[Juju Nostalgique]

Originally Posted by Coconut91

Yes, but the surname Puig is not of castilian origin, it is catalan, so the correct pronunciation would be the catalan one --> "Pooch", not the spanish one he's using. Doesn't matter though, I bet everyone calls her Pooig.

That's what I was trying to explain!

I know Pooig/Pweek must be the common way to pronounce it in America but it would be interesting how the family actually pronounces it. They probably say Pweek though... (as long as it's not Pweeook... )

[Jan_S]

Originally Posted by AnnieIWillKnow

What always confuses me is where to put the emphasis with -ova names. Sometimes you emphasis the OVA, sometimes not. Does anyone know why this is?

Your confusion is completely understandable, because--without any warning--you hear some of the names pretty close to how they should sound, and some of them always mispronounced: Sharapova is the best example here, the incorrect english pronunciation is more-or-less the only one used outside of central and eastern Europe.

It is true that the rules on where the emphasis should be, differ among slavic languages. In Bulgarian and Russian, it can be (in principle) almost anywhere. In Czech and Slovak, the emphasis is marginal and (almost) always on the first syllable.

HOWEVER!: There is one common rule which anybody can follow without making a mistake. The -ova suffix is NEVER pronounced as it would be in English. The single vowels correspond to constant sounds, and 'o' should never be pronounced as in 'cope' or 'over', but always as in 'slot'. The 'a' at the very end can be short (russian, bulgarian names; like in 'stunt') or long (czech, slovak; like in 'vase').

[*JR*]

Originally Posted by LefandePatty

Lina Krasnoroutskaya?

Without the severely career-limiting injuries, Baby Blue Eyes would be much better known.

[Trigo]

Originally Posted by Jan_S

Your confusion is completely understandable, because--without any warning--you hear some of the names pretty close to how they should sound, and some of them always mispronounced: Sharapova is the best example here, the incorrect english pronunciation is more-or-less the only one used outside of central and eastern Europe.

It is true that the rules on where the emphasis should be, differ among slavic languages. In Bulgarian and Russian, it can be (in principle) almost anywhere. In Czech and Slovak, the emphasis is marginal and (almost) always on the first syllable.

HOWEVER!: There is one common rule which anybody can follow without making a mistake. The -ova suffix is NEVER pronounced as it would be in English. The single vowels correspond to constant sounds, and 'o' should never be pronounced as in 'cope' or 'over', but always as in 'slot'. The 'a' at the very end can be short (russian, bulgarian names; like in 'stunt') or long (czech, slovak; like in 'vase').

Really really love posts like this one!

The only thing I would say is that your last example was a little bit misleading.
Most people pronounce VASE as "veys/vays"... And I think you're going with "vahz".
Took me a while to fully understand what you were saying...
(Said to myself: Kvee-to-vay... and realised something was quite wrong)

[antonella]

Originally Posted by AnnieIWillKnow

What always confuses me is where to put the emphasis with -ova names. Sometimes you emphasis the OVA, sometimes not. Does anyone know why this is?

A good general rule with East Slavic languages(Russian, Bulgarian,etc.) is to place the accent on the second syllable, although Russian accents are all over the place, and long names put accents towards the middle.

[Craig.]

Originally Posted by *JR*

I think we should ask Cynthia Zimmerman.

I will never get over "Danielle Antoxfa"

[Viktymise]

Originally Posted by LefandePatty

Lina Krasnoroutskaya?

Originally Posted by *JR*

Without the severely career-limiting injuries, Baby Blue Eyes would be much better known.

I'm not sure she had quite the physique required for a long-term tennis career. She always struck me as pretty unathletic. A BH as beautiful as she was, though.

[Jan_S]

Originally Posted by Trigo

Really really love posts like this one!

The only thing I would say is that your last example was a little bit misleading.
Most people pronounce VASE as "veys/vays"... And I think you're going with "vahz".
Took me a while to fully understand what you were saying...
(Said to myself: Kvee-to-vay... and realised something was quite wrong)

Thanks for pointing that out. I was pretty sure that 'vahz' is the way they pronounce it in (most of) UK, at least they taught us, but I only suspected that it differs in America. Indeed, it was the British pronunciation I had in mind.

[NoChokes]

Heather WATSON.

No matter how many times I try, her same always comes out sounding like ROBSON.

Too confusing having so many good players in this country these days.

[BH both wings]

Originally Posted by Israel

Su-Wei Hsieh. No idea how to pronounce this.

As mentioned before, the mainland (Mandarin) rendering of that name would be Xie Shu-wei (pinyin) as opposed to Hsieh Su-wei (Wade/Giles). "Xie" is pronounced differently in different Mandarin dialects, but a little bit like "s(h)jeh". The initial consonant is a voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant that doesn't exist in many languages (like English, Modern Hebrew or Eastern Arabic, but it exists in some Scandinavian languages (Dutch, Danish, Swedish - "sj")).

However, as Hsieh is not from the northern mainland, all that doesn't matter. In taiwanese Mandarin, the diphthong "Hsieh"/"Xie" is inverted in a way, not "i-eh", but "eh-(y)" and the "Hs" is often pronounced a little bit more "juicy". So basically: "shay" (with a tendency to "sheh").
Additionally, "shu" (northern mainland Mandarin) is pronounced and transcripted "su", like in southern mainland Mandarin.

If you pronounce her name "Shay Soo-way", you are pretty safe. Bonus points for correct tones, of course.

[pesto]

Yes Jan is right, it's vahz in the uk.

The more you hear a name, the easier it becomes, at least if the commentators get it approximately right. So it's lesser-known players that I would stutterova.

[pesto]

Also, when you see names written in English, they very often leave out the accents, umlauts etc.

So even if you have a reasonable idea how to pronounce an unfamiliar name in a given language, you can be screwed by that. It was years before I realised that Robin Söderling had an umlaut, which changed my pronunciation.

[Start da Game]

names like kurdriyetsova, urszula, sharapova etc.....

[lenas warriors]

Originally Posted by Israel

Su-Wei Hsieh. No idea how to pronounce this.

This. Shoo-Show-Shay is how the commentators seems to say it

[TennisPhan]

imagine if serena played indian wells all these years. she won it twice already (nobody won it 3 times so far). meh