Thursday, August 2, 2007

Correct Pronunciation of Foreign Names: Letter "G"

Galliquio (Per.)
A complicated surname of this Peruvian during his stay at Argentinean Racing was read absolutely trickily: [ga-shi'k-yo]. In Peru itself it is pronounced a bit simpler: [ga-yi'k-yo]

Garrincha (Br.)
There is no "ch" sound in Brazilian language, hence there has never been any [garrincha]. Only [garrinsha].

Ghiggia (Ur./It.)
One of world's first world champions traditionally is pronounced as [hih-hia]. While actually this is an Italian name which should be pronounced as [gi-ja]

Giannakis (Gr.)
For some reason, the Greeks decided to render [ya] and [yu] this way. This is [yannakis].

Giannakopoulos (Gr.)
[yannakopulos]. See above. "Ou" in Greek names is [u].

Giurkas (Gr.)
[yurkas]. See above.

Gilchrist (Eng.)
This quite wide-spread surname is often mispronounced as [jilkrist], while he is [gilkrist]

Goiás (Br.)
The name of this rapidly developing Brazilian club is often misstressed.

Gough (Scot./Irl.)
Famous Scot introduces himself as [gaf]

Graham (Eng.)
"H" is mute, two "a" sound as one. Hence, [graem]

Guaraní (Br./Par.)
In the name of Brazilian and Paraguayan clubs, as well as Indian tribe and its language, the last syllable is stressed.

Guigou (Ur./Fr.)
Another French surname, belonging to a Uruguayan, and pronounced according to Spanish rules [gigo'u].

Guiñazú (Arg.)
Polifunctional Argentinean midfielder, who has played all over the world, has a stress above his last syllable (by the way, this is a Guarani surname).

Guivarc’h (Bret.)
Stephane Guivarc’h is not actually French. He is Breton. That's why his surname is written this strange way, and pronounced as [givark].

1 comment:

James said...

Guivarc'h is French, because Bretons are all French. But he belongs to a distinct ethnic group within the French population.