Lit The Official "How do I say that?" Thread

Thank you, Zion!

Yun isn't pronounced Yoon, so why is Kun pronounced Koon? It doesn't make any sense (unless Basic makes as little phonetic sense as English...)

 

Okay, here's another (I'm on a role with these):

In Galactic Battlegrounds, Jan Dodonna pronounces his name "Yan." I don't think it's pronounced like this in other games, but I can't remember a specific instance to the contrary. "Yan" sounds like it could be Swedish or Dutch to me.

 

Being the awesome Puerto Rican I am, when I first read HttE back when I was 11 (incidentally, my first novel in English), I had no idea how to pronounce most of these strange names. So I've devised my own pronunciation for each. Such as:

Pellaeon- WOW, for the past 13 years I've pronounced his name as, Peh-lah-lay-on. To this day it still baffles me, but I just can't bring myself to properly say Pellaeon.

C'Baoth- STILL don't know the proper pronunciation, so I just butcher it to: Kuh-bay-oth.

Myrkr - I know I'm not the only one confused about this one, so I amuse myself while reading by saying, Merrrrrrrrrrrrk.....r.

Lando Carlissian - Been sayin' Calreeshan for the past 24 years of my life. Forgive me, Lando.

Tendandro- I'm far too lazy, so I just kill that first D and just go ahead with Tenandro.

Lumiya - Lo-mee-ya

Mostly just wrote this for your amusement.

 

I've always thought it was Jan, as in Jan Ors...

 

Wait, Yun isn't "Yoon"?

How does a letter being pronounced differently than in English not make sense? You don't pronounce words like Utapau as "Uhtapau", right?

 

Ok, but keep in mind that Star Wars books are written in English and not Basic. The similarity between Kun and Yun is "un". And if you had that by itself it might be pronounced like "gun". Its the "Ku" that makes us think "koon". Since in English, to the best my knowledge, A "K" followed by a "U" isnt very common...so we adopt the more common pronunciation. At least thats my personal explanation for why my brain saw "koon" and not "kuhn".

But its really more complicated than just comparing it to a similar English word since there are so many variables. Kind of like in English the letter "C" has a hard and soft pronunciation. Its most often pronounced the hard way unless followed by an "E" like in "Celebrate". There are many exceptions.

 

Kuhn makes just as much sense as Koon. I don't have a problem with the logic of it. It's just that I really can't take a guy named Exar Koon seriously. It sounds so dumb.

 

I'm surprised that, coming from a Hispanic...commonwealth, you didn't pronounce this one like the double-l in llamar, so:

Pay-yay-own

I actually kinda like that one.

1. Utapau was pronounced in the movies that way.
2. I don't just go with phonetics, I go with what sounds good. Uhtapau (where the first syllable rhymes with put...or putt for that matter) doesn't sound good, hence, even though my mind probably read Utt-a-pau at first, I immediately overrode that with what sounded good.

However, before I dig myself any deeper, I'd like to point out that I prefer the Koon pronunciation because of #2 up there. I was more pointing out how phonics are **** up.

That said, how the kark do you pronounce the double-u (as in uu, not w) in Yuuzhan Vong?

Yoo-zhan Vong?
Yuh-oo-zhan Vong?
Yoo-uh-zhan Vong?
Yoo-oo-zhan Vong?
Yuh-uh-zhan Vong?

 

I've always said it "Yuh-Zhan".

 

likewise and I think that sounds better than Yoo-zhan or whatever from the....Bloodlines audiobook, was it?

 

I hear a lot of people call it that.

 

I've always said Yoo-zen Vong

I feel the same way about the Kuhn pronunciation It appears to be a matter of taste here...

 

OK, that's fair. For "Utapau", I was referring more to the pronunciation that you'd think it would be having only read it, which for me would be the movie one. It looks like a foreign word, so I pronounce it with the typical "ah ee eh oh oo" Latin/IPA vowel set. Like Mark686 mentioned, Kun also looks foreign to me (my first thought is Japanese, actually), so I don't treat it like an English word. You evidently see the "_un" as an English-looking construction, which is fair.

 

Different cultural backgrounds for the names seems like the best explanation.

 

Bloodlines audio has it "You-jhan," which is just weird.

I tend to adapt to proper pronunciations pretty quick, but Lumiya and Yuuzhan haven't stuck yet. Kun took awhile, too.

Video games have been my chief source of official pronunciations; X-Wing Alliance told me how to say Executor, while Battlefront clued me in to AT-AT and KotOR revealed Kun. And Ulic, who I called oo-lick for some reason.

 

Wait, it's not?

 

No, it's yoo-lick.

 

I had Yuuzhan as "yoo-zan" also, but after hearing the Bloodlines pornunciation, it made sense to me. IIRC, "zh" tends to make that soft J sound.

 

I'm all about OO-Lick. "Oo lick'd the popsicle?"

Exactly the same for me. I found myself pronouncing it Yoo-Jhan unconsciously while reading Tempest.

THANK YOU!!!! That has always been my argument too.

 

Awesome thread. I didn't know about that pronunciation key on Wookiepedia. I took a small gander to confirm my suspicions....I pronounce almost every Non-Movie/Cartoon Character or place completely wrong. I think it probably started with my friend and I calling the good Master Joruus "See Both"

When I get really confused with the names my mind automatically takes the word off of paper and transforms it into whatever nickname I have picked. I remember "Khabarakh" in TTT simply got turned into "Cabby" for me. I read pretty quickly and work the words visually through my head. Things like "Khabarakh" make me stumble.

Carnage

 

No fair, Jello. You made me say that out loud!

 

That was how I pronounced it for the last several years. Then I read that it's actually an S sound at the beginning. I've tried to make the transition.

Myrkr = Meer-ker in my head.

 

I have a terrible tendency to pronounce anything the doesn't look english as though it's welsh. Stood me in great stead through Lord of the Rings, but not so useful for Star Wars...

I'm of the Exar KUHN school. Also, Ulic = "OO"-lik where "oo" rhymes with "cook", "book" and "took". I spent about a year thinking Jacen was "jay-ken", but I'm better now. "Jasen" sounds much better.

Another important issue is where stresses fall. Example: is it loo-MY-uh, LOO-my-uh, or loo-my-UH?

In welsh the stress tends to fall on the penultimate syllable leading to hilarious mistakes on my part such as reading Anakin as "ann-AAH-kin" (somehow I missed Luke's pronounciation in Jedi).

Also, I'm assuming Andur Sunrider is supposed to be pronounced "ANN-duhr" but in my head it is always "ANN-deer."

 

A play on words is a pun, pronounced puhn and not poon.

A firearm is a gun, not a goon.

When you enjoy yourself, you have fun and not foon.

A woman who has devoted herself to God is a nun, not a noon.

A small sweet roll is a bun, not a boon.

Faster than a walk is a run, not a roon.

Noticed how after the first one I stopped saying how it is pronoucned 'uhn'? Chances are, you didn't need me to tell you that.

I therefore, as a former ESL teacher, dispute the notion that u- before a singular consonant at the end of a word ellicits a long o sound.

Consider continuum - only an idiot would say "continu-oom". It's continu-uhm. Same phonetic rule.

Kun cannot be Koon; it's simply a mistake that many are too proud to admit to.

I mean, didn't they teach that quaint phonics at school in the US?

Or did you keep thinking that the Killiks were boogs that needed to be croonched?



Kun = Koon is simply the harlot of ignorance dressed to be a lady of correctness - nobody should be fooled.

E_S