Pronunciation

[Nick Trano]

I actually like Shawn-chan, personally.

 

Oh! Fail. Not Fuh-yeel. Let's be honest, my pronunciation speaks more to the character anyways. ;)

[wotfan4472]

Seanchan was for me easy since the official pronouncing is my name ;-)

 

 

Even I mucked up Egwene's name. After seeing these posts I have a headache :P

Edited May 8, 2014 by wotfan4472

[dawnflower8]

I also pronounce Taim Tame and Faile Fail. 

[udbabor520]

I think the worse one for people has to be Taim. 

 

I mean, come on, everyone reads it as TAME. 

 

Ta-eem is too awkward. 

 

I also read Egwene as Egg-ween not Eg-wain. 

 

and Seanchan - Sen-chan not Shawn-chan. 

 

Apart from them, I am cool with the pronunciations I think. 

 

No! I always read it as Tah-eem. By the way I'm Hungarian and many words seems Hunglish to me.

 

I also read Egwene as Egg-ween not Eg-wain.

 

From a Hungarian (Hunglish) perspective the second pronunciation is the 'real' pronunciation.

 

and Seanchan - Sen-chan not Shawn-chan.

 

Ditto. (I mean Shawn-chan.)

Edited May 8, 2014 by udbabor520

[jack of shadows]

how do you pronounce morgase?,moor-gaze?

[Barid Bel Medar]

That is correct. If you don't have the books handy to get the glossary pronunciations http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/ has most of them when you click on a character/place/item. 

 

Edit: The site has Morgase as moor-GAYZ, which is pretty much moor-gaze as you pronounce it. 

Edited May 8, 2014 by Barid Bel Medar

[NeverTame]

I had no idea how to read most of the pronunciation "guidelines" in the glossary when I first read the books and was trying to figure that stuff out. They make a bit more sense now that I can sort of, maybe, imagine how an English-speaker would read them, but personally, give me phonetic transcription any day over moor-GAYZ etc.

[Nick Trano]

RJ was just really, really bad with spelling names. No native English speaker would pronounce this stuff the way he does.

[Aoife Mac'alar]

Some of mine, many of these I know I don't pronunce correctly but I prefer just to think of them the way I have read them for the last 16 or so years and don't make an effort to change them:

 

Egwene - Egg-win

Moiraine - More-rain

Nynaeve - Nie-neve

Cairhien - Car-hine

Aiel - Ale

Taim - Tame

Seanchan - Shawn-chan

Suian - Used to be Sue-ann but this was one the glossary got me to change to Swan

Leane - Lee-ann

Cadsuane - Cod-swan-A

Logain - Low-gain

 

This, pretty much exactly, except for Cadsuane (CAD-su-ain) and Egwene (EGGwain).

 

Other of my pronunciations:

Semirhage: SEH-ME-raj (viz, British Raj)

Asmodean: AzMO-dee-on

Nynaeve: nih-nave (originally), ny-nay-ev (now on re-read)

Al'mandragoran: Al mandra goran, though the ToM audiobook says al MANDRAGORan

Faile: Fail

Berelain: Berreh-lain

Egeanin: Edgy-ann-in.

[udbabor520]

 

RJ was just really, really bad with spelling names. No native English speaker would pronounce this stuff the way he does.

 

 

A few years back Roger Moore was a guest at a Hungarian tv-show:

 

reporter: Ladies and gentlemen, Roger Moo-r!

007: Excuse me, my name is not Moo-r! More!

reporter: But Demi Moo-r is a Moo-r, not a More!

007: Demi Moo-r could be Demi Moo-r but my name is Roger More! MORE!

[balefireruinssteaks]

I had a few that I ended up having to correct after reading through the glossary, but a lot of them I just enjoy the correct pronunciation so I used those.  

 

Egwene (Egg-wayne)

Taim (Tame) - the correct pronunciation throws me

Siuan Sanche (Swan Santch)

 

Nearly all the Forsaken:

 

Lanfear I got right

Ishamael (Ish-mael)

Demandred (Dimandred)

Graendal (Gray-ndel) - that sounded SO country to me

Moghedien (Mog-ed-ean)

Semirhage - for the life of me I could not figure her name out.  I was like "Semir-hayje" and "Sem-eer-ujh" and finally "Semi-razh"

Mesaana I got right

Asmodean (Asmo-deen or Asmo-de-an; I alternated)

Sammael I got right

Bel'al I got right

Aginor (Aginor or Aaaaaaah-ginor)

Balthemael I think I got right

 

then their new forms I got pretty much spot on; Hessalam, Cyndane (Sine-dane or Sin-dane?), Osan'gar and Arin'gar (I liked those names a lot)

 

Sorilea (Sorilay)

Tel'aran'rhiod (Tel-aran-reeoid)

ashanderai - Matt's weapon.  I pronounced it all kinds of ways before I settled on "ash-ahn-der-eye"

 

Names I just like saying:

 

Samitsu

Cadsuane

Nandera

Ethenielle

Gitara

Machin Shin

[EmperorAllspice]

I still say Aiel as "Ale" rather than "Eye-eel" because I keep thinking a culture like them would have a single syllable name. Pragmatic and all that.

[Cosmic Champion]

I think the worse one for people has to be Taim. 

 

I mean, come on, everyone reads it as TAME. 

 

Ta-eem is too awkward. 

.

That's how I feel about Faile too.

 

(fah-EEL)   Ugh!  It is just way too uncomfortable to use.  I just cannot picture Perrin pronoucing it that way all the time.

 

I have mostly settled for either 'Fau-LEE' or sometimes 'FAI-LEE'.

.

Edited August 6, 2014 by Cosmic Champion

[Mkelly157]

I tended to add letters so it would flow better in my head

 

Aes sedai : ay es se die

Mazrim taim: Mazrim tame

Ogier: O gee er

Egween: eg win

Avienda: avee ender

Nynaeve: nin a veeve

Siuan : she on

Saidar like radar but with an s

Saidin say din

Aeil : ale

Sammael I always said as Samuel

Graendal just said it as Grendel

 

 

And many many more

[jack of shadows]

@mkelly157,

nynaeve-nin a veeve,well,that's a new one on me!

poor nighneev,got more name variations than rand got titles.lol.

[Finnssss22]

I have all the audio books on my ipod and listen to them all the time.

They use the pronunciations as outlined by RJ/Team Jordan.

 

A couple that stood out to me that I was completely wrong about were Semirhage, Taim, Cairhien, Gawyn and Siuan

Semirhage, I used to say Semir-hage, it's Semir-hog

Taim, I said Tame, it's TA-eem.

Cairhien, used to say Car-hane, it's Car-re-en

Gawyn, used to say Gwane, supposed to be Gow-when

Siuan, used to say Sue-ann, it's Sswan

Edited August 10, 2014 by Finnssss

[Mkelly157]

@mkelly157,

nynaeve-nin a veeve,well,that's a new one on me!

poor nighneev,got more name variations than rand got titles.lol.

Like I said I added to some words to help with the flow in my head

[Orderofolde]

I have all the audio books on my ipod and listen to them all the time.

They use the pronunciations as outlined by RJ/Team Jordan.

 

A couple that stood out to me that I was completely wrong about were Semirhage, Taim, Cairhien, Gawyn and Siuan

Semirhage, I used to say Semir-hage, it's Semir-hog

Taim, I said Tame, it's TA-eem.

Cairhien, used to say Car-hane, it's Car-re-en

Gawyn, used to say Gwane, supposed to be Gow-when

Siuan, used to say Sue-ann, it's Sswan

For the most part they do.  In some of the earlier books they can't pronounce the name the same way between Michael and Kate.  Later books they amend the pronunciation to the correct way.

[The Phoenix]

I find it amazing after reading this thread that so many people were using completely different pronunciations.

I'm about to start book 7 and I'm debating using the correct ones or continuing to use mine.  Some of these correct pronunciations blow my mind.  It seems like RJ is a huge fan of using as many syllables as possible.  I guess from now on when I hear new names I'll just have to assume every vowel is sounded out, even if there are 3 in a row.

 

Anyway here are my pronunciations thus far:

 

Amys = AY miss

Aiel  = Ale

Birgitte = BURR Jitt

Cairhien = CARE in

Elaida = uh LAY duh

Ogier = OH gear

Morgase = more GACE

Rhuidean = rue ID ee an

Saidar = say DAR

Saidin = say DEEN

Taim = Tame

Aes Sedai = AIZ suh DIE

Semirhage = SEM mer ridge

Shaido = SHAY dough

Egwene = EGG ween

Nynaeve = NIN ay eve

Suian = this name is nonsense to me.  I think i just read it and don't even sound it out in my head.

Seanchan = SANE chan

Aviendha = AV ee EN duh

 

It's amazing because some of them I would have thought were fairly obvious before reading the correct pronunciations aformentioned.

 

 

Also I'm well aware that the way I'm typing my pronunciation is not the proper form in the slightest but it makes sense to me.

 

 

Advice:  Should I start using the correct names?  I want the full experience of this series because it's incredible, but the real names seem harder to pronounce and I think might actually make it more difficult to fluidly read. 

[jack of shadows]

@phoenix,

your way of pronouncing seanchan as sane-chan is...interesting,

in my opinion,the seanchan are anything but sane.lol.

 

by the way,its siuan not suian.

[Guest Zarhura]

I just listened to A Memory of Light and the pronunciations are really quite different from how I've been pronouncing them all these years.

 

But you know the most annoying thing? It's not the strange pronunciations of Aiel, or the random I's dotted throughout the names (ta-eem I ask you!) nope, what's most annoying is that the narrators do not use that slight pause with names that have apostrophes E.g. Althor instead of Al'thor .....or Allan instead of Al'lan and Mahail instead of M'hael ( mm-HAIL). I cringe every time.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Zarhura

[Guest Ithirahad Ivrar'kiim]

Aiel - Eye-ell
Seanchan - First Seen-Chan, then Sheeyenchan or something like that

Egwene - Egg-ween

Nynaeve - nye-Nave

Taim - Time, later Tame (Really, that's how it's spelled... Should be ta'iim or something else if you want that ee sound without an ee)

Aes Sedai - Ace said-Eye (though I sometimes kind of blend the s in the first part with a z)

Birgitte - Burr-jeet, burr-Zheet, pretty much everything but the correct pronounciation

Cairhien - Care-hee-yen

Mayene - may-Een (If it's "may-Yen," what is that e for?)

Tear - tay-Ar, Tayr (I refused to call it "tear," as in crying; this is silly, other language or not)

Ogier - Ogyer

Siuan - see-ywan

...and many more!

[Shad_]

The pronunciation guide at the back is in such a thick southern accent that I can't even attempt to emulate it half the time.  I just kind of make up approximations on the fly.  The weirdest one is that I must have called Nynaeve "Nineveh" for like the first four books.  I'm doing a little better at Nin-nave now.

 

Here were a few that stood out to me glancing through the back of Eye of the World and Lord of Chaos:

 

Aes Sedai (EYEZ seh-DEYE) became Ice s'dye

Aiel (eye-EEL) became Ale

Amyrlin (AHM-ehr-lihn) became Amrellin

Birgitte (ber-GEET-teh) became Bridget

Cairhien (KEYE-ree-EHN) became Carhine

Caemlyn (KAYM-lihn) became Camelyn

Egwene (eh-GWAIN) became Edge-win

Gawyn (GAH-wihn) became Gawain

Jain (JAY-ihn) became Jane

Moiraine (mwah-RAIN) became Moraine

Nynaeve (NIGH-neev) became Nin-nave

saidar (sah-ih-DAHR) became sydar

Saldaea (sahl-DAY-ee-ah) became Saldea like "idea"

[Samm-uel]

I keep putting i's in more convenient places without realizing it. 12 books later and I just realized it's spelled Elaida and not Eladia.

 

Generally if a name is complicated my subconscious says," Screw grammar!" and strips it down to whatever is easiest.

 

For me:

 

Egwene is Eg-ween

 

Nynaeve is Nine-ave

 

Elaida is Ela-dia

 

Asmodean is Asmo-de-in

 

Gawyn is Gone

 

Morgase is More-giss

 

Rhuarc is Ru-arc

 

Graendal is Ghran-dall

 

Semirhage is Simmer-Hage

[Asha'man Shar'aman]

On 2/9/2016 at 10:50 AM, Samm-uel said:

I keep putting i's in more convenient places without realizing it. 12 books later and I just realized it's spelled Elaida and not Eladia.

 

Generally if a name is complicated my subconscious says," Screw grammar!" and strips it down to whatever is easiest.

 

For me:

 

Egwene is Eg-ween

 

Nynaeve is Nine-ave

 

Elaida is Ela-dia

 

Asmodean is Asmo-de-in

 

Gawyn is Gone

 

Morgase is More-giss

 

Rhuarc is Ru-arc

 

Graendal is Ghran-dall

 

Semirhage is Simmer-Hage

I said Eladia for like the first nine books. I say Tame instead of Ta-eem because Ta-eem sounds so weird. I also say Dam-ane instead of whatever it is pronounced as. I got a shock the first time I heard it as Domane, because that’s how I pronounce Domani. I say Sem-ir-age, but with the g being hard, I guess? Mostly I sound out the words, so Ituralde is It-ur-alde instead of I-tur-alda like in the audiobooks.