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I thought I'd put this up seperately so as not to derail http://www.therugbyforum.com/threads/34433-Oceanic-name-pronunciation/page1
I'll be adding some sound bites if I can figure them out; just so much easier than trying to type phonetically. Though a few clarifications/instructions may be useful. A very common one is for English speakers to pronounce a common surname- Van der Merwe- with the 'Van' sounding like the English word 'van' (truck) whereas it would be pronounced (to use the closest avaiable English word) very much like a short/chopped 'fun'. 'Merwe' is a tricky one. The first vowel of
'M-e-rwe' would be similar to the '-a-' sound in 'cat' while the '-w-' would be close to the way you pronounce the 'v' in the English word 'very'. So 'Fun duhr Me(cAt)rw(Very)uh'.
The correct way to type a name would be upper case for the name and main part(s) of the surname if both are used but upper case for the first part of the surname as well if the surname is written stading alone;
Arno van der Westhuizen
Johan van Graan
Lodewyk de Jager
Barend Janse van Rensburg
vs
Van der Westhuizen
Van Graan
De Jager
Janse van Rensburg
IE; The 'de', 'du', 'le', 'van', 'der' and 'den' prefixes are the ones to look out for and keep lower case unless the surname is standing alone.
It might be interesting to note and helpful to know that in Afrikaans the word for both 'surname' and 'from' is 'van'.
Feel free to ask for specific player's names here (or any other Afrikaans word for that matter) to be pronouced (born in the Tranvaal but having lived most of my life in the Cape I have a fairly neutral accent).
Edit; testing the pronounciation of 'Oosthuizen'; http://<object width="148" height="44"><param name="movie" value="http://vocaroo.com/player.swf?playMediaID=s1oY04h9Wj4v&autoplay=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed
I'll be adding some sound bites if I can figure them out; just so much easier than trying to type phonetically. Though a few clarifications/instructions may be useful. A very common one is for English speakers to pronounce a common surname- Van der Merwe- with the 'Van' sounding like the English word 'van' (truck) whereas it would be pronounced (to use the closest avaiable English word) very much like a short/chopped 'fun'. 'Merwe' is a tricky one. The first vowel of
'M-e-rwe' would be similar to the '-a-' sound in 'cat' while the '-w-' would be close to the way you pronounce the 'v' in the English word 'very'. So 'Fun duhr Me(cAt)rw(Very)uh'.
The correct way to type a name would be upper case for the name and main part(s) of the surname if both are used but upper case for the first part of the surname as well if the surname is written stading alone;
Arno van der Westhuizen
Johan van Graan
Lodewyk de Jager
Barend Janse van Rensburg
vs
Van der Westhuizen
Van Graan
De Jager
Janse van Rensburg
IE; The 'de', 'du', 'le', 'van', 'der' and 'den' prefixes are the ones to look out for and keep lower case unless the surname is standing alone.
It might be interesting to note and helpful to know that in Afrikaans the word for both 'surname' and 'from' is 'van'.
Feel free to ask for specific player's names here (or any other Afrikaans word for that matter) to be pronouced (born in the Tranvaal but having lived most of my life in the Cape I have a fairly neutral accent).
Edit; testing the pronounciation of 'Oosthuizen'; http://<object width="148" height="44"><param name="movie" value="http://vocaroo.com/player.swf?playMediaID=s1oY04h9Wj4v&autoplay=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed
