post by ericbarrett »

yesenadam wrote: post #4
Epenthesis wrote: post #2

A good addition might be to point out good first guesses for the vowels in non-English names (Examples used assume a General American accent): * "A" as in "ah" (like "ah, I see") * "E" as in "e" in "pet", or the "ai" in "pain" * "I" as in the "i" in "pit" or the "ea" in "peat" * "O" as in the "o" in "cot" or the "o" in "cone" * "U" as in the "u" in "put" or the "oo" in "doom" (Americans might notice that this approxi…

> "A" as in the "au" in "caught" Not an expert, but I can't offhand think of a language where this is even approximately how a is pronounced—which ones are you thinking of?

Gotta be careful with “caught”: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot–caught_merger

Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers

#27

Post by canjobear »

If you're interested in learning to pronounce non-English things, I highly recommend learning the IPA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabe...

You can get away from this vague stuff like 'an "ah" vowel', and learn (1) the real way the pronounce the names, including sounds that aren't in English, and (2) the precise closest English approximation, without having to go through analogies and metaphors that won't be valid across English dialects.

Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers

#29

Post by gamegoblin »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #20
gamegoblin wrote: post #12

Something that always kind of bugs me is when I am traveling at an airport in the US, and there is an announcement like “Passengers X and Y, please come to gate 7” and the announcer obviously has no idea how to pronounce non-English names. This is even in airports like LAX which see a massive number of travelers from Latin America and East Asia. I would think that after making those sorts of announcements frequently…

> The basic ones I can think of that would increase accuracy measurably are: > 1. How to pronounce “Nguyen” You say that like there's only one way to do it.

If you were to pick any major Vietnamese dialect and learn that pronunciation, you will be much, much closer than the oft-repeated-in-America “nuh-gooyen”.

Most Americans who learn how to pronounce it “correctly” learn something like “wen”, which while not quite right, is still a huge improvement.

Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers

#30

Post by alexfromapex »

jldugger wrote: post #8

"Non-English" -> Mainland Chinese. Well, it's a start I guess. Probably worth adding Vietnamese considering how few people in the US know how to pronounce "Nguyen".

Thought the same, would like to know how to pronounce some Polish and other Scandinavian and European pronunciations as well.
Post reply on HN