How do you pronounce "Eyjafjallajkull"?

I heard Al Roker, don’t know if that’s the correct pronounciation. But I couldn’t reproduce that from memory. Help!

Sounds like “Ay-va-loogck” to me, although I’m probably missing some syllables there.

My friend’s Icelandic wife says the best approximation is something like EH-yuh-FYAT-luh-yeu-k’l.

If you remember that the Js are pronounced like Ys, the only thing that’s really unexpected (for a non-Icelandic speaker) is that “ll” is pronounced with like “tl”. (The final “ll” is kind of swallowed, though.)

I have no speakers on this PC so can’t comment on how similar that is to the audio clip. However the Wikipedia talk page says:

Edit: BTW the OP is missing a letter in the name. It’s Eyjafjallajökull.

Another article with much discussion and audio clips.

Throatwarbler Mangrove.

:smiley:

“Volcano”

Icelandic volcano.

I say it as /ˈeɪaˌfjatlaˌjœkʏtl̥/ (roughly “EY-ah-FYAT-lah-YEUH-kutl”). It may help to keep the following things in mind concerning Icelandic pronunciation in general:
[ul]
[li]<j> is pronounced, as in most European languages, as the English <y>[/li][li]<ö> is pronunced as in German, or like the French <eu>[/li][li]<ll> is usually pronounced as English <tl>, as in “hatless”. But in the case of Eyjafjallajökull, the second <ll> is voiceless[/li][li]<u> is pronounced /ʏ/. This one is pretty tricky, as that sound doesn’t really occur in most dialects of English, nor very prominently in languages that English speakers are likely to be familiar with. The sound is similar to that of <ö>.[/li][li]Stress is always on the first syllable. This word happens to be a compound of the three words eyja (island), fjalla (mountain), and jökull (glacier), so you’ll stress the first syllable of each.[/li][/ul]

“Bob”.

I’ve been saying “Ava-lay-vuk”. That probably butchers it a bit but it’s quite easier to remember and it’s roughly what I hear in that Wikipedia voice clip.

Well, actually “yacht” is one syllable! :slight_smile:

One helpful way to attempt to pronounce it I’ve seen is to say “Hey ya forgot la yogurt” in a Brooklyn accent.

Fiddlefaddlebananaramamagregmaddoxpitchaduck.

I hear AY yee va loe viK, where the K is swallowed, the ch is that of informal German, and the oe is like the schwa in French.

Imafokkinkillya.

American here. I don’t. I say that volcano and later it will be that Iceland volcano.

Listening to these reporters is even more fun than watching news shows when that big volcano near Mexico City gets active. Even the Univision newscasters have a hard time pronouncing Popocatépetl.

The correct pronunciation is “NNNYYYRRRRRAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!”

Be glad Iztaccihuatl is extinct!

I believe it’s “Eyjallawhateverthefuck.”