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How do you pronounce Dostoeyesky?

Kookamoor said:
He pops on and that's all we get?? WTF! I want a refund.
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LOL Kooamoor Right on!

Breviity ...... soul ........ wit.

Point taken. :D
But I'm trying to curb just a slight tendency, when 3 words will do, to use 3000. And also uninvolute. But, if you wish ,,,, no ,,,, no ..... don't go there!

Curb .... 3 ..... 3000 ..... Uninvo .......C?

Dah-sta .....

Cheer ...

Ped ...

:cool:?
 
Peder said:
How do you pronounce endless?
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End-Less; really Peder, you should have been able to work that one out.

As to Dostoyevski, Dastavefskee and all other variants, I've tried feeding them all into 'Let them sing it for you' and none of them sound totally convincing.

We shall have to wait for Sergo verdict...
C04761sm.jpg
 
Just checked the tapes from my old Hugo Russian course:

Достое́вский was pronounced do-sto-yev-skeey when spoken slowly and da-sta-yef-skee at normal speed.

But does Sergo agree? Or is he, as I've often suspected, actually a Japanesse schoolgirl with no more knowledge of Russian grammer than a pickled herring?

I think we should be told...
 
Ok, here's my two cents: I don't think it matters all that much. I think it's better to pronounce authors' names (and foreign words in general) in a way that sounds natural in the language you are speaking. For instance, when speaking French I try to pronounce English or Spanish names the way the French do because otherwise I would come across as a big show off. In my humble opinion, what matters is that you "use" the right name, I find it a bit upsetting when people refer to Gabriel García Márquez as "Márquez" or Mario Vargas Llosa as "Llosa". Not only are they using the wrong name but it can get very confusing as you would never be able to find them under "M" or "L" respectively. Way off topic, sorry, it's just that I feel kind of strongly about this :eek:
 
NotTheDoctor,
I understand your point and I do know people who typically use Anglicized, or Americanized, pronunciations of foreign names. However some of the pronunciations seem strained and suggest to me that the matter is not as black and white as you seem to suggest. I am thinking in particular of the pronunciation Jay-kweez, for those whom I ordinarily think of as Jacques. Does an English pronunciation of Dostoyevsky have to be different from an approximately corrrect Russian pronunciation, given that the two don't have to be far apart in the first place, for that example?

As far as Llosa goes, I think your issue may not be as much with pronunciation as with general literacy in the first place?

And wondrous are the pronunciations of Goethe that I have heard also, which I will mention as an example, since you use his language in your signature. They hurt the ears. So I prefer some approximation to the native pronunciation. And that takes just a little bit of doing for names that use sounds not present in English. So I think there are cases and then there are cases, some black, some white, some in between.
Peder
 
P.S. StillILearn,
Your pronunciation does not hurt my ears.

I was thinking of a gentleman who says Goy-ta. /ouch/

Peder
 
Peder said:
P.S. StillILearn,
Your pronunciation does not hurt my ears.

I was thinking of a gentleman who says Goy-ta. /ouch/

Peder
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Sounds like goiter in Brooklyn-ese? :D

I have pronounced it Go-th. I got stopped. :eek:
 
Peder said:
the matter is not as black and white as you seem to suggest
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Guilty as charged! The point I was trying to make is that as long as people know who you are talking about then you should be fine and you can always ask someone who speaks the language what the correct pronunciation of any given name is. Believe me, I understand what it's like to feel embarrassed because you don't know how to pronounce a name! I used to play the violin and we were doing something by Dvořák once and nobody was quite sure how to pronounce that (I still don't know so if anyone has a clue...). But knowing the correct pronunciation of a name shouldn't become more important than reading the author's actual work. Personally, I find the "Llosa" or "Marquez" thing more upsetting, or people who write "Campus" when they mean Camus. As far as pronouncing things according to the language you are speaking, what I actually had in mind was saying "Harry Potter" with my sort of American accent while speaking French and getting really weird looks from the people I was talking to. I used to be very picky about this kind of thing but after 4 years in France I have gotten used to some very "creative" ways of pronouncing names and other things and I think I've even forgotten what my name sounds like in Spanish :p And as far as "Jacques" goes... well, I've never heard that one mispronounced!
Like you, I prefer some approximation to the native pronunciation but unless the "mispronouncer" turns out to be a real moron, I'll settle for a nice shade of gray ;)
 
NotTheDoctor said:
I find it a bit upsetting when people refer to Gabriel García Márquez as "Márquez" or Mario Vargas Llosa as "Llosa". Not only are they using the wrong name but it can get very confusing as you would never be able to find them under "M" or "L" respectively.
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In the Borders and Waterstones of Glasgow Márquez is filed under 'M'.
 
NotTheDoctor said:
I used to play the violin and we were doing something by Dvořák once and nobody was quite sure how to pronounce that (I still don't know so if anyone has a clue...). ;)
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However you pronounced it, it could not be anything as bad as a Japanese friend of mine. She said 'doboroksan'. I admit the san bit, because that's the rule in Japanese but, the rest? And you should hear many Londoners take on Beethoven
 
sirmyk said:
Great link... I find pasting the word "dick" over and over again makes for some great (strange) techno beat.
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And to think, your PC has multiple amounts of the computing power used to put a man on the moon...

Anyway, back to the thread. See what happens when Sergo disappears for a day, the place turns to anarchy. It's only a matter of time before some smartarse posts a screenshot from 'The Man With Two Brains'

film_brains.jpg


and asks how you pronounce Dr Hfuhruhurr and Miss Uumellmahaye.

Oh...
 
You could always enjoy Edwin Morgan actually pronouncing his poem, The Loch Ness Monster's Song:

Sssnnnwhuffffll?
Hnwhuffl hhnwfl hnfl hfl?
Gdroblboblhobngbl gbl gl g g g g glbgl.
Drublhaflablhaflubhafgabhaflhafl fl fl -
gm grawwwww grf grawf awfgm graw gm.
Hovoplodok-doplodovok-plovodokot-doplodokosh?
Splgraw fok fok splgrafhatchgabrlgabrl fok splfok!
Zgra kra gka fok!
Grof grawff gahf?
Gombl mbl bl -
blm plm,
blm plm,
blm plm,
blp.
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