Pro-nun-ci-a-tion

[Wonga]

I know, I know; you say Toe-mart-o I say Toe-mate-o.

 

Anyways I was looking through the glossary and I realized how badly I've been pronouncing things!

 

Here are a few examples (Glossary spellings are bracketed):

 

Egwene= Egg-ween (eh-gwain)and I have a friend who says it's eh-wain. :?

 

Nynave= Nigh-na-eve (nigh-neev)

 

Caemlyn= Kay-em-lin (kaym-lihn)

 

Birgitte= Ber-jit (ber-geet-teh)

 

Cairhien= Care-hi-en (keye-ree-ehn)

 

Damane= Da-mane (dah-mah-nee)

 

Gaidin= Guy-din (gye-deen)

 

Moiraine= Moy-rain (mwah-rain)

 

And the al to me it's just al but the glossary says Ahl- I feel swamped with h's!

 

So how do the rest of you pronounce things?

[RobertAlexWillis]

Until I get to the glossary, I was way off on Cairhien and Nynaeve. I mean, nigh-neev .... I still don't like that one, I'm OK with keye-ree-ehn. But nigh-neev from Nynaeve ... well, ever since I studied Tagalog I hate vowel combinations that lose a syllable. But that's just me.

[Guest Majsju]

I think I'm at least relatively close to most without looking at the glossary.

 

The big exceptions are Nynaeve, I keep slipping a quick a into it, and will continue to do so. And taim, wasn't even close on that one, and find it very hard to accept how RJ claims it's pronounced.

[edman]

Until very recently I always read Birgitte as

Brigitte in my mind. It's been so long I still think of her name like that.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Yeah, I didn't add the extra syllable to the end her her name, I just thought it as "ber geet" ... Jordan likes to play with emPHAsis on the wrong syLLAble.

[gaishain]

I know what you mean. Honestly though I do not really care. I will pronounce them the way they come up in my head. Although it does get a little weird when you run into someone who pronounces it differently.

[schneb]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't even bother trying to pronounce the names of things I'm reading unless or until I'm talking to others about them. Mostly I just use pattern recognition when I come across a name. Sometimes this does get me in trouble when two characters or places have very similar names because often I stop reading the name after the first three or four letters. That being said, when talking to others my pronunciation is almost always off on names and I usually end up saying stuff like "that N-girl".

[Rational_Solutions]

i mangle the pronounciation in my mind left and right that is why i want to get the books on disk so i can hear how they are pronounced and then not have to worry about it ever again.

[Mesaana]

I did pretty well with most of the names, Egwene, Caemlyn, etc. but messed up with Nynaeve and some others. Once you've read the series a dozen times saying it the wrong way in your head, there's no learning a new way! lol.

[cannon]

I've been pretty far off:

 

Egwene = Edge-win (don't ask me why)

Nynave = Nin-na-veh (ditto)

Cairhien = Care-heen

Damane = Duh-mahn

Gaidin = Guy-din

Moiraine = Moor-ain

 

I seem to have this tendency to ignore letters at random and go with whatever I feel like. With Nynaeve at least, I pronounce it correctly now when I see it, but for most of the others, it's stuck in my head the way I pronounced it first.

[Anajon]

I don't know about the rest of you' date=' but I don't even bother trying to pronounce the names of things I'm reading unless or until I'm talking to others about them. Mostly I just use pattern recognition when I come across a name. Sometimes this does get me in trouble when two characters or places have very similar names because often I stop reading the name after the first three or four letters. That being said, when talking to others my pronunciation is almost always off on names and I usually end up saying stuff like "that N-girl".[/quote']

 

I'm the same - and I haven't met many other people who read WOT - so no chance to embarrass myself :-)

But if you have the patience to go through or just want to hear one name http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/ is a good source since they have voice files on all names.

[Guest cwestervelt]

Like Wonga I always do "Nigh-na-eve". I suspect that middle syllable is the same "a" that Majsju admits to adding. It just doesn't sound right without it to me. Otherwise I try to stick pretty close to the glossary. At least after I've taken the time to check. I tend to make a lot of the names that end with "in" sound like "inn" rather than "een" though. The proper pronunciante of Moiraine, Caemlyn and Cairhein don't give me any problems any more. I even try to say Ta-eem and not Tame.

 

Addition:

Rational_Solutions:

i mangle the pronounciation in my mind left and right that is why i want to get the books on disk so i can hear how they are pronounced and then not have to worry about it ever again.

 

Don't do that. RJ has stated the narrators of the audiobooks stopped consulting him on pronunciation after the first couple books. From then on, they can not be considered reliable.

[Wonga]

It's nice to know I'm not alone! :)

 

It has taken some training to get into the rythm of pronouncing things properly after doing it wrong for so long!

[Kadere]

I use the pronuciation from Encyclopedia-wot while I read, so I'm always pretty close.

[Kalythase Breen]

Egwene - Eh-gwain

Nynaeve - Nin-ayve

Caemlyn - Kaym-lin

Birgitte - Bir-geet-ah Got this tricky one right, at least...

Cairhien - Care-hi-eh-nin (Blah)

Damane - Duh-mane

Gaidin - Gy-den

Moiraine - More-ain

 

Aiel - Ale

Faile - Fail

Malkier - Mahl-keer

Mayene - May-een

Siuan - Shwan (For some reason, I just want to say 'Sean')

Cadsuane - Cad-soo-ain

Cauthon - Cow-thon (woo. Cow-a-thon! 0_o)

Aybara - A-barrah

Gawyn - Gah-win

[Bob T Dwarf]

I pronounce Myrddraal - Murder-all - it just seems appropriate.

[caitlinsucks]

I don't have anything wildly different, but it used to drive me crazy talking with my ex about the books (he's the one who got me into them) because I did use the glossary to decide on pronunciation and he didn't. He would pronounce things so weird that I didn't know what he was talking about half the time.

 

In ex-speak:

Egwene - Edge-win

Aes Sedai - Uh-sed-ee

Nynaeve - Nuh-neh-vee

[Manethral]

i'm stuck with 'edge-win' whenever i read her name.

cairhien? damn thats got a silly pronunciation.

[Wonga]

I like edman first thought of Birgette as Brigette.

 

A few of the pronunciations (like this one) could be explained by the fact/theory that the human mind does not read each letter but the entire word. Apparently as long as the first and last letters are the same and the letters in between can be in any order and we can still know what we are reading:

 

E.G.

 

I cdlnuot blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht i was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deson't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

 

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

 

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by islef, but as a wlohe!

 

Oh, and I noticed a few people have voted but not posted, come on guys tell us your mistakes! :lol:

[zacz]

I think I pronouced almost every name incorectly

 

Egwene= Egg-ween

 

Nynave= Nigh-na-eve

 

Caemlyn= Came-linn

 

Birgitte= Ber-jet

 

Cairhien= Car-hine

 

Damane= Da-mane

 

Gaidin= Guy-din

 

Moiraine= Morr-aine

 

Taim - Tame

 

Faile - Fail

 

Tuon - Twon

 

My problem is that I have read the names incorectly so many times that I can't seem to correct myself. Plus I can never rememver the correct pronounciation of Cairhein and Caemlyn anyway and unless I'm really paying attention I sometimes get them mixed up - they do start and end with the same letters.

[cannon]

Tuon - Twon

 

That's easily my favorite mistake. It makes me laugh every time I say it out loud. How great would that be if that's how Jordan wanted you to pronounce it. Kinda reminds me of "Dwayne".

[Manethral]

weird. i could read evey word of the 'jumble' post as normal. i didnt really notice it was all mixed up. strange...

[Will al Seen]

yeah Ive been quite off on some but pretty close on others:

 

moiriane: moor-ain

taim: tame( way better )

Aiel: ale

cadsuane: cad-sue-ann

abrya:.. for some reason al-beer-a always came to my lips though i know there's no L :?

 

and Saldaea i dont know what it says in the glossary but i've always said something like Sal - day - a

[gak]

i have found that after i got throught the first book the first time that i had already had my version of the pronunciations stuck in my head that even after i had gone through the glossary that it didnt change anything

[Kara_J]

i have found that after i got throught the first book the first time that i had already had my version of the pronunciations stuck in my head that even after i had gone through the glossary that it didnt change anything

 

Yeah, ditto, when I read through the glossary i tried to remember how to pronounce things correctly but on subsequent re-reads i went back to how i originally thought of them.

Birgitte = bir jeet (mind you, i've met someone who insisted it was pronounced ber-git with a hard g as in "good")