Comments on: Russian Lessons Part I: Learn To Say Ovechkin Correctly

By: v m

v m — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:21:00 +0000

learn to spell Aleksandr properly first.

and the amount of russians who get the nickname Alex instead of Sacha is probably less than 0.1%.

it just sounds fake reading it.

By: Russian Lessons Part II: Learn How to Support The Russian National Team in Vancouver

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:13:53 +0000

[...] RMNB taught you how to correctly pronounce the names of some of Team Russia’s Best Hockey Play…. After the significant attention our post received, we figured our readers desired to learn more. [...]

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:03:28 +0000

Don’t apologize. We appreciate your input, Seven.

*rimshot*

By: Sven

Sven — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:32:29 +0000

Englishspeakers never really care how non-English names really are pronounced. They just read the names the way they seem in English and don’t bother to try doing it correctly. (Sorry for the generalization, I do know there are a few that try.)

By: Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:52:43 +0000

breaklance:

I think the only thing Canadians can claim is that they are more familiar with French than Americans are. The sheer volume of immigration to the U.S. over centuries has arguably made Americans more familiar with more languages than Canadians. We just have a history of appropriating, assimulating, or ignoring our multi-lingual bounty.

Barbara:

Most modern English speakers wouldn’t be familiar with Anglo-Saxon names. Those would get mangled too.

In general, I think we do fairly well pronouncing Russian names especially if we’ve heard them pronounced properly. The most frequent errors are where to put the emphasis and that pesky “yo” sound that is foreign to our tongue.

By: The Peerless

The Peerless — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:54:52 +0000

Somehow, I can’t wrap my mind around Wes Johnson going, “Capitals goal scored by…number 8…Alex AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-VYECHKIN!!!

Even though it does have a nice sound to it.

By: breaklance

breaklance — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:45:39 +0000

Interesting but not entirely new to me atleast. Americans specifically are terrible with “foreign” names. Canadians less so, and to make a generalization, because many are bilingual have a broader sense of pronunciation.

Russian, Arabic, and asian languages seem to have the biggest trouble for Americans. Honestly I think its because of a) how different the languages are(i know hard right!?) and also difference of Alphabet. Translating names specifically seems to cause “americanization”

Try spelling the pronounciations phonetically: Alecsandre Syomen. Alex Ahvichkin.

Well, that’s how I’d spell it based on the sound. Not hugely hard to see the jump from Ahvichkin to Ovechkin. Some of it I see as shortcut, other advertising. Harder the name is to say the harder it is to market the person. Look at mainstream media, tv, music. Guys like John Mellencamp become Johnny Cougar. Niclas Copala become Nick Cage.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:56:28 +0000

Don’t feel bad. Americans butcher any name out of the ordinary Anglo-Saxon. And sometimes we even butcher those.

By: FedFed

FedFed — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:54:24 +0000

“I can imagine that some American names would go through the same trouble in Russia”
Fans usually scarify journalists when they’re speaking wrong.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:14:39 +0000

Good to know that after mangling all the others I at least nailed the Crosby pronunciation – thanks, Ashley!