Player name pronunciation

[TRF_stormer2010]

I thought it might be a good idea to get a thread up concerned with the pronunciation of player's names.

This is especially irritating when commentators get it wrong; seriously, your job is to comment on the game being played and the least effort you could put in is to make sure of the pronunciation of the player's names.

The reason why I bring this up is that I heard the commentator pronounce Queensland Reds player Digby Ioane's surname as yoh-hah-nee and found it interesting (all while mispronouncing the mainly Afrikaans names of Cheetahs players). Is this the correct pronunciation?

 

[Charles]

Apparently he asked the commentators to pronouce it this way, which is the correct Samoan pronouciation, and not a-i-o-ne. Oh and the english spelling/pronouciation correspondance is f*** up btw

 

[lucky number 7]

They never had my name on any of the old games for creating a player...nor did they have anything that sounded remotely like it. If my name is not included in the new game I am going to be rather miffed and frown for quite a few minutes.....

 

[Shaggy]

I thought it might be a good idea to get a thread up concerned with the pronunciation of player's names.

This is especially irritating when commentators get it wrong; seriously, your job is to comment on the game being played and the least effort you could put in is to make sure of the pronunciation of the player's names.

The reason why I bring this up is that I heard the commentator pronounce Queensland Reds player Digby Ioane's surname as yoh-hah-nee and found it interesting (all while mispronouncing the mainly Afrikaans names of Cheetahs players). Is this the correct pronunciation?

Couldn't agree more ... I've got to admit that this bugs me more than it probably should- for years the Aussie commentators were pronouncing his name I-OWN-KNEE, then the Reds would have a game in New Zealand the next week, and his name would be pronounced more correctly to the as YOU-ARN-KNEE ... you were left wondering if they were the same player.

I am by no means a Linguist myself, although I was married to a Samoan back in the dim dark past, so that helps me a little. To me, these guys are playing week in, week out, its important for the commentators to at least try to get the pronunciation right - if they are too lazy to research that, it makes me doubt the validity of the other stuff that comes out of their mouths.

The other the one that used to really get me, was Lote Tuqiri, which was pronounced LOT-TEE TA-KERRY when its closer to (my apologises to my Fijian friends) LOW-TAY TIN-GEAR-REE.

I wouldn't have a clue how to pronounce some of the Afrikaaner names, so I do rely on the South African commentators to help me out there.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Biggest issue with the SA teams this season is between the Stormers full-back Conrad Jantjes and Lions fly-half Elton Jantjies.

The tjie-combination in Afrikaans names and words is pronounced as "key", while the tje-combination is pronounced as it is written.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Forget players, I'm sick of watching the 'Lalelly' Scarlets.

 

[dullonien]

I'd say that some of the Welsh commentators are the best from what I've seen. No I'm not talking about Jonathan Davies who get's confused in an instant, but more the Welsh speaking commentators on S4C. Eddie Buttler is an intelligent chap and appears to get most correct aswell, or at least he's done some research to attempt to get it right. Afrikaan names are sometimes quite confusing, as I'm sure some Welsh names are for outsiders. The amount of times Welsh names are completely miss pronounced, not only in rugby but in the news in general in Britain alone is shocking, yet they seem to make every attempt to pronnounce Muslim, French or any other nations names correctly.

Jonathan Davies is rubbish though, so much so that I find it quite ammusing most the times. I know other just find it irritating though!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Heard someone pronounce "Ieuan" and "Eye-oo-waine" before

Not sure I've ever heard an English speaking commentator pronounce Hairydonkeys name right They normally change their pronunciation several times throughout the match,
Same with "Koyamaibole" - always getting extra 'M's, 'N's and 'B's thrown in

 

[Duckdee]

Is Tuilagi meant to have an "n" in it?

 

[Draggs]

During USA v Wales the (Yank) commentators were talking about a Denial Jones, which later became Dean-yall Jones. Not to mention Jonathan Dave-EE's.

I have no problem with most Afrikaans names (thank you Blades) but the Pacific Islanders ones throw me off (all sorts of extra letters it seems).

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Is Tuilagi meant to have an "n" in it?

Apparently so!
I always thought that commentators just couldn't read, but apparently it's pronounced with an N (or so I was told on the Sale forums anyhow)

 

[lucky number 7]

If it didn't have the "n" it would just sound like an asian gamer complaining about their internet connection....


christ that was ****....

 

[Shaggy]

Is Tuilagi meant to have an "n" in it?

In terms of pronouncing it, the answer is yes ... as I said, i'm not the expert, but a close effort on my part is TOO-EE-LUNG-EE ... another interesting one is the Samoan word for a person of European decent "Palagi" ... once again, I pronounce it like a Palagi, so if some of my Samoan/Islander friends want to correct me, I welcome it, but anyway here goes PBA-LUNG-EE ... there is more of a B sound than a P sound

... Anyway, almost getting out of my depth here

 

[THE_DINGMEISTER]

It's pretty funny when Jiffy pronounces Trinh-duc as trin (rhyming with 'bin') duck.

On another note, not sure if you guys have seen this but its pretty funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj9V2ALEcdw

 

[Sam Owen]

... I've got to admit that this bugs me more than it probably should- for years the Aussie commentators were pronouncing his name I-OWN-KNEE, then the Reds would have a game in New Zealand the next week, and his name would be pronounced more correctly to the as YOU-ARN-KNEE ...

Close Shag. Ioane correctly pronounced is YOUR-AH-NE, so you pretty much right Shag come to think of it lol.

Is Tuilagi meant to have an "n" in it?

The 'g' is silent. With the 'g' there TUILAGI becomes TUI-LA-NGEE, if you put an 'n' there TUILAGI becomes TUI-LA-KNEE.

 

[TNT88]

The commentators started calling him I-oane, but once he made the Wallabies squad he asked them to pronounce it with a (U) sound instead of the I.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Couldn't agree more ... I've got to admit that this bugs me more than it probably should- for years the Aussie commentators were pronouncing his name I-OWN-KNEE, then the Reds would have a game in New Zealand the next week, and his name would be pronounced more correctly to the as YOU-ARN-KNEE ... you were left wondering if they were the same player.
QUOTE]

Yeah, that's why I asked; I've heard it pronounced EYE-OWE-NEE for a couple of seasons and then during the weekend the YOH-AH-NEE sounded more correct if only because it didn't miss the a in Ioane LOL.

Biggest issue with the SA teams this season is between the Stormers full-back Conrad Jantjes and Lions fly-half Elton Jantjies.

The tjie-combination in Afrikaans names and words is pronounced as "key", while the tje-combination is pronounced as it is written.

That's a bit of a pet peeve of mine as well if only because its our own fans getting it wrong. Jantjes is YAN-CHuh-S (as in chips) where Jantjies is pronounced YAIN-KEYS (not just the -tjes and -tjies that are different but you pronounce the Jan- part differently as well)

The others where foreigners struggle I 'm fine with (if the foreigner isn't a professional commentator) because I struggle with Celtic names myself. Islander and French names I'm fine with and obviously English names and Spanish (Argentina) names as well.

I'd say that some of the Welsh commentators are the best from what I've seen. No I'm not talking about Jonathan Davies who get's confused in an instant, but more the Welsh speaking commentators on S4C. Eddie Buttler is an intelligent chap and appears to get most correct aswell, or at least he's done some research to attempt to get it right. Afrikaan names are sometimes quite confusing, as I'm sure some Welsh names are for outsiders. The amount of times Welsh names are completely miss pronounced, not only in rugby but in the news in general in Britain alone is shocking, yet they seem to make every attempt to pronnounce Muslim, French or any other nations names correctly.

Jonathan Davies is rubbish though, so much so that I find it quite ammusing most the times. I know other just find it irritating though!

Yeah, the Welsh names are the most difficult for me LOL. Sometimes don't even know where to start.

As for Afrikaans names here are a few handy rules:

- Any surname with a 'de', 'den' or 'der' beforehand (De Villiers, Van der Merwe) it is pronounced DUH with a quick 'uh' sound. Original meaning 'the'. My own surname is De Jager meaning 'the hunter'.
- 'Van' is pronounced the same as 'fun' as in hunting is a lot of fun (Van Heerden, Van den Heever). Original menaing 'from' and that's why you get a lot of 'Van der' meaning 'from the'.
- One place where I find people get confused is with our pronunciation of the 'coupled consonants' in our names. 'IE' is pronounced 'EY' as in lock and kEY (Pienaar, Olivier). 'AA' is a longish 'AHhh' sound like the doctor asks for. 'OO' is pronounced..will get bakc to this one LOL. 'UI' and 'UY' are pronounced the same as 'day'; a day in May. Although the 'UI' is dragged out a bit (Oosthuizen, Van der Westhuizen, Uys, Geldenhuys). 'Huizen' and 'Huys' both meaning 'house'; 'East house', 'From the West house', 'Money house'. 'EE' is pronounced the same as the 'ee' in 'leer'; as in what creepy people do (Van Heerden).

 

[dullonien]

Thanks for that stormer, I'll have to start practising, because some of those rules are quite hard to remember, some I was already getting right however.

As for Welsh names, there isn't much to learn really, it's just bloody difficult lol. The main problem areas are allways 'LL', 'CH' and 'DD', which are actually single letters in the Welsh alphabet. It's tough to describe how to pronnounce 'LL' and 'CH', as they aren't sounds found in alot of languages, I'll try as best I can:

LL - this is a soft throat sound. I compare it as a softer version of the sound a cat makes when it's angry and 'hisses', arching it's back and such. It's bloody hard to explain, any other Welsh posters got a better way of explaining it? Basically though, it has very little similarity to the letter L.

CH - this is similar to 'LL' above, but a little harsher.

DD - this is pronnounced in a similar way to 'TH' in English, but much softer. Just relax your mouth a little more.

Other things to remember is that there is no 'V' in the Welsh alphabet. Instead 'F' takes it's place and is pronnounced softer than it is in English. There is then a 'FF' (again a single letter in the Welsh alphabet), that is pronnounced as a 'harsh' 'F'. Another letter that confuses people is 'RH' (yes another single letter), erm, the 'R' is rolled slightly before adding a 'UH' kinda sound at the end - 'RR-UH'.

That's the main ones that you'll probably come across in Welsh names. 'TH' is pronnounced as it is in English, but a little harsher, and it's a single letter in the Welsh alphabet once more. Some troublesome names:

Rhys
Llewelyn
Rhiannon (my sisters name)
Dylan (my name). This isn't pronnounced DILL-UN as English people do, It's pronnounced in the same way as if you combine the word DULL and the name ANN, DULL-ANN.
Dafydd etc.

Here's a useful recource: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/livinginwales/sites/howdoisay/names/index.shtml?a

 

[Duckdee]

Welsh names are evil, "Jones" WTF is that??

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Thanks for that stormer, I'll have to start practising, because some of those rules are quite hard to remember, some I was already getting right however.

As for Welsh names, there isn't much to learn really, it's just bloody difficult lol. The main problem areas are allways 'LL', 'CH' and 'DD', which are actually single letters in the Welsh alphabet. It's tough to describe how to pronnounce 'LL' and 'CH', as they aren't sounds found in alot of languages, I'll try as best I can:

LL - this is a soft throat sound. I compare it as a softer version of the sound a cat makes when it's angry and 'hisses', arching it's back and such. It's bloody hard to explain, any other Welsh posters got a better way of explaining it? Basically though, it has very little similarity to the letter L.

CH - this is similar to 'LL' above, but a little harsher.

DD - this is pronnounced in a similar way to 'TH' in English, but much softer. Just relax your mouth a little more.

Other things to remember is that there is no 'V' in the Welsh alphabet. Instead 'F' takes it's place and is pronnounced softer than it is in English. There is then a 'FF' (again a single letter in the Welsh alphabet), that is pronnounced as a 'harsh' 'F'. Another letter that confuses people is 'RH' (yes another single letter), erm, the 'R' is rolled slightly before adding a 'UH' kinda sound at the end - 'RR-UH'.

That's the main ones that you'll probably come across in Welsh names. 'TH' is pronnounced as it is in English, but a little harsher, and it's a single letter in the Welsh alphabet once more. Some troublesome names:

Rhys
Llewelyn
Rhiannon (my sisters name)
Dylan (my name). This isn't pronnounced DILL-UN as English people do, It's pronnounced in the same way as if you combine the word DULL and the name ANN, DULL-ANN.
Dafydd etc.

Here's a useful recource: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/livinginwales/sites/howdoisay/names/index.shtml?a

That sounds difficult LOL. Will keep coming back and practising, tx.