English Audio: Speech and Pronunciation

Re: Kjeldsens

Pter — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:57:00 GMT

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. The brand name is in fact Danish but I have only heard the pronunciation for the Chinese translation.

Cool Breeze
Sometimes the British pronounce foreign names in a way that is 50 percent British and 50 percent foreign. The other day I saw an ad for a French bicycle race on Eurosport 2: Paris - Nice. They didn't say Paris in the British way, they dropped the final s but they also pronounced the a as in cat and stressed the first syllable. Quite a combination!

That's funny. Just like a British pretending to have a French accent!

Re: Kjeldsens

Cool Breeze — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:12:03 GMT

Pter
Bjork is the name of a famous singer from Iceland. So, I suppose Swedish is one of the commonly spoken languages in Iceland, right? The pronounciation I heard from a previous Grammy Award is pretty much like your say an English word: B-jork. I guess most foreign names are anglicized (or Americanized) by the guests in their own ways in events like these, aren't they?

Hi Pter

I cannot guarantee my suggestion of the Danish name is correct. As far as I have been able to find out, it's a Danish company and the name may be of foreign origin, it may not be Danish at all. Actually, it doesn't strike me as particularly Scandinavian at all.

With regard to Bjork, I thought it was a misspelled Swedish noun. BjÃ¶rk is Swedish and means birch or birch-tree. If it's Icelandic, the pronunciation may be slightly different although I don't think it is. They speak Icelandic in Iceland, not Swedish, but the languages are very similar Germanic languages. Because there has been hardly any foreign influence on the Icelandic language, it has undergone few changes in a thousand years

English people pronounce foreign proper nouns as if they were English. About 20 years ago I was speaking about a Swedish tennis player with an Englishman and it took me a while to realise we were talking about the same man. I had never heard the English pronunciation of BjÃ¶rn Borg. Sometimes the British pronounce foreign names in a way that is 50 percent British and 50 percent foreign. The other day I saw an ad for a French bicycle race on Eurosport 2: Paris - Nice. They didn't say Paris in the British way, they dropped the final s but they also pronounced the a as in cat and stressed the first syllable. Quite a combination!

Cheers

Re: Kjeldsens

Pter — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:27:34 GMT

Thanks CB. So, the two J's are pronounced differently because they are of different origins!

I am wondering what a native English speaker would anglicize the pronounciations. Bjork is the name of a famous singer from Iceland. So, I suppose Swedish is one of the commonly spoken languages in Iceland, right? The pronounciation I heard from a previous Grammy Award is pretty much like your say an English word: B-jork. I guess most foreign names are anglicized (or Americanized) by the guests in their own ways in events like these, aren't they?

Re: Kjeldsens

Cool Breeze — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:21:48 GMT

Kjeldsens is Danish, which I am not familiar with, but until a Dane comes along and proves me wrong, I think it is pronounced [kÊeldsens] (IPA symbols). The second sound [Ê] is a soft s, the same as is the word she. I may be wrong, though.

BjÃ¶rk is Swedish and is pronounced in pretty much as it is spelled. You don't of course know how to pronounce Ã¶, which is fairly close to the first sound in alone, only clearer and stronger. The b is more or less the same as in English words (balance, but), j is the same as the y in young, r is rolled as in Scottish English, perhaps even stronger, and the final k is exactly the same as in think.

Cheers

Re: Kjeldsens

Avangi — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:36:52 GMT

Try Cool Breeze

Kjeldsens

Pter — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:32:41 GMT

Anyone knows how to pronounce Kjeldsens? It's a brand name of cookies.

Thanks.

EDIT: And how about Bjork?