demicjusz  +  52694 Fri, 29 Oct 04 04:29 PM When you come across foreign names, do you know immediately how to pronounce them? For example: 1. Nicolae 2. Tache 3. Fortaleza 4. Kien Giang 5. Gerti 6. Niedersachsenaged 7. Krister Nylander 8. Bollstabruk And what about the stress? Regards, D. demicjusz Joined on Mon, Aug 30 2004 Poland Junior Member 98 This is not an anonymous account. Demicjusz /da-'meets-yoosh/ Regards

	Mister Micawber  +  52920 Sun, 31 Oct 04 12:10 PM Nope, I just take a stab at it, Demi ( / 'de mi / ): 1. Nicolae / 'nik ? lei / 2. Tache / 'ta chei / 3. Fortaleza / four t? 'lei z? / 4. Kien Giang / ki 'en gi 'æng / 5. Gerti / 'geir ti / 6. Niedersachsenaged / 'ni: d?r zaks ? 'na: ged / 7. Krister Nylander / 'kris t?r 'nai læn d?r / 8. Bollstabruk / 'bol st? brük / How did I do? Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 30,789 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

	demicjusz  +  52966 Sun, 31 Oct 04 09:08 PM Thanks for having a go, Mr M. Well, I'm afraid I have no idea how well you did I'm not surprised about 'lei' in 3 (I see a parallel with 'Venezuela'), but as for 5, I expected 'ge:'. In 4, why 'g' rather than sound heard in 'gem'? Any analogies? And in 8, the last vowel is not from the English vowel system. Does it imply that when you see a foreign name you try to guess the original pronunciation rather than read it in accordance with the English pronunciation system? Does this phenomenon occur with the word 'genre'? Best regards, Demicjusz /de 'mi:ts yoush/ (At first, my nick was demi1, I used it on Polish forums, then on English ones, but I soon realised people understood it as a female name, so I added '-cjusz', which, at least in Polish, immediately shows masculinity; then I found I was addressed as 'Demi' again... but I don't mind P.S. Looking forward to other interpretations of the eight examples. demicjusz Vowels, Pronunciation, Regards, Analogies

	nona the brit  +  52968 Sun, 31 Oct 04 09:20 PM Well, here are my guesses for what it's worth! 1)Nicolae - nick-o- lie 2. Tache - Tasher 3. Fortaleza - Fort-a-leeza 4. Kien Giang - Kyen- Gyang 5. Gerti - sounds like Dirty but with a hard G at the front. 6. Niedersachsenaged - Needer-sacks- en - ged 7. Krister Nylander - Kri - ster-Nigh- lander 8. Bollstabruk - Bol -ster - brook nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all.

	Mister Micawber  +  52977 Sun, 31 Oct 04 10:36 PM Hi Demicjusz (whom I call 'Demi' not because I thought you were female, but because the combination of vowels in your suffix are difficult to remember and copy down), No excuses, no analogies-- I just incorporate what sounds I seem to remember about some foreign languages of which these might be examples, and plunge in. 'Genre' is English, retaining (to a varying degree) its French pronunciation, so that is general knowledge. I have no precedents to rely on for my Chinese pronunciation; I have a little for my Germanic, hence the 'ü' in '-bruk'. I use that knowledge if I have it. Also, I don't have a full set of IPA symbols, which I would dearly love to find somewhere. Any sources? Mister Micawber Vowels, Pronunciation, Whom, Analogies