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How Would One Pronounce Dvořák?

64K views 23 replies 16 participants last post by  science 
#1 · (Edited)
How would one pronounce Dvořák correctly? I didn't want to ask anyone I know for fear of them thinking I'd lost the my mind. I've did some some "research" and I think it sounds like Voor-jshack? With the "jack" pronounced softly like the name Jacques in French. How would you pronounce Dvořák?

Also if there are any other names you find hard to pronounce or you know that some people butcher when trying to pronounce please feel free to contribue your knowledge. :tiphat:
 
#5 ·
The radio announcers in my neck of the woods pronounce it almost as three syllables "d-VOR-zhack" which is mmost likely wrong. I still struggle with Debussy. I never quite know where to accent it or how that first vowel is supposed to sound.

I used to mispronounce Penderecki more or less the way it's spelled, but I hear people pronouncing it "Pen-der-EV-ski." I'm not sure where the "v" and "s" sounds come from. Maybe the same place as the "zh" in Dvorak, the "f" in laugh, and the "i" in women.
 
#7 ·
I used to mispronounce Penderecki more or less the way it's spelled, but I hear people pronouncing it "Pen-der-EV-ski." I'm not sure where the "v" and "s" sounds come from. Maybe the same place as the "zh" in Dvorak, the "f" in laugh, and the "i" in women.
Penderecki is pronounced [pɛndɛˈrɛt͡skʲi].

The pronunciation of Lutosławski amuses me, though.
 
#18 ·
If you do have to, be sure to mention several other composers too, and place the accent on the wrong syllable for all of them. The audience won't know whether to s***t or go blind (as the university swells are fond of saying).
 
#23 · (Edited)
The correct pronunciation of certain Central European names used to often catch me out and occasionally still do - originally none more so than Hungarian surnames beginning with 'S' and 'Sz' such as the conductors Szell and Solti. Before I heard their names mentioned I assumed the 'S' would be just an 'S' and the 'Sz' more like 'Sh' but not so - just like that quote about spending many years hurling a baseball it turned out to be the other way around all of the time. Drifting away from the OP, the names I still have trouble with now are Irish ones where the spelling is 'Gaelicised' - so many letters that are either silent or have little phonetic logic. My mother's maiden name was Furphy and sometimes it can be spelt O'Foirbhilhe or O'Foirbhthe - what?????
 
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