How to Pronounce Your Favorite Director's Name

[Mathew2468]

Bothers me when the Russian 'ë' (yo) is transliterated as 'e'. Fedor instead of Fyodor. We all say Rublev instead of Rublyov. Hate how people can't say "Dostoevsky" (however you spell it). "Doshtoyovsky", they say. I see Russian posters that don't include the accent on Rublev or Potemkin.

Goethe is hard to pronounce even when you know it. And so many Brits keep writing the phonetic pronounciation as 'GER-tuh' because they think "geuh" is how GER is pronounced. Brits don't pronounce 'er's phonetically and the ones that don't know it officially contribute to the butchery.

[Highway 61]

On the subject of important German figures, I had an absolutely brilliant German philosophy professor who always pronounced Kant as "Kunt" to the discomfort of everyone in the room. No one ever asked him about it, however, as I guess we were just too embarrassed. Any takers for an explanation on this one? For my part, I went ahead and made the assumption that Königsberg must have had a different dialect which would lead to this unfortunate pronunciation.

[Mathew2468]

Kahnt? kAHnt, like Mann? Kloser to Kunt than Kant. But I'd say Kahnt, with a big open-wide-and-say-"AHHH" sound. But faster of kourse.

[denti alligator]

Mathew's right, it is closer to "kunt" than you'd think. The "a" is not a long vowel, though it's not pronounced like an English "a." The short "ah" is pretty damn close to "uh."

[Mathew2468]

Kaaaahhhhnt. It's got a sort of woody quality about it.

[MichaelB]

I have a slightly unexpected problem in that I'm going to have to pronounce the name 'Bernard Herrmann' to a live audience in a couple of weeks.

Don't get me wrong - I know precisely how it should be pronounced. But the trouble is, 'BerNARD' just sounds wrong to my British ears, because on my side of the Atlantic we pronounce it more like 'BERnuhd' (i.e. stress firmly on the first syllable, and not a hint of a penultimate 'r').

I wouldn't be that bothered if the audience wasn't going to be largely made up of American students, but it is.

(The same talk will also invoke the names Ennio Morricone, Sergei Prokofiev and Zdeněk Liška, but I couldn't be more relaxed about those.)

[Mr Sausage]

There shouldn't be any problem if you pronounce it as you normally do. A lot of North Americans are familiar with the British pronunciation, and those that aren't will understand immediately when they hear his last name.

[jwd5275]

On the subject of important German figures, I had an absolutely brilliant German philosophy professor who always pronounced Kant as "Kunt" to the discomfort of everyone in the room. No one ever asked him about it, however, as I guess we were just too embarrassed. Any takers for an explanation on this one? For my part, I went ahead and made the assumption that Königsberg must have had a different dialect which would lead to this unfortunate pronunciation.

Odd, I had a German philosophy professor who did the exact same thing. Not sure where he orginally came from, but he taught in Bochum in West Rhine-Westphalia. It was especially entertaining considering that nearly half the class were training to be celibate Dominican friars and would jump everytime he said it.

[triodelover]

Michael,

I agree with Sausage. You may be surprised (and possibly and sadly not) at how many students already know the pronunciation. My introduction to the British pronunciation was Shaw and through the efforts a few conscientious English teachers learned to get it right. Of course, growing up in the American South meant that those teachers that insisted on an American pronunciation managed to drawl it out to three syllables, so you never know. I'm for anything, no matter how small, that introduces American students to the concept that there's a world out there and it doesn't look or sound anything like the US-centric version they get force fed on our television news programs.

[Lighthouse]

On the subject of important German figures, I had an absolutely brilliant German philosophy professor who always pronounced Kant as "Kunt" to the discomfort of everyone in the room. No one ever asked him about it, however, as I guess we were just too embarrassed. Any takers for an explanation on this one? For my part, I went ahead and made the assumption that Königsberg must have had a different dialect which would lead to this unfortunate pronunciation.

Kant should be spoken exactly like "cunt".

[Lighthouse]

What about Leos Carax?

It is a fantasy name. Normally I have a clear idea how to pronounce French names, but for Carax I have no idea

[knives]

I usually pronounce it kah-wracks

[denti alligator]

On the subject of important German figures, I had an absolutely brilliant German philosophy professor who always pronounced Kant as "Kunt" to the discomfort of everyone in the room. No one ever asked him about it, however, as I guess we were just too embarrassed. Any takers for an explanation on this one? For my part, I went ahead and made the assumption that Königsberg must have had a different dialect which would lead to this unfortunate pronunciation.

Kant should be spoken exactly like "cunt".

Not true. There's a slight different in the vowel articulation. Slight, but definitely discernible.

[triodelover]

Not true. There's a slight different in the vowel articulation. Slight, but definitely discernible.

It's more an "ah" than "uh". Think Kathleen Freeman as Jean Hagen's diction coach in Singin' in the Rain (admittedly an exaggeration).

[MichaelB]

If you're ever in the unfortunate position of being called a cunt by a Londoner, a Liverpudlian and a Glaswegian in quick succession, you'll notice considerably greater differences in the vowel articulation.

[manicsounds]

Elia Kazan?

[knives]

l-e-a Ka-zan (as in van)

[manicsounds]

I just watched the special features on "12 Angry Men" and heard "Kuh-Zawn" so I wasn't sure after that, and what I'd heard before.

[swo17]

At the beginning of America, America, he pronounces his own name as eh-LEE-uh kuh-ZAN.

[zedz]

What would he know?

[triodelover]

At the beginning of America, America, he pronounces his own name as eh-LEE-uh kuh-ZAN.

Was he under oath when he did it?

[manicsounds]

Those last two posts were gold.

I just checked the opening of "America America". Got it.

[HistoryProf]

The problem is, if for example you're speaking at an international meeting of scholars, that you simply don't know if someone speaks the language in question. But if so, I personally would want to avoid making a fool of myself by, for instance, pronouncing Goethe as "Go-thii". I heard that myself, and I couldn't help it: it gave me the chuckles.

Thanks for the help with Rye, guys!

Funny story: My specialty is American Indian history. My first conference presentation happened to be at the largest gathering of the year and my advisor - a giant in the field - made sure that everyone who was anyone was in the audience for my panel. no pressure at all. On top of it somehow we had finagled the dean of Cherokee studies to chair the panel. It was an all star session with one exception: Me. Fortunately, I had uncovered a fabulous topic and my paper was very well received with one exception. I was discussing "red progressives" in Oklahoma in the 1910s and 1920s, among them were various Osage tribal members. I pronounced it Oh-sazh as I had read it in all the documents. I got a great response from the crowd, good questions, and even the chair pulled me aside and said something about "you're too green to know how good a topic this is, keep it up". My advisor ambled up with his proud papa smile, leaned in, and said "It's Oh-Sage."

Prof deflated.

[Tommaso]

And another one of which I was sure about the pronunciation until someone insisted otherwise: Georges Méliès. I hitherto always pronounced the final 's' in his surname. Is that right? Wikipedia seems to support me, but they speak of an 'english pronunciation' of that name. So how would a French speaker pronounce his surname?

[Mr Sausage]

It's mel - YAY I believe. French names tend not to pronounce the final -s. See: Francois.