Mis-Pronouncing the WoT and RJ's hatred for the diphthong

[Goramier]

It was the second re-read for me that brought on actually trying to pronounce the names properly. I stopped after a short while. I like how I pronounced them and continue to use my way. Thats the glory of books. You get to live it out in your own mind. I have since incorporated some of the proper ways though. When and if a movie or series comes out I will understand the differences. But for me some ways to pronounce things will always sound right to me. The main ones are:

 

Aiel = Ale / Aleman

Tear = tare / Tare-ians

Taim = Tame

Seanchan = Sea Ann Shun

Avendia = Avenda

Myrrdral = Myr a dril

 

Those are the ones I will always stick with my way. I will understand it done different in a visual format but I stick with my way in my head.

 

The others that I am less strict about are:

 

Nynaeve = Nen yave

Siuan = Su Ann

Egwene = Eg ween

Faile = Fale

Cuendillar = cowend du lar

Moraine = More rain

 

And for some reason my own personal quirk: Mattrim; Cathoon (don't ask)

 

 

[Summer]

I read the glossaries for the first few books, and the way they have them written sort of suck in my head.

 

Eh-GWAIN

Nye-NEEV

Swan

Mwah-rain

Ai-el

Fah-EEL

Shan-Chan.

[Skyphoenix]

my head hurts  :-[

[scion9]

I don't understand how so many can be so wrong.  The only one that struck me as odd was Faile, which is apparently 'Fah-eel'.  I originally pronounced it 'Fay-eel-ah', pronouncing the last vowel, like so many other first names in the series.  I mean, I understand how you could read the name and pronounce it "Fail"; but you must know that is wrong; yes?

 

Several of the Forsaken's names I didn't proncounce the same way as on the Audiobook, but none drastically off I don't think.  It's been so long now since my first read I must have read the glossary first for some of the names.  Looking at the spellings now I don't know how I could have gotten 'Semirhage' correct on my first read through, unaided.

 

If you pronounce all of the names 'correctly' they follow a logical consistency to a point.  The Old Tongue being an exception, which is probably why 'Faile' and the Forsaken's names come across as odd to me while the others do not.

 

[Amadine]

The one that i was most off on in reading vs audiobooks was Birgitte. I always read it as Burr-geet when the AB pronouce it as Burr-git-ah.

 

Most of the other names i was pretty close on though.

[Goramier]

When I read the books I have stuck with my ways to pronounce it cause frankly, I dislike the "proper" ways. I personally know I mispronounce many names but am happy with it. I fully understand that if they make a movie or something they will use the proper ways and thats fine. I like my ways and will always use them when I read. Thats the glory of reading.

 

Oddly enough my brother read Lord of The Rings books about 3 times before watching the movies. He told me that for some reason he always pronounced Golem's name as Grom for some reason he doesn't even know. He said he was shocked when it heard it in the movie, looked it up and found out he was in fact the one wrong. He told me later he read it all again and continued to use Grom because thats how he knew that character. I have no problem with it although Grom for me sounds dumb for that character.

[alligator]

hm, Birgitte is the only unusual one I got right!

Yeah, generally you just need to pronounce as many of the vowels separately as possible, and you're good to go.

But I can't get over Rhuidean and cuendillar.

 

Like, okay, seriously.

How ARE you supposed to say the Forsaken's names?

I know I have at least two of them wrong.

 

Asmo-deen; Semm-ur-hayj; Mog-hee-dee-an; Rah-vin; Sahm-ay-ell; Lan-fear; Mess-ahn-aa; Grenn-doll; Buh-lawl; Ish-a-mell; Aj-ih-nore; Ball-tha-mell; Duh-mann-dread.

 

...

I just looked 'em up on enyclopeadia-wot. About half of my pronunciations are wrong. OH WELL!

[Icedragon]

I go by how everything is prounced in the audio books, most of which seems to fit in with the phonetic spellings.

[acerbus80]

I seem to remember seeing a link years ago (think it was on the old Stonedog's Hold webpage, which is now defunct) with a recorded clip by RJ himself clarifying some of the pronunciations.

 

From what I think I remember:

 

Moirane:  moy rain

 

Nynaeve:  Nine uh eev

 

Lan Mandragoran:  Lan man dray go ran

 

Those are the only ones I can remember from the link, and there weren't very many on it.

[Stanley the Bugman]

Did anyone else pronounce Thom with an emphesis on the "Th"? It wasn't until like the second or third book until I realized it was supposed to be "TOM". Lol, I felt so dumb after that one.... but yeah, this is how I pronounce them:

 

Moiraine - "Moi-rain"

Egwene- "Edge-ween"

Nynaeve - "Nin-Nive"

Perrin - "Per-Rin"

Faile - "Fail"

Aviendha - "Ah-v-End-da"

Juilin - "Julian"

Taim - "Tame"

Loial - "Loy-al"

Siuan - "Sue-wan"

Aes Sedai - "Ace-Sed-i"

Mydraal - "Mid-Drawl"

Rhuidean - "Ru-id-e-an"

Aeil - "Ale"

Seanchan - (Just basically the two words put together. "Sean-chan")

Atha'an Miere - "Ath-an-me-air"

Tel'aran'rhiod - "Tell-air-ran-re-oid"

[ed2funy]

I did!

lol...it wasn't until i had reread the series twice...when a friend told me the H was silent.

:D

[Maiden_Sedai]

Egwene = EGG-win

Siuan = See-YOU-in

Nynaeve = Nuh-NEVE

Taim = TAME

Moiraine = Mwah-RAIN

Aviendha = Ahh-vee-EN-da

Aiel = Eye-EEL (but I used to say "ale")

Tear = Tair

Cuendillar = Cew-EN-dyiller

Seanchan = SAWN-chen

 

[Vicious Circle]

I usually look up names the first time I see them if I think the character will be important enough to be in the glossary.

For some reason I never thought to look up Egeanin. I just always thought it was,

eh-JEAN-ihn

After reading the series six times I notice she is in the glossary,

egg-ee-AHN-ihn

 

It's just so... wrong. 

[Beer Rot]

I pronounce it however it feels most comfortable for me.

 

If RJ had wanted it pronounced a certain way, he should've spelled it a hell of a lot more phonetically correct.

 

taim = tah-eem?  dude was on serious drugs.

 

tame, ayvee-enduh, ale, mwar-ayne, ee-gwen, shawn-chan, kwen-dill-ar

 

yadda yadda

[Stanley the Bugman]

I did!

lol...it wasn't until i had reread the series twice...when a friend told me the H was silent.

:D

 

Yeah, I have been pronouncing it that way for so long that I kinda just pretend that is how it's supposed to be. Some of the pronunciations are really going to bother me when the movie comes out, because they will be said the correct way. Oh well, I suppose it'll be for the better anyway...

[mitchellgaston]

A lot of times I never pronounce a name, it just becomes a word on a page to me. Although for the longest time I could never pronounce Aes Sedai. I would always say something along the lines of Ace-Sed-A, or something like that.

[Beer Rot]

Did anyone else pronounce Thom with an emphesis on the "Th"? It wasn't until like the second or third book until I realized it was supposed to be "TOM". Lol, I felt so dumb after that one.... but yeah, this is how I pronounce them:

 

lol.. well my middle name is Thomas, so I assumed the H was silent.

 

But I had a friend named Thom that I've called THom and not Tom, so it doesn't seem to unnatural to me.

[Mardragon]

Did anyone else pronounce Thom with an emphesis on the "Th"? It wasn't until like the second or third book until I realized it was supposed to be "TOM".

 

I think I went with 'Tom' from the start. Mind you I live in England where I'm used to the pronunciation of 'Thomas' as 'Tom-as'. (Last syllable more like 'ehs' than 'as'. I noticed Americans send to pronounce Thosmas with the 'th' as in 'thump' which, to be fair, does make logical sense. (We always write the short form of 'Thomas' as 'Tom' not 'Thom' for some reason.

 

As for pronunciations I tend to look them up. For some reason I keep thinking of 'Aes Sedai' as 'Ayez seh-daye' rather than the actual pronunciation 'Eyez Seh-deye' (assuming 'eye' is pronouced the same as the name for the round things we see through.)

 

Moiraine I pretty much pronounced correct from start 'Mwah-rain.' I didn't have a problem with Moi pronounced 'mwah' what with French and all.

 

Moghedien, I tend to think of as Mogh-hed-ee-en. The first syllable rhyming with the Scottish 'Loch'. ('ch' in celtic languages are pronounced hard. Like 'gh' in German, I believe. Like the sound some football (Soccer, in American) players make when they're clearing their nose.) Not 'Oh'.

 

I also didn't have too much of a problem with pronouncing all those syllables as I read a book concerning Celtic pronunciation and they tend to follows those rules. Unfortunately RJ doesn't stick to those rules though! Just when I think I should be pronouncing 'Cadsuane' 'Cad-swah-nee' I find out it's actually pretty much the English 'Cad-Swayn'. And Suian would probably be 'Swee-ahn' if it were like a celtic word rather than 'Swahn'.

 

Ael is 'Eye-eel'

 

The glossary is pretty good with pronunciation at least in the earlier books. Rhuidean I couldn't quite work out though. I keep wanting to pronounce it (following those celtic rules) 'roo-ih-dee-an.' According to the glossary it's 'Rhuy-dee-ahn.*' How do you pronounce 'Rhuy'? 'Roy?'

 

*Or something like that, being too lazy to check. I know the first syllable was 'Rhuy'.

 

Oh, and irrelevant but as for the word 'yank', in Britain we do use the term often as a slang word for 'American'. It tends to mean all Americans in general here rather than just those of the northern states as it does in the USA. It's just a regional variation thing really. If I said 'cockney' I'd imagine Americans think of all Londoners right? (Come to think of it I think some people elsewhere in England ('oop north') think of us Londoners the same way.) Over here it actually refers to those in or from the East End of London specifically. I grew up in South East London, so don't quite qualify as a cockney. ;)

 

[Beer Rot]

Oh, and irrelevant but as for the word 'yank', in Britain we do use the term often as a slang word for 'American'. It tends to mean all Americans in general here rather than just those of the northern states as it does in the USA.

 

Originally brits used yankee as a disparaging term for new englanders.  Just another reason why bostonians hate the new york yankees.  ;)

[mitchellgaston]

Did anyone else pronounce Thom with an emphesis on the "Th"? It wasn't until like the second or third book until I realized it was supposed to be "TOM".

 

I have always been pronouncing his name with the "TH" until just recently. lol.

[alligator]

Did anyone else pronounce Thom with an emphesis on the "Th"? It wasn't until like the second or third book until I realized it was supposed to be "TOM".

 

I think I went with 'Tom' from the start. Mind you I live in England where I'm used to the pronunciation of 'Thomas' as 'Tom-as'. (Last syllable more like 'ehs' than 'as'. I noticed Americans send to pronounce Thosmas with the 'th' as in 'thump' which, to be fair, does make logical sense. (We always write the short form of 'Thomas' as 'Tom' not 'Thom' for some reason.

 

I don't know about the Americans you've been around.... but as an American, I can say I've never heard someone pronounce Thomas with a 'th' sound  ;)

[Stanley the Bugman]

Did anyone else pronounce Thom with an emphesis on the "Th"? It wasn't until like the second or third book until I realized it was supposed to be "TOM".

 

I think I went with 'Tom' from the start. Mind you I live in England where I'm used to the pronunciation of 'Thomas' as 'Tom-as'. (Last syllable more like 'ehs' than 'as'. I noticed Americans send to pronounce Thosmas with the 'th' as in 'thump' which, to be fair, does make logical sense. (We always write the short form of 'Thomas' as 'Tom' not 'Thom' for some reason.

 

I don't know about the Americans you've been around.... but as an American, I can say I've never heard someone pronounce Thomas with a 'th' sound  ;)

 

If his name was "Thomas" I would have pronounced it with the "h" silent, but I've never seen "Tom" spelt that way, so I guess I just assumed that if Jordan meant for his name to be pronounced as "Tom" there would be no "h".

[Mardragon]

I don't know about the Americans you've been around.... but as an American, I can say I've never heard someone pronounce Thomas with a 'th' sound  ;)

 

Not a whole lot to be honest, and I think that was mainly from the TV.

 

I'm certain it's more commonplace over there than over here though. Just goes to show the regional variations within a country too I guess!

[metalisticpain]

I remember seeing Harry potter movie and finally learning how to say hermione.

 

Egwene = EGG-ween

Siuan = Sue-WARN (I cant even write how i pronounce this and its odd i know, the R is not very strong in how i pronounce it, but necessary to explain the sound im trying to type down)

Nynaeve = Nin-naive

Taim = TAME

Moiraine = More-Rain, (I based this off the name Maureen, just really Maurain)

Aviendha = Ahh-Ven-da

Aiel = Ale

Tear = Tear (crying tears)

Cuendillar = Cue - EN - Dill - Ar, (i just sound it out)

Seanchan = Shaun-Chan

[magnutz]

Isn't it hard to hate diphtongs when your language is absolutely riddled with it?! Almost every word (ok not really but a lot of them) uses the gliding of vowel sounds.