Pronouncing Novelists Names

[Inderjit Sanghe]

Hi, given the fact that I have been murdering the names of innumerable novelists over the years, I was wondering if any native speakers could tell me how to properly pronounce the names of the following novelists:

French: Andre Gide, Jean Genet, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Queneau, Robbe-Grillet.

Russian: Gogol, Tolstoy(i)

[Niamh]

Hi, given the fact that I have been murdering the names of innumerable novelists over the years, I was wondering if any native speakers could tell me how to properly pronounce the names of the following novelists:

French: Andre Gide, Jean Genet, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Queneau, Robbe-Grillet.

Russian: Gogol, Tolstoy(i)

not a native but this is how i'd pronounce some of them.
Rimbaud= Rim-Bow
Verlaine- ver-lane
Andre Gide- on-dray Gee-d

[PeterL]

Jean Genet: Zhun Je nay
Robbe-Grillet: Rob Grillay

[kelby_lake]

Hi, given the fact that I have been murdering the names of innumerable novelists over the years, I was wondering if any native speakers could tell me how to properly pronounce the names of the following novelists:

French: Andre Gide, Jean Genet, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Queneau, Robbe-Grillet.

Russian: Gogol, Tolstoy(i)

gide= hgeed
genet= gen-ay
rimbaud= ram-bo (yes, it is. not rim-bord)
verlaine= ver-lay-ne
queneau= cuh-no (the 'que' is pronounced like the french word)
robbe grillet= rob-grillay
gogol= go-gurl
tolstoy= toll-stoy

[kandaurov]

I've asked a friend of mine who studies Russian, and she told me "Tolstoy" is pronounced "tal-STOY"; she also said that Nabokov is pronounced "na-BO-kov", which came as a surprise to me.

[Il Penseroso]

Rimbaud's not Rim - bodd?


how 'bout Sartre? is it Sart? or Sarture? (I've heard both)

and Goethe is Ger-tuh?

[PeterL]

Rimbaud's not Rim - bodd?


how 'bout Sartre? is it Sart? or Sarture? (I've heard both)


Sartre should have a surpressed 'r' sound after 'Sart'. You may only hear the 'Sart'. Some people would sound that surpressed 'r' more strongly.

There's some room for disagreement about Rimbaud. The vowel in the first syllable can be anything fr a short 'o' to a short 'a', but the second syllable should be pronounced 'bow', as in bow and arrow.

[kandaurov]

I agree with what PeterL said about Sartre; that's the way I say it at any rate.

As for Goethe, I'm currently in Germany, so I'm acquainted with the way they pronounce it, but it's not easy to explain... you're quite close though, it's something like "GEU-tuh"... well, if you really want to know, in this link I have uploaded a reading of his most famous ballad, "Der Erlkönig": http://www.sendspace.com/file/632ec0 At the beginning, the reader pronounces Goethe's name as it is supposed to be pronounced.

[Niamh]

Sartre should have a surpressed 'r' sound after 'Sart'. You may only hear the 'Sart'. Some people would sound that surpressed 'r' more strongly.

There's some room for disagreement about Rimbaud. The vowel in the first syllable can be anything fr a short 'o' to a short 'a', but the second syllable should be pronounced 'bow', as in bow and arrow.

My friend from Belgium told me it can be pronounce Rem- Bow or Rim- Bow. I've always pronounced it Rim Bow. Its also how it was pronounced in the film made about his life with Verlaine.

[SleepyWitch]

I agree with what PeterL said about Sartre; that's the way I say it at any rate.

As for Goethe, I'm currently in Germany, so I'm acquainted with the way they pronounce it, but it's not easy to explain... you're quite close though, it's something like "GEU-tuh"... well, if you really want to know, in this link I have uploaded a reading of his most famous ballad, "Der Erlkönig": http://www.sendspace.com/file/632ec0 At the beginning, the reader pronounces Goethe's name as it is supposed to be pronounced.

I can't listen to this file at the moment, but I'll check it out later and tell you guys whether it's the correct pronounciation.
basically, the oe in Goethe is is similar to the vowel in 'bird' in British English (i.e. without an r) only your round your lips a bit more and it's pronounced further to the front of the mouth.
if you say a long English 'oo' (like in soup) you should have liprounding. then try to pronounce the vowel in 'bird' and round your lips at the same time. ... I'll look it up in my phonetics text book, though (not sure I got it right).

[kelby_lake]

i've never heard rimbaud pronounced rim-bo, and i went to charleville where he was born.

[JBI]

how about Faulkner. How pronounced is that l supposed to be.

[Sweets America]

Well I'm French and Rimbaud is pronounced 'Rim' (pronounce 'in' like in 'cinq', which is itself close to the American pronunciation of 'sank' with this nasal sound) and the 'baud' is pronounced 'bo' (once again, the 'o' here is pronounced in an American way, that is without a dipthongue).

[Virgil]

how about Faulkner. How pronounced is that l supposed to be.

pronounced falk-ner

[PeterL]

how about Faulkner. How pronounced is that l supposed to be.

How do you Canadians pronounce it?

[Sweets America]

pronounced falk-ner

My question is: is the 'l' pronounced? I think it is not because when a 'l' is before a 'k' which ends a syllable, it is erased phonetically. So I guess this name is no exception?

[JBI]

the l seems to become some sort of variant of a w so it sounds sort of like fauwlkner, with the l being almost silent. sometimes even pronounced fockner.

[PeterL]

My question is: is the 'l' pronounced? I think it is not because when a 'l' is before a 'k' which ends a syllable, it is erased phonetically. So I guess this name is no exception?

It is optional. It is usually pronounced like 'fok ner', but some people pronounce it 'falk ner'.

[Sweets America]

the l seems to become some sort of variant of a w so it sounds sort of like fauwlkner, with the l being almost silent. sometimes even pronounced fockner.

In fact it is the rule of 'all/bald/talk' where the 'a' has a special pronounciation (it should normally be pronounced like the 'a' in 'cat' because of the consonant cluster after), but here the 'a' is pronounced like the 'o' in 'door' and the 'l' should be silent, yes, because of the 'k'. :) But then yes, it also depends on the different accents of the speakers, because from what you say this 'a' could even be pronounced like the 'o' in dog!

[Annamariah]

I've asked a friend of mine who studies Russian, and she told me "Tolstoy" is pronounced "tal-STOY"; she also said that Nabokov is pronounced "na-BO-kov", which came as a surprise to me.
The stress is on the second syllable, that's right, but I think the end should be "kaf", because unstressed "O"s are pronounced like "A"s in Russian. ("A" like in the word "father"), and in the end of the word the voiced consonant is always voiceless, which means that instead of "V" it should be "F".

I've only studied Russian for a year, so don't shoot me if I'm wrong :lol:

Nabokov written with IPA symbols: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nɐˈbokəf] (from Wikipedia)

[kandaurov]

The stress is on the second syllable, that's right, but I think the end should be "kaf", because unstressed "O"s are pronounced like "A"s in Russian. ("A" like in the word "father"), and in the end of the word the voiced consonant is always voiceless, which means that instead of "V" it should be "F".

I've only studied Russian for a year, so don't shoot me if I'm wrong :lol:

Nabokov written with IPA symbols: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nɐˈbokəf] (from Wikipedia)

You are quite right, the last one isn't read like an "o"; what happened is I forgot to change the words and restricted my contribution to the syllable stress. And you're ahead of me, I can only say 'grandma', 'vodka', 'take it easy' and 'sandals' :p But I do know IPA, and, according to wikipedia, the last vowel is read like the last "a" in "Amanda".

[kelby_lake]

Well I'm French and Rimbaud is pronounced 'Rim' (pronounce 'in' like in 'cinq', which is itself close to the American pronunciation of 'sank' with this nasal sound) and the 'baud' is pronounced 'bo' (once again, the 'o' here is pronounced in an American way, that is without a dipthongue).


yes, that's how i'd describe it. i'm bad at descriptions:p

[*Classic*Charm*]

I've always heard Faulkner pronounced "Fock-ner"

the "a" really shouldn't be pronounced, because it helps in softening the "au" into a soft "o" sound. "au" on its own makes a long "o" sound, but "aul" makes a soft "o" sound.

"Au" - oh
"Aul" - aw

[JBI]

But keep in mind, the pronunciation is based off of his original name, Falkner.

[*Classic*Charm*]

Not gonna lie, I never knew his name was originally spelt that way. Who knew? lol

[aabbcc]

Andre Gide - Andre Žid
Jean Genet - Žan Žene
Rimbaud - Rembo
Verlaine - Verlen
Queneau - Kveno
Robbe-Grillet - Rob Grije
Gogol' - Gogolj
Tolstoj - Talstoj

Ž - read as French j, for example in jolie
J - as English y, for example in yellow
LJ - try to pronounce both letters in one, as in llama

Of course, the above is simply the approximation, I wrote the names as they are standardly written in Serbian or Russian - the best way to figure how is something pronounced I guess is to check how it is written in languages which apply phonetic spelling even to personal names.

[JBI]

How do you pronounce this critic's name: Slavoj Žižek

[aabbcc]

How do you pronounce this critic's name: Slavoj Žižek

Exactly as it's written. ;) The way it's written follows the rules of phonetic writing, it's actually a lot harder to adapt it to English writing: Slah - voy Zhi - zhek, I suppose it would be written that way. In both words the first syllabe is stressed.