Anyway, I was once again reminded in a recent conversation that people often mispronounce artists’ names, and I am certainly not exempt from these mistakes myself. So, I figured, why not harness the collective knowledge of this community to set things straight? And the artsists? Painters, sculptors, architects, composers, musicians, actors, playwrights, poets, authors, industrial designers, photographers, and categories I can’t think of right now – in short, pretty much everybody.
I’ll start:
PAINTERS[ul][li]Paul Klee: clay[/li][li]Joan Miro: mee-ROH. I’ve heard the first name pronounced as both “Juan” and “ho-AN,” and don’t know which is more acceptable.[/ul]AUTHORS[ul][]Samuel Pepys: peeps[/li][li]Marcel Proust: proost[/li][]Ayn Rand: rhymes with pine[/ul]More later, I’m sure…
Plus, since this is a chance to show off, I must mention that Michelangelo’s last name was Buonarotti, and Raphael, his contemporary, was Raphael Santi.
And, I forgot to mention Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo: not Leon + ardo, ley-o-NAR-do
No, I’m not going to include Donatello. His name is rendered relatively accurately by most English speakers, anyway.
The Van Gogh sound is wrong. The ‘a’ in ‘Van’ should be like the ‘a’ in ‘darling’. And the ‘G’ is like the ‘ch’ in ‘chthonic’, the sound coming from the back of the throat. It helps if you try to spit out some phlegm at the same time ;). Alternatively, it is a bit like the ‘h’ sound of latin speakers speaking bad English in bad movies (‘Can you ghelp me?’).
I always have trouble with Russian names, like Shostakovich. Which syllable is stressed, the ‘ko’ or the ‘vich’?
: looks over his shoulder to search for hidden camera :
I didn’t mean to criticize your semi-phonetic spelling; my comment was aimed at the WAV-file you linked at which had a fair GOGH but an awful American VAN.
Very close. I think it’s the closest possible in English.
However a German ee or long e is a sound that doesn’t exist in standard English.
It is a “long close-mid front vowel” or /e:/ in IPA.
Imagine something very much like “ay” that isn’t a diphthong - without any glide, just one single vowel.
That is also how a french é (e.g. café ) is pronounced.
Piet Mondrian: My art teacher told me it’s pronounced like the common name “Pete”. Almost doesn’t seem worth being a famous artist just to be called Pete. At least, that’s my angle on it.
Tusculan, I was actually responding to lissener’s comment and we ended up simulposting. I assure you, if I had precognition I would be using it for more than just anticipating things that people will say on message boards.
I certainly hope he didn’t consider himself a ceramicist … the “n” in “kiln” should definitely be audible, at least in the U.S. Incidentally, “kiln” is derived from the Latin “culina”. There’s a great article on the origin of ceramics terms here that’s worth a read for anyone remotely interested.
To be really pedantic, when looking at the brightly colored, tin-glazed earthenware called “majolica”, be sure to pronounce it as “may-o-li-ca.” Even the appraisers on Antiques Roadshow mispronounce it with a “j” sound every so often.
Piet Mondriaan is indeed pronounced roughly as Pete (only the ‘e’ should be short, not drawn out, so in the direction of the English ‘Pit’).
Rem Koolhaas is pronouned (by Dutch people at least) as (trying semi-phonetic) Rem Kohlhahs. The ‘oh’ is like in ‘bow’ or ‘dough’ (but without the ending ‘w’-sound). The ‘ah’ is like ‘calm’, but drawn-out longer.
Herzog: the ‘e’ is like the ‘e’ in ‘red’, the ‘z’ like ‘ts’, the ‘o’ like the ‘o’ in ‘bow’, the ‘g’ is closest to a ‘k’, slightly softened. So Hertsowk.
BTW, I do know Koolhaas is originally Dutch, but he’s been in the U.S. for so long that the Americans seem to have appropriated him (like Willem de Kooning).
