non-fixie 

Well... You can check it at 1:08:

rootboy 

Interesting. She pronounced the T at the end of hyu-ret.

New one on me.

ThermionicScott 

Me too. I was getting all uppity about "Huret", but I guess some proper names don't follow the rules. Still couldn't hear much of an "h" though.

The late Sheldon Brown argued that "pannier" had been a loanword to English for long enough that we at least could say it as "pan-yer."

Chrome Molly

This thread reminds me of the time I was in the Quetico provincial park and the Ranger asked me which lakes I was on. I sure butchered the pronunciation of Fauquier and Dumas...

loky1179

Great, now I realize I can't pronounce the names of my own bikes. When I ride my Specialized Uh-Lezz, I just say I'm going to ride the red bike.

When I ride my Bee-ohn-key Ree-part-oh-course, I just say I'm riding the green bike. Or is it blue? Damn your-opp-peons don't make it easy, especially when you grew up in Minn-EE-SOO-TAH!

zazenzach

Not to add to the confusion, but I'm almost positive the correct pronunciation is "Tang" (as in the drink) and "gay." Atleast thats what my Japanese friends have said.

Japan has various dilects so maybe the "Tawn" sound is correct too.

JohnDThompson 

Thanks... sounds more like "gwair-CHOE-tee"

noglider 

Nope. The 'i' after a 'c' serves to make the 'c' soft, but one does not pronounce it. So it's gair chawt ee. It has three syllables, not four.

RaleighSport

My friends who speak Japanese aren't Japanese but do teach English in Japan, and they also pronounce it tang-gay as you wrote it out.

bici_mania

No matter how that is pronounced, it is fun to say. I can entertain myself for hours saying that word.

I venture to guess that Bot-tech-kia is incorrect?

desconhecido 

That should get someone close, I'd think, assuming the first part is pronounced about like boat. As close as most American English speakers will get. Or, did I miss a joke?

CroMo Mike 

Some people try to insert "chee-ya" at the end, like "chee" in Cheetos. I've never heard anyone who should know to say "chee-ya".

unworthy1

heck NO, it's "Key-yah"...not a Chia pet. Not a Bottecelli.
The rules of Italian pronunciation are simple but they are NOT flexible. Once you learn them you will be amazed at how easy it is...and how often Us Amuricuns get it ALL WRONG.

CV-6 

Likewise for me. Typically that would only occur if the ending were "ette". Wonder how she pronounces Bobet?

Camilo

Which I always have, and I also pronounce foyer, foy yer. Sheldon, somewhere has a mini-rant on derailleur, saying that we should anglasize it to derailer and pronounce it that way.

I like to make a decent shot at pronouncing french and italian words correctly, but I'll worry about it when the french and italians pronounce english words perfectly.

But what really chaps my azz are the ignoramuses that mis-pronounce the popular line of fishing lures Rapala as rah PA la instead of properly RAP-ala. (RAP as in the popular branch of hip hop music, not as in the cheer).

Jeff Wills

Dura-Ace: doo-rah-chee

lostarchitect 

There is absolutely an "h" sound in "Huret," it's just hard for English speakers to hear it. It's subtle but it makes a difference.

Billy Bones

One more refinement on "Cinelli". The Italian auditory palette will pick out the double "L". The sound is held for a half-note longer than the single "L" and this goes for other double consonant's, too. It makes a difference in meaning in many cases. It's a little thing, but makes Italian the music it is.

ThermionicScott 

It's kind of vestigial, though -- my overall thinking on this thing is that pronunciation of a foreign language will always be an approximation, and for an English speaker who isn't ready for the minute details, it's better to internalize first that "h"s are silent than to make a big breathy English "h" sound. That's how my French teachers in high school approached it, anyway.

I mean, I'm not personally offended if people completely butcher the pronunciation of a foreign word, but if someone comes to one of these discussions interested in getting it right (or at least close), it's not helpful if people just bat around their anglicized versions.

lostarchitect 

Yeah, I get you. The thing is, Parisians will misunderstand you--or, more likely, pretend to misunderstand you, if you don't get stuff like this.

Camilo

I've only been to Paris once for a few days, but I encountered nothing but nice reactions to my butchering of French. On the other hand, the only thing I deigned to say was "excusez-moi, je ne parle pas français... parlez vous anglais?" That seemed to be appreciated even if butchered.

Darth Lefty 

There's an English tradition - the country not the language - of pronouncing foreign words, especially French, just as they are spelled on the page with English pronunciation. It's a way of sticking it to people who you think they think are better than you. The American tradition on the other hand is to try to sound French because it's fancy-talk. So for coupe, Americans will say "coop" or even drop the P, while English will say "coo-pay."

Japanese is usually pretty easy to parse. Each Japanese character has pretty much one vowel sound. Shi-Ma-No or Ni-Shi-Ki. So Tan-Ge is going to be two syllables. It's definitely not going to be "tang." It's not clear from reading it on the page whether it's a hard or soft g, or which of many sounds the e makes, but that's a problem with English.

Darth Lefty 

AGM-69 SRAM - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

lostarchitect 

I love Paris, but like many cities throughout the world, 90% of people are nice, and 10% are jerks. I live in NYC, same kinda thing here.

ThermionicScott 

Yeah, I'm brushing up on my French for this summer's trip, but realistically I know that I will have to fall back on my charm and any goodwill I can muster in the end...