Acceptable American pronunciation of dead European writers

[QUOTE=Colophon]
If it’s pronounced as the original Dutch surname, it’s “On-DAHT-chee”.
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Thanks!

[QUOTE=SAttua]
And that Kant, as in Immanuel Kant, isn’t actually pronounced “kahnt.” But polite society will keep pronouncing it that way, anyway.
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With apologies to polite society but Kant=Cunt?

[QUOTE=Sattua]
And that Kant, as in Immanuel Kant, isn’t actually pronounced “kahnt.” But polite society will keep pronouncing it that way, anyway.
[/QUOTE]

Really? “Kant” is a German last name, and A’s are generally pronounced “ah” in that case. For example, the phrase “Was ist das?” is (roughly) pronouced “Vahs iest dahss,” not “Vuhs iest duhss.”

[QUOTE=Chez Guevara]
Evelyn Waugh was also a woman.

Evelyn Waugh (the man) married Evelyn Gardner (the woman) in 1928. Their friends called them He-Evelyn and She-Evelyn.
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And, IIRC, He-Evelyn’s first E is long; hers is short. *Eevlin, meet Evalin. *

How about dead painters?

I always heard VanGogh pronounced Van GO, but then I heard it pronounced Van Goff and lately I have heard it pronounced Van Gochhh (as in loch ness.) Which is it? Anyone know?

And I still want to know how to pronounce Goethe.

[QUOTE=Lisa-go-Blind]
Really? “Kant” is a German last name, and A’s are generally pronounced “ah” in that case. For example, the phrase “Was ist das?” is (roughly) pronouced “Vahs iest dahss,” not “Vuhs iest duhss.”
[/QUOTE]

Kant in German is pronounced exactly the same way as cunt in English.

[QUOTE=mkl12]
Kant in German is pronounced exactly the same way as cunt in English.
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I think this may depend on what variety of English you speak. :dubious:

[QUOTE=WotNot]
I think this may depend on what variety of English you speak. :dubious:
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That’s true, of course. I have recorded an mp3 of me saying Kant, Goethe and Nietzsche. Does anyone know where I can upload it?

[QUOTE=Darryl Lict]
And I still want to know how to pronounce Goethe.
[/QUOTE]

I think it’s GEE-teh (or possibly GEE-theh).

Here are some audio files:
The German pronunciation of Kant is much closer to this:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?cunt0001.wav=cunt
than to this:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?bixkan04.wav=Kant

Just go to m-w.com and look them up. There’s an audio pronunciation with each of those.

[QUOTE=Struan]
The guy trying to figure out how to pronounce authors that he’s never read, and it seems never will?
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‘Moi’ is pronouced ‘mwa’.

I mention this because it will come in handy if anyone needs to say “Pretentious? Moi?”

[QUOTE=Fish]
Just go to m-w.com and look them up. There’s an audio pronunciation with each of those.
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Crap, I didn’t realize M-W had pronouns in the dictionary. Hah, it doesn’t contain Langewiesche, Ondaatje, or Coraghessan!

[QUOTE=Darryl Lict]
And I still want to know how to pronounce Goethe.
[/QUOTE]

In German it sounds (to my ear) like Gur (like cur)- tuh.

[QUOTE=mkl12]
Kant in German is pronounced exactly the same way as cunt in English.
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No, it’s not, but it could easily be mistaken for that. As Lisa-go-blind says the german short a sounds basically like our “ah.” Thus Kant would sound approximately like “Kahnt.” A very clipped pronunciation could sound very similar to cunt, but it’s not supposed to.

[QUOTE=Darryl Lict]
Crap, I didn’t realize M-W had **pronouns **in the dictionary. Hah, it doesn’t contain Langewiesche, Ondaatje, or Coraghessan!
[/QUOTE]
Do you mean proper names?

[QUOTE=Sir Prize]
Do you mean proper names?
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Yeah, I knew someone would say that. I missed the edit window.

[QUOTE=denquixote]
No, it’s not, but it could easily be mistaken for that. As Lisa-go-blind says the german short a sounds basically like our “ah.” Thus Kant would sound approximately like “Kahnt.” A very clipped pronunciation could sound very similar to cunt, but it’s not supposed to.
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Please listen to the to m-w links I posted above. Are you saying that the way they say Kant there is the correct German way? If so, you’re wrong. It may be the preferable way of saying the name in English, but I’ve never heard anyone in Germany saying it like that. And I am German.

Everybody in Germany pronounces the name almost exactly like “cunt” is pronounced in the m-w link.

[QUOTE=Darryl Lict]

Hey, please spell the whole thing out. Is it keer-keh-GOHr?

Thanks.
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Almost: The stress is on the first syllable, making it KEER-kuh-gohr. The “gohr” is the same sound as in Al Gore - only shorter.

[QUOTE=mkl12]
Please listen to the to m-w links I posted above. Are you saying that the way they say Kant there is the correct German way? If so, you’re wrong. It may be the preferable way of saying the name in English, but I’ve never heard anyone in Germany saying it like that. And I am German.

Everybody in Germany pronounces the name almost exactly like “cunt” is pronounced in the m-w link.
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My philosophy professor at Uni. Hannover said it as “Kahnt”.

Possibly in other regions the middle “a” will have a different sound.