Amph Pronouncing/deciphering names in a book can be a pain in the butt!!!

It depends: the ones that tell at the end are bad because I've already decided on my own, and often it's wrong. The ones that tell at the beginning are okaym and I've never had (much) of a problem coming up with my own.

 

I'd rather have them tell me at the beginning if they're not going to leave it up to me. If they tell at the end, I have what I've come up with set in my mind and often like it it better than what they say.

 

I always thought J.K Rowling was kind of laughing at her fans when in OOTP Grawp can't learn how to say "Hermione".

 

I admit to being surprised seeing the first HP movie and hearing Hermione's name out loud for the first time. Now it makes sense and I had no problem adjusting.

Some names are very hard to get pronounced right, I particularly had that problem with some of Anne McCaffrey's invented Pern names and some others...

 

I'd already heard the name Hermione (certainly in relation to actresses Baddeley and Gingold, probably elsewhere as well).

Usually, if I hit an invented or unfamiliar name, I just pick a pronunciation as I'm reading and go; since I'll probably never say most of them aloud, I'm generally safe. That makes it less embarrassing if I later discover that the one I'd been using was incorrect. How many of us who read the EU for all those years had pronounced Coruscant the way the PT later would?

One thing I will notice while reading something is if an author's invented names start to show patterns, like say doubled vowels.

 

How do I pronounce "Taxxon"?

 

Tax-zon? That's how I'd pronounce it.

 

Tax-on

And I pronounced Coruscant like the PT did before TPM

 

I usually use the first pronounciation that comes to me. Pronounciation guides aren't much help, since I usually forget which pronounciation is correct and have to look it up every time the name comes up. It's much simpler to be wrong.

BTW - there's a fan-made audio drama that parodies "how do you pronounce this?" discussions: Coruscant?

- lazy

 

I laugh at you all, I'm sorry but I've know how to pronounce Hermione's name since before the movies, and yeah JKR did do a whole little spelling thing for Hermione...Remember Percy's owl Herms...Herms, Hermione...put them together now? Hermione is a feminine version of Herms...I think, if I can recall correctly from my millions of side books for Harry Potter. But I know where you guys are coming from, ever heard of Tamora Pierce? I'll give you some examples of names she came up with:
Daja
Corus
Tortal
Alanna had me and my friend tripping up for a while because we known an Alana and we were trying to pronounce it that way until we figured out the right way.
Olu (O-ul I think)
Trisana was one of the few easy ones so was Niko, her teacher,
Emerelan
Oh this kid got on my case because I pronounced Fiver wrong, I've been pronouncing it like it's spelled fiv-ER apperantly it's pronounced fIver, who cares really. Fiver is a bunny from Watership Down, ooo there's another book with weird names. I also like using weird names...until someone asks me to pronounce them and I have no idea how to because I just got them of a baby name site, and they don't give pronunciations. That and I'm taking Latin, see it, say it, no silent letters.

 

I always got Hermione . . .

I pronounce Alanna Ah-lah-na.

 

*slips onto the SFF Books and Comics board for the first time in a very long time*

I've had trouble with pronunciation in many different sci-fi and fantasy books. Hermione was one of the ones that I did get right, but thanks to having parents who read Shakespeare to me and a grandmother who knows the pronunciation of every single name that ever exists.

Like Nat, I pronounce Alanna Ah-lah-na.

I also pronounce Lumiya as Lu-mee-ya. Jacen was always "Jason" to me.

One of the ones I argue with my mom a lot over is the pronunciation of "Ce'Nedra" from the Belgariad/Malloreon by David Eddings. My mom likes to pronounce it as "Ce-Ned-dra" while I say "Ce-Nee-Dra." I've also heard it said as "Ce-Nay-dra" which seems really odd to me.

Welsh, Gaelic -- celtic names in general -- usually trip me up, but I've been getting better since I started studying celtic mythology. Especially since now one of my fanfics uses a lot of celtic names.

Since I haven't read Wheel of Time, I can't comment on name pronunciation there.

 

Idri!! You should come here more often


I say Lum-I-ah, which I know is wrong, but old habits die hard And I say Jason and Jay-na for the Solo twins. I have the second addition of the guide to characters; if I'm reading it correctly, then those are the right ones.

 

One thing I hate is how people - including in audiobooks - concluded with no evidence whatsoever that Exar Kun was Exar Koon. It's silly and inept.

As for WoT, yes Jordan's ap ain but it's down my list of gripes with him.

E_S

 

Audiobooks are the worst -- they can't pronounce anything.

 

I haven't listened to many audio books, so I can't comment there -- but I have listened to audio plays and I've never had any trouble with the way they pronounce things... but of course, most of my audio plays are either Shakespeare or The Chronicles of Narnia -- and Narnia doesn't really have many names that are hard to pronounce.

 

Depends, most difficult to pronounce words are foreign in nature so if you have any knowledge of that language it would help a lot.

 

I dunno, I mean sure if they weren't totally made up, I'm used to weird names, all I read is fiction, and not just 'normal' fiction, the really out there stuff, like with kick-butt action and stuff. Yeah...anyway, ever heard of the Pitt Dragon Cronicals, there really good but the thing is, if your name has a 'c' in or can be spelled with a 'c' like Jacen or Rebecca, this is how you're name would end up, Jakken or Rebekka, and even if you name doesn't have a 'c' they'll throw the double k in if you ever had to wear a bond bag...you can fill them to be freed but you'll always carry the double k name.

 

Yeah Imagine Americans trying to pronounce Slavic names

Crnobog would be funny

Or just go oldschool with Domagoj

 

I didn't understand that. ^ Can you please explain it to me?

 

He means that Americans have trouble pronouncing Slavic names, like those two he mentioned

 

Or this one, the username that I now sport

But, yeah. Slavic names are fun, and hard. Crnobog = Ts(u)rnobog (with the u nonexistent and the r rolled)

 

I doubt authors would be mad at people mispronouncing names. At least someone is reading their books, and imagination is a big part of reading.

 

Didn't WoT have a pronunciation key in the glossary at the back?

I always take the view of I can pronounce the names however I want, because the characters aren't exactly in a position to complain.

 

They had a list of who people were; I'm not sure about pronounciations. Besides, after you've read the book and get to them, you've already made up your mind about how to say them