As in the composer Antonin Dvorak. His name has a couple diacriticals in it (one over the “r” and one over the “a”) but I can’t do those on the computer. So – how is his name properly pronounced? I
I’ve always heard it pronounced “duh-VOR-zhak.” But that was always by community college instructors, so take it with a grain of salt.
I have usually heard that pronounced duh-VOAR-zhock.
It’s pronounced “Dvorak.”
Here’s something I found doing a quick search–
AntonIn DvorAk [An´tOnEn dvOr´zhAk] (exerpt from the above link)
but I’m just a community college professor, so you might want to take that with a grain of salt… :dubious:
I usually pronounce it:
Dvorak (pronounced “Da-vor-zhak” or sometimes “Vor-zhak”.)
from http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:t_kwL5LGCtIJ:arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,791659,00.html+pronounce+dvorak&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=firefox-a
I also found this on the internet:
“D’VO-zhak”. First syllable has “owe” sound.
from /inkpot.com/classical/classicalfuq.html#20
but that sounds weird to me withou the ‘r’ sound.
Seems like many of those in the know barely pronounce the “d,” such that it’s almost silent.
d’VOR-zhahk. The “Dv-” combo is an affricate not found in English, but rendered much like “Ts-” or “Tch-” or “Dzh-” (the last better known as “J-”). The second syllable is very close to “Jacques.”
NHL announcers always refer to Radek Dvorak as “Duh-VOR-ak.” Of course they may be wrong.
The diacritical Ř/ř is the hard part of it. The mark over the r is called a “háček” (hook) and the sound of the “háček r” in particular is unique to the Czech language. It’s tricky to learn to pronounce correctly, even for Czech children. There’s a tongue-twister used to teach its pronunciation to children:
Translated, “three hundred thirty-three silver firetrucks sprayed over three hundred thirty-three silver roofs.” 
Anyway, the pronunciation is something between a rolled r with a zh sound where the tongue is clicked on the teeth in mid-sound. This wikipedia article about the háček has a link to a sound file of the the pronunciation of the háček r in the “list of letters” section, coincidentally enough, someone saying “Antonín Dvořák.” I can’t open it myself, but I assume it must be okay since it’s being used an example of the pronunciation itself.
The /dv/ combination doesn’t occur at the start of words in English, but shouldn’t be too hard to English-speakers to say. However, I know almost nothing about Czech, but I have heard that the “ř” represents a sound which is found in very few other languages, and which is gard for non-Czech-speakers to pronounce, so the /rz/ is just an approximation.
By the way, the keyboard layout is pronounced as it’s spelled: duh-vOr-ak.
It’s pronounced “Eksoav”.
Throatwarb…ah forget it. Too obvious.
Sure you can.
See here Proofreading Guidelines - DPWiki
DVORE-zhahk, with the “D” only slightly pronounced, and not immediately followed by a vowel sound (like the “dv” in “Advil.”). And we’re referring, here, to the original Czech name, not the keyboard or hockey player.
NHL announcers are not exactly scholars of accurate pronunciation of anything but “power play” and “hat trick.” I remember hearing about “Arthur Urb” (presumably as opposed to “Roy Rural”) for a couple of weeks before it finally dawned on me that they were talking about Arturs Irbe.
Thank you, all. I pronounce it “VOR-zhak.” I was corrected by someone who pronounces it “Duh-VOR-ack” and I was nettled to be corrected by someone whom I was pretty sure was in the wrong. It warms the cockles of my heart to see that, although neither of us was linguistically totally correct, he was more wrong than I. 
Okay, so how do you pronounce “Igor”?
Mar-tee Feld-man.