Talking Smart: Foreign Names

László Megyesi (Hung.)
[laslo med-ye-shi]

Marek Kaščák (Czech.)
[kash-chak]

Marian Cârjă (Rom.)
[ker-zhe]

Marián Had (Slovak.)
[gad]

Marius Iordache (Rom.)
[marius yordake]

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

József Mogyorósi (Hung.)
[yozhef mod-yo-ro-shi]
Juha Majava (Finn.)
[yuha mayava]
Jyri Hietaharju (Finn.)
[yuri hi-ye-ta-har-yu]
Krzysztof Łągiewka (Pol.)
[kshishtof lan-gev-ka]
Ladislav Jamrich (Czech.)
[yamrih] (or [yamrij] for Spaniards)

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Janos Szekely (Hung.)
[yanosh sekey]

Jaromír Šilhan (Czech.)
[yaromir shilgan]

John Wolyniec (Pol.)
[volinets]

Jonne Hjelm (Swed.)
[yunne yelm]

Josef Jindřišek (Czech.)
[yozef Yin-drzhi-shek]

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Jakub Dohnálek (Czech.)
[yakub dognalek]

Jan Lecjaks (Czech.)
[yan lets-yaks]

Jan Rajnoch (Czech.)
[yan raynoh]

Jan Štohanzl (Czech.)
[yan shtoganzl]

Jani Lyyski (Fin.)
[yani lyu-ski]

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Imre Csermelyi (Hun.)
[im-re cher-mey-ee]

Ionel Boghiţoi (Rom.)
[ionel bogitsoy]

Ionuţ Chiricu (Rom.)
[ionuts kiriku]

István Szűcs (Hun.)
[ishtvan siuch] ([siuch] as one syllable).

Ivica Kralj (Croat.)
[ivitsa kral], with "l" mild as in French.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Guadalberto Mojica (Span.)
[mohika]. This surname is often mispronounced in an English manner, with "j" like in "John". Should be like "h" in "Harry".

György Józsi (Hung.)
[diord yozhi]. [Diord] is pronounced as one syllable, "zh" is like "s" in "pleasure".

Gyula Hegedűs (Hung.)
[diu-la hegedush]. [diu] is one syllable, like English "dew".

Henrik Rydström (Swed.)
[rüdstrom]. For the English it obviously would be [roodstrom].

Igor Žofčák - (Czech.)
[igor zhofchak]

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Gabriel Giurgiu (Rom.)
[jurju] with "j" like in "John".

Gabriel Paraschiv (Rom./Ukr.)
[paraskiv]

Gancarczyk (Pol.)
[gantsarchik]. For some reason this Polish player, who plays in Ukraine, is mistakenly called "Gancharzhik" there.

Gergely Rudolf (Hung.)
[gergey rudolf]

Gergely Délczeg (Hung.)
[gergey deltseg]

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Endre Bajúsz (Hung.)
[endre bayus]

Eugeniu Cebotar (Hung.)
[eujeniu chebotar]

František Dřížďal (Czech.)
[franteshek drzhizhdal]

Gábor Bagoly (Hung.)
[gabor bagoy]

Gábor Vincze (Hung.)
[gabor vintse]

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

David Šmahaj (Czech.)
[shmagay]

Decebal Gheară (Rom.)
[dechebal gia-re]

Djordje Babalj (Croat.)
[jorje babal] - "j" here is English, while "l" is mild as in French.

Dmitri Khokhlov (Rus.)
[hohlov] or [jojlov] for the Spaniards.

Dmitri Sytchev
[si-chov], the second syllable is stressed.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Cristian Şchiopu - (Rom.)
[shkio-pu]

Csaba Ködöböcz (Hung.)
[chaba ködöböts]

Daniel Tjernström (Swed.)
[chernström]

Daniel Ytterbom (Swed.)
If "Y" is at the beginning of a word, it's pronounced as [i], not as [yu]: [itterbom].

Dávid Meggyes (Hung.)
[meg-diesh]

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Axel Wibrån (Swed.)
[vilbron]

Bogdan Vrăjitoarea (Rom.)
[vre-zhi-to-a-rya]

Ciprian Deac (Rom.)
[chiprian dyak]

Cosmin Gheorghiţă (Rom.)
[ge-or-gi-tse]

Cristian Chivu (Rom.)
[ki-vu]

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Andrei Viţelaru (Rom.)
[andrey vitselaru]

Andrew Hainault (Can./Fr.)
[eno]. The stress falls onto the last syllable, of course.

Anes Mravac (Bos.)
If a "с" in a surname of Yugoslavian origin doesn't have a special sign over it, it should be pronounced like [ts], not like [ch]: [mravats].

Antti Pohja (Fin.)
[poh-ya]. [h] is pronounced.

Axel Kjäll (Swed.)
Swedish "Kj" is pronounced as [tch]: [tchell].

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Abdelhak Boutasgount (Arab./Fr.)
[abdel-hak boo-tas-goon]

Aleksandr Bebikh (Rus.)
The "kh" construction is one of the silliest inventions in transliteration of Russian names into English. It was invented exactly for cases like this, when a Russian names has a final "x", the English equivalent of which - "h" - is not pronounced at the end of the words. To make it sound they invented this combination which is pronounced by the English very differently from the Russian "x" - they pronounce it like "k" strongly aspirated. But what is much worse, later people decided that this was the combination to render Russian "x" in ANY position, for example, at the beginning of a word. Although English "h" would have been way more adequate in this case. [alexander bebih].

Aleksei Blokha (Rus.)
Another example with the same awkward "kh" combination. When transliterated into various languages it shold be like this: Bloha - in English, Blocha - in German, Bloja - in Spanish, etc.

Alin Nicu Chibulcutean (Rom.)
In Romanian language the "сh" is read as [k] if followed by "е" or "i": [alin niku ki-bul-ku-tian].

András Dlusztus (Hun.)
[andrash dlustush]

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Vlastimil Stožický (Czech.)
In Czech language "ž" stands for [zh], while "-cky" and "-cka" endings should be read as [tski] and [tska], NOT [ki] and [ka]: [stozhitski].

Zbigniew Małkowski (Pol.)
A tricky Polish name is pronounced this way: [zbignev].

Edu Drácena (Br.)
In the nickname of this Brazilian defenseman of Besiktas the stress falls onto the first syllable.

Källstrom (Swed.)
In Swedish language the "k" before "ä" is pronounced as [ch]: [chalstrom].

Ivica Dragutinovic (Serb.)
In Serbian language "c" is [ts], don't pronounce it as [ivika]. It should be [ivitsa], with the stress on the first syllable.

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Tomasz Kuszczak (Pol.)
The difficult "szcz" denotes a sound close to "shch" in "fresh cheese": [tomash kushchak].

Tor Hogne Aarøy (Nor.)
In Norwegian language the double "аа" is [o], the "о" is often read as [u], the "g" before "n" sometimes is read as "y", while "ø" after consonants is read as French "eu": [tur huine orøy].

Tuncay Şanlı (Tur.)
In Turkish language the "c" mean English "j". So, he is "Tunjay", not "Tunkay", as many think. While "Ş" is a Turkish [sh]: [tunjay shanli].

Václav Mrkvička (Czech.)
Czech "c" is [ts]. As for the surname, it has a hidden syllable: [vatslav m(o)rkvichka].

Vedran Ćorluka (Croat.)
Often the special sign over the "c" is omitted, which leads to a mispronunciation. Should be: [vedran chorluka].

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Steven Pienaar (Dut.)
In Dutch language the "ie" stands for a long [i], while doubled "аа" is pronounced as a single [a]: [pinar].

Szombathely (Hun.)
In this Hungarian surname you should remember two things: first, the "sz" stands for [s], and second, the "ly" is [y], as in "boy": [som-ba-tey].

Thomas Myhre (Dan.)
The "y" letter in Scandinavian languages stands for French [u] sound, if not at the beginning of a word. While the "h" is mute in this case: [miu-re] (with [iu] being one syllable).

Tim Cahill (Eng.)
Despite that the "h" is in intervocal position (between two vowels) here, in which it's often mute, in this case it's clearly pronounced: [ka-hill].

Tomasz Cywka (Pol.)
Unlike in Hungarian, in Polish the "sz" is [sh], while "с", as we told many times, is [ts] in Polish language. The "y" is different to "i", but the non-Polish are not likely to understand the difference. So, it's [tomash tsivka].

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Sami Hyypiä (Fin.)
In this tricky Finnish name the doubled "yy" is pronounced as single French "u": [hiu-pee-a], "iu" should be one syllable.

Sedgwick (Eng.)
Although the root "e" is omitted here, the "g" anyway should be read as in "gesture", not as a [g]: [sedzhwik].

Shunzuke Nakamura (Jap.)
First, the "Sh" is pronounced here as [sh], because it is followed by "u", not by "е" nor "i", and second, the Japanese swallow the second "u" in this name: [shunske].

Stephen Hunt (Eng.)
That's how the name [stiven] is written in English. Don't look for "Steven". Update: ok, look for Steven, there tons of them. Although, the correct way to spell this name is still "Stephen".

Stephen Wishart (Eng.)
Here the "s" and the "h" belong to various roots, hence don't form a [sh] sound: [wis-hart].

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Raimond van der Gouw (Dut.)
The rules of Dutch language demand this surname to be pronounced as [van der gau].

Riccardo Scimeca (It.)
In Italian language "sc", if followed by "i" or "е", is read as [sh]: [shimeka].

Robert Malcolm (Eng.)
The second "l" in this surname is mute: [malkom].

Roman Bednář (Czech.)
Another example of a Czech surname with "ř", which is pronounced as [rzh]: [bednarzh].

Rudi Skácel (Czech.)
In Czech language the "с" is [ts]: [skatsel].

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Nicky Wroe (Eng.)
In English language the "Wr" combination at the beginning of a word has "W" mute.

Pavel Ricka (Czech.)
In Czech language "с" is always [ts], don't take the "ck" for English [k]. It's [tsk]: [pavel ritska].

Peñarol (Ur.)
Some forget sometimes about the tilde, which results in wrong pronunciation of a club's name. Should be [peniarol].

Péter Halmosi (Hung.)
Another Hungarian name to repeat the Hungarian phonetic rules. As the rest of similar Hungarian three-syllable surnames, this one has a stress over the first syllable: [peter halmoshi].

Pugh (Eng.)
This English name should be pronounced as [piu] (one-syllable).

Talking Smart: Foreign Names

Martin Švejnoha (Czech.)
Another Czech "h", which should be pronounced rather as [g], since it's voiced: [shvey-noga].

Metcalfe (Eng.)
In this surname the "l" is mute: [metkaf].

Mirsad Bešlija (Croat.)
This surname is read due to the rules common for the western slav languages: [mirsad beshliya].

Moritz Volz (Ger.)
In German language "v" is pronounced as [f], while "z" stands for [ts]: [folts].

Nick Farquharson (Scot./Austr.)
The surname is of Scottish origin - [farkerson], but in Australia it is pronounced differently: [farkuarson].