Tag Archives: Pronunciation Tip

Pronunciation tip: Sláinte, Céad míle fáilte

Posted on March 14, 2018 | 3 comments

St. Patrick’s Day is almost upon us, and that has inspired me to do a quick pronunciation tip video for the two things in Irish you’re most likely to encounter on St. Paddy’s. You will see that I had fun making this video. How much fun? Well, why don’t you watch it – it’s not that long.

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Tagged céad míle fáilte, Gaelic, Irish, Pronunciation Tip, sláinte, St. Patrick's Day

Pronunciation tip: Nguyen

Posted on February 25, 2018 | Leave a comment

I’m not going to tell you that Vietnamese pronunciation is easy to master. But there’s one Vietnamese name we encounter often that many of us are severely daunted by that is actually quite within easy reach for English speakers. It’s all about that NG…

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Tagged how to say, Nguyen, Pronunciation Tip, Vietnamese

Winter Olympic pronunciation tip: Pita Taufatofua, the Tongan flagbearer

Posted on February 11, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here’s a quick pronunciation tip. Heads turned when a well-oiled bit of beefcake carried a flag for Tonga in the freezing air of the Winter Olympic opening ceremonies. And what was his name again?

…uh… Say that again?

Here.

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Tagged flag bearer, opening ceremony, Pita Taufatofua, Pronunciation Tip, Tonga, Winter Olympics

Winter Olympic pronunciation tip: sz – Polish vs. Hungarian

Posted on February 5, 2018 | Leave a comment

With the Winter Olympics, you’ll see a slight increase in the number of Eastern European names you haven’t encountered before, including a definite uptick in ones containing sz. Most of those will be Polish or Hungarian. And that’s where the trouble starts, because it doesn’t sound the same in Hungarian as it does in Polish. So I’m going to tell you how to say not just sz but every available combination of c, s, and z in each of the two languages.

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Tagged Emőke Szőcs, how to say, Hungarian, Karolina Sztokfisz, Magdalena Czyszczoń, Natalia Wojtuściszyn, Petra Jászapáti, Polish, pronunciation, Pronunciation Tip, Sára Luca Bácskai, Winter Olympics

Winter Olympic pronunciation tips: Finnish

Posted on February 1, 2018 | 3 comments

I’m getting back onto the Winter Olympics, which are impending. Finnish names come up in a number of winter sports, and people often freak out needlessly and make easily fixed mistakes when trying to say them. Here are four tips to remember if you want to get reasonably close on the pronunciation of Finnish names. Pour yourself six shots and let’s go!

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Tagged Andreas Alamommo, Antti Aalto, Eetu Nousianen, Finnish, how to say, Janne Ahonen, Jarkko Määttä, Julia Kykkänen, Mika Pyörälä, names, Noora Räty, Pronunciation Tip, Winter Olympics

Chinese pronunciation tip 6: si, shi, ci, chi, zi, zhi, Cixi, and mei shir

Posted on January 29, 2018 | Leave a comment

I’m going to turn my pronunciation tip attention to the Olympics soon, but I wanted to cover one more thing in Chinese first: the I’s. Half the time you say them just as you see them, but the other half the time… you have to keep your eyes steady on this. I mean your I’s.

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Tagged bu shi, chi, Chinese, ci, Cixi, how to say, I, Mandarin, mei shir, Pinyin, pronunciation, Pronunciation Tip, Romanization, shi, si, transliteration, zhi, zi

Chinese pronunciation tip 5: Lucy Liu’s feng shui

Posted on January 25, 2018 | Leave a comment

Today’s pronunciation tip is on iu and ui. If Lucy Liu and Liu Xiaobo had talked about feng shui, how would you talk about that? Now you know…

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Tagged Chinese, feng shui, Liu Xiaobo, Lucy Liu, Mandarin, Pinyin, pronunciation, Pronunciation Tip

Chinese pronunciation tip 4: Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, -ang, -eng, -ing, and -ong

Posted on January 22, 2018 | Leave a comment

Back to the Pinyin! Today is the fourth tip on pronouncing Mandarin Chinese, and this time I’m starting with vowels. Chinese vowels vary a lot depending on what’s before and after them. Let’s start by looking a set that most English speakers miss the mark on most of the time.

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Tagged Chinese, Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, Mandarin, Mao Zedong, Pronunciation Tip

Chinese pronunciation tip 3: Mao Zedong, Cao Xueqin, Z, C

Posted on January 18, 2018 | Leave a comment

I’ve added another pronunciation tip on Chinese, and you can expect a few more. Then I’ll move on… there are lots of other languages that people wonder about. Expect Hungarian, Finnish, Turkish, and lots more. But today, it’s time for Chairman Mao… and a closing quotation that is not from his little red book but may have to do with politics.

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Tagged Cao Xueqin, Chinese, Mandarin, Mao Zedong, pronunciation, Pronunciation Tip

Chinese pronunciation tip 2: Q, X, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang

Posted on January 16, 2018 | 2 comments

It’s time for another pronunciation tip on the Pinyin Romanization of Mandarin Chinese. Last time I told you about a letter you should say just as it looks. This time I’m telling you about two letters where there’s no question of doing that!