Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers
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Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers
#2A 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 approximately reflects the sounds those letters represent in Spanish)
Exception/refinement: If you know the name is from an Indian language, read "a" as the "u" in "putt"
(Edit: Improved the example given for "a")
Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers
#3There's a Sass for that:
Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers
#4A 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?
Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers
#5A 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…
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Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers
#6> The goal of this guide is to produce a simple guide to help you pronounce a surname from a non-English speaking culture that sounds reasonably correct.
FYI, the first sentence of the article isn't proper English. It purports to teach how a non-English speaking culture can sound resonably correct.
Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers
#7It 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?
Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers
#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".
Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers
#9> The goal of this guide is to produce a simple guide to help you pronounce a surname from a non-English speaking culture that sounds reasonably correct. FYI, the first sentence of the article isn't proper English. It purports to teach how a non-English speaking culture can sound resonably correct.
Yup, better would be "pronounce a surname from a non-English speaking culture in a way that sounds reasonably correct."
Re: Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers
#10A 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?
Try "ah". This confusion could be caused by the caught-cot merger, possibly in combination with the father-bother merger.