When to add the pronunciation for a word in a sentence.

[curator]

I have a rule book with a short back story in it. I want to help the players feel like they are playing more than just a game and actually living the experience.

The game takes place on an alien planet like Pandora (yeah i know it is a moon), so the natives pronounce things differently than spelled. I would like to know when does one add the (pronunciation) in a sentence. Is it always following the word? If it is two words following each other that need the pronunciations do you put both in the same set of parenthesis?

Typing in the word pronunciation in Google no matter how specific the question is only yields teaching on how to pronounce words for various languages, so if anyone has a great guide link for what I need to know please let me know.

Thanks.

[billl]

I think that English readers would (in your example) be expected to know how to pronounce Pandora. That's an easy one. If you wanted to (for example) alter the normal pronunciation and switch the emphasis to the final syllable, then I think a lot of sci-fi/fantasy writers would replace the word (in every instance) with the italicized Pandorá.


We visited Pandorá because Pandorá was an important planet. We had always known that Pandorá would be awesome.

If you want to give the IPA pronunciation of some word in the course of your story, though (for example), it might be alright, I think, to give a one-shot explanation of the correct pronunciation, and leave it up to the reader to check back if they forget how it is pronounced (or provide a glossary or something that can be referred to later).

e.g.
The lieutenant Whorff (/worf/) had decided against speaking out against his Captain. Like his father, Bob Whorff, he knew it was a short-term advantage only.

That preceding example sentence is horrible, and is probably a bad example. Basically, I think it is pretty rare that a sci-fi/fantasy author tries to make sure that the reader is getting the pronunciation right, UNLESS s/he is also providing a glossary or background biography to accompany the character at the end or beginning of the book. Otherwise, just try to spell the name as close to how an English-reader would read it as you can.

Hopefully you'll get better responses than mine....

[curator]

Add a glossary to back is a good idea. I will do that. I already only place the pronunciation of a word after the first use. But I guess to keep the short introduction flowing I will just have a glossary that will include the pronunciations.

Now I am curious

In the fantasy books written by RA Salvatore he has a character named Drizzt Do'Urden (... ...) with a pet panther named Guenhwyvar (...). He is from Menzoberranzan (...).

He travels with a human character in the books named Cattie-brie (...-...), to whom he also loves.

So let's say wanted to add the pronunciations in those sentences, is where I have placed (...) the correct spots for them.

Thanks again for any feedback.

[billl]

I think so, but you might want to actually include the word 'pronounced' for the first time you indicate pronunciation like that.

Ex. This is the story of Guenhwyvar (pronounced GWEN-wi-var) and his master Drizzt (drizzed).

The particulars are up to you, really, as far as how it finally looks on the page, I'm just pointing out that people might not realize that you are indicating pronunciation of the name the first time they see it. Anyhow, I think it is most common for the reader to have no certain idea of how these sorts of names are meant to be pronounced, when reading these sorts of books. I always just made up my own pronunciations when reading this sort of thing, pronunciations which were always shorter and probably easier than what the writer intended.

[curator]

Thanks for the help. That answered my questions.

[billl]

Finally, I just want to point out that I think you were right earlier, about how this pronunciation stuff interrupts the flow. By controlling how the reader sees and hears these names (spelling AND pronunciation), you seem to be trying to create a mood, but the appearance of a parenthetical explanation of pronunciation seems more like a newspaper report about the life or politics of people in a different country in our real world.