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Non-English Names


Jim Simon

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Are we living in such an "Anglo-centric" that French is now just a dialect of "Non-English"? At least you said English and not "American" [. . .English"] though, s you aren't totally ignorant ;-)

 

To make a gross oversimplification of the beautiful French language, keeping in mind I never took a group lesson, ch is like an english sh in "sheet" but softer, generally the last consonant is silent except as a slight hint if the word following starts with a vowel (French words in effect only end with vowels, almost like the syllabic nature of Japanese), all French words are accented on the last syllable or are accentless as some people like to say, and the French "R" is more like an uuuuuuuuugh, almost like an English "W" but more pronounced.

 

Good luck with French vowel clusters, though you should have a pretty good idea from French words in common use in English.

 

~KB

 

It took me forever to realize Jacques was pronounced jjjack.

 

Oh, how could I forget, J is a zhhhhhh.

 

Then of course, "-ent" is completely silent at the end of a French word, and the vowels are nasalized. This is at the cruxt of "BOWL you". If you want to sound like President Bush speaking French (sorry to politicise it, just that I'd picture that as a perfect example of someone saying that with the Texas drawl "Boooo-uhl-yU"), then just do the typical half-assed pronunciation job, like you're using an American English pronunciation of the French spelling instead of taking the time to actually say the vowels and consonants slightly differently, as sounds are almost never exactly alike from one language to another. English is a very lazy language (though at least we retain pronunciation of the consonants and vowels at the ends of words :P ) so you want to try to minimize turning all vowels into the ubiquitous "uh" or mutter that vulgarity between trying to remember the French word for. . . and try to cut down on the very blunt, harsh typical English consonant sounds. French is more musical, certainly a prettier language than English, so the consonants are more delicate, gentler softer. Basically, you're faced with the daunting task of trying to play a very dynamic orchastral classical music piece with flutes, piccolos, and bells with the hands and equipment of a bass guitarist or a drummer from a typical grunge rock band. Good luck ;-)

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Are we living in such an "Anglo-centric" that French is now just a dialect of "Non-English"? At least you said English and not "American" [. . .English"]

 

The original title was "Foreign Names - and how to pronounce them". Then I realized that this may not be an American only forum. As there are some German names for lenses and such, I thought "non-English" was the best catch-all.

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This is at the cruxt of "BOWL you". If you want to sound like President Bush speaking French (sorry to politicise it, just that I'd picture that as a perfect example of someone saying that with the Texas drawl "Boooo-uhl-yU"), then just do the typical half-assed pronunciation job, like you're using an American English pronunciation of the...

 

Well thanks for shitting all over me, but I was sort of joking. I'll put in a smiley face next time.

Edited by Patrick McGowan
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Are we living in such an "Anglo-centric" that French is now just a dialect of "Non-English"? At least you said English and not "American" [. . .English"] though, s you aren't totally ignorant ;-)

Well, the question was posed in English...and not restricted to French names...

 

How about "Saussure?" Swiss linguist often referenced in cinema semiotics. Wikipedia spells out the phonetics as so'syʁ - but somehow, that makes less sense.

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not Beau as in beautiful and lieu as in 'in-Lieu'

 

bue - loo

 

(bue like cue)

 

??

 

How is Yvar pronounced ? as in the older Bolex lenses...

 

I've been told I-var - but yavar (the 1st 'a' is very short like Y'var) has been in my head all this time...

 

I dont even know for sure how to say 'Hugy-Fot' either ! its an underwater housing specialist company...

Edited by Nick Mulder
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Well thanks for shitting all over me, but I was sort of joking. I'll put in a smiley face next time.

 

Well, I actually started a new paragraph (I'll post an informative post on internet paragraph usage in forums tomorrow, I promise!) to set your quote apart from my only-semi-serious guide to the French language, and was trying to spread the shitt around. Besides, you're not from Texas, you're from MA, so you already are pretty close to the propper French R than the Texans are. ;)

 

This is where English needs a non-hillbilly/Texan way of distinguishing between the singular and plural 2nd person. I'm pretty sure if I used "thou" on an internet forum, thee, thine, thy, I'd probably get a special distinction whereby I would get a title like "Student Stoner" or "Never the Sober Poster". But then I'd loose credibility, and it wouldn't just be the posts I make at 4 or 5 in the morning that people dismiss as rants.

 

It's kinda funny, I want to be taken seriously, but I probalby post the most garbage on this forum, even more than the crazy British kid or the guy that writes long "masterpieces" on the merits of a home-moive format with a plastic pressure-plate replacing 35mm for "some shots" on the show (you know, it's too bad they didn't do that for just ONE EPISODE of LOST this season, then it may not have been a $300,000 bill for reshooting pristine 35mm negative, he could have just written another twenty hour internet saga about how the x-ray grain made the S8 look better!):lol:

 

For future reference, I try to make everything I say credible-sounding, but I MIGHT be laying on sarcasm at the end. :P (But I reserve the right to throw in some factual film stats in between wise cracks and biting cynical rebuttals).

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It is not bu-lee. But more like BEAU (as In Beau Brummel) -LEE-IEU (as 'in-Lieu' )

YVAR I've always heard pronounced like EEVAR.

Leicina is a 50/50 split because Leca cameras are pronounced LIKE-A but many do say LICE-EEN-AH.

 

 

Don't worry about not pronouncing French like a native. It took me a few months to be able to pronounce the name of the street that I lived on well enough for a taxi driver to understand me!

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Wow...this thread is so funny :D

 

As a French native I don't have much problem to pronounce most of those names...but seeing your transcriptions is something really interesting.

 

First thing I would say is : don't bother how to pronounce them, unless you really need :lol:

 

Second thing : French language is far different from English not only by the vocab' or sentence structure but also because of the sounds people pronounce. Just for an example the famous 'lieu' of Beaulieu is something typically French that you may have in English as a direct transcription on French... and the 'on' at the end of Chinon is way different from your 'on' (ON/OFF, as an example), in French, this sound comes from your mouth AND your nose...too difficult to explain :P

 

Anyway, for Beaulieu :

- 'Beau' is closer than the sound you have when pronouncing 'Boat', just try to say Boat and maintain the 'oa' sound ; you'll get the good sound before your 'oa' turns too 'ow' at the end of the word. 'Boat' sounds like 'Boawt' in English, right ? then the sound you're looking for is just before the 'w'

- Lieu is more difficult as I don't have muche reference to use for the 'eu' sound, 'li' is like 'lee' but shorter ...

 

Chinon :

- 'Chi' sounds like 'she'

- 'non' ... is once again quite difficult to explain as your English 'non' would nearly sound like 'none'. 'on' is a nasal sound that you don't have in English (Gosh...do you have somthing I can use to make your pronounce those words :D )

 

I'll try to find some more words I can use to 'teach' you some of those words but...I guess languages are just something you can learn when you hear it ;)

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