Pronunciation quibble

[Nick Armstrong]

Some great aberrations on t'telly today.

Adrian Chiles presenting the Euro football: "IN-clumunt" weather...

Old chaps working at the British Commercial Vehicle Museum on BBC4 at the moment: preparing to eat microwaved "Volley-vonts"

[amateur51]

Some great aberrations on t'telly today.

Adrian Chiles presenting the Euro football: "IN-clumunt" weather...

Old chaps working at the British Commercial Vehicle Museum on BBC4 at the moment: preparing to eat microwaved "Volley-vonts"

I was a member of an audience years ago that was invited to "proceed next door and partake of the canopies!"

[Nick Armstrong]

I was a member of an audience years ago that was invited to "proceed next door and partake of the canopies!"

One presumes you left the company breathless in your wake as you "proceeded" thither....?

[Richard Tarleton]

A school head of music I knew not only pronounced Sibelius as Sye-bee-lius, he pronounced Bruckner to rhyme with, er, duck.

[Extended Play]

"Jo'varni" should be the correct pronunciation.

But why do you need that "r" in the middle?

[Nick Armstrong]

A school head of music I knew not only pronounced Sibelius as Sye-bee-lius, he pronounced Bruckner to rhyme with, er, duck.

He didn't operate in Nottingham, did he??

[LeMartinPecheur]

Milanese (pronounced Millerknees, Millerkneezy, Melarnazy, take your pick)?

Yes, but my point is: are we going to allow this to affect 'milliners', and also Shakespeare's Duke of Milan where scansion shows it was pronounced MI-lan (hence 'milliner'), not mi-LAN.

[french frank]

Shakespeare's Duke of Milan where scansion shows it was pronounced MI-lan (hence 'milliner'), not mi-LAN.

Interesting that - we also speak of SE-ville oranges, but the city of Se-VILLE

[Beef Oven]

I'm the same with Sye-beelius. Once heard, it sounds credible ...

But I think there's a skill - for broadcasters - in pitching the pronunciation somewhere between the accurate 'native' pronunciation and the 'English' equivalent using our phonetic system and intonation. The main point is not to sound like an Italian but to be comprehensible to listeners, and if you go too far either way as often as not you aren't. Modify that with some accepted anglicised forms and, well, that's it really

Damn you ff! I can't stop thinking Sye-beelius - it's stuck

P.S. I wonder whether Sye-beelius was partial to a drop of Pee-noh Gree-gee-oh?

[Word]

I think what some have failed to grasp is that those who say Gee-oh-var-nee think they are giving the correct pronunciation. Same goes for Gee-oh-sepp-ee.

In both instances, the correct Italian pronunciation is so much more elegant. It's the presence of the consecutive vowels in Italian which throws English speakers. People seem to think that you need to make two syllables out of "Gio" when actually the "i" (or an "e" when it follows a consonant like "g" or "c") softens the consonant, which in the case of "g" makes it sound like the English "j"; hence "Jo'varni" should be the correct pronunciation.

I suspect when you heard Giuseppe pronounced with an 'o' they were talking about someone else.
... and yes, definitely no 'r' in Giovanni. ("Jo'vanni" is OK, as long as Jo isn't pronounced as Joe.)

Interestingly, when compared with Giovanni's fate, native English speakers tend to make a pretty good fist of Giotto.

[PJPJ]

I've just run all this past Mr Grundy over a quiet drink in The Bull and according to him there's definitely an R in Giovanni.

[Beef Oven]

I suspect when you heard Giuseppe pronounced with an 'o' they were talking about someone else.
... and yes, definitely no 'r' in Giovanni. ("Jo'vanni" is OK, as long as Jo isn't pronounced as Joe.)

Interestingly, when compared with Giovanni's fate, native English speakers tend to make a pretty good fist of Giotto.

jyottoh (2 syllables only) - not jee-ottoh or jottoh. But what would I know!?

[Richard Tarleton]

He didn't operate in Nottingham, did he??

C, I don't know his full CV he may well have done but not when I knew him!!

[BBMmk2]

It's like the word 'SCHEDULE. This should be pronounced schedule, not skedule. The latter is the Americanised version which has crept in rather with the Anglo-English way of pronouncing this word.

[verismissimo]

He didn't operate in Nottingham, did he??

As in "'ay oop m' Bruckner"?