Chris PetrilliDec 13, 2023
This.
Show threadferricoxideDec 13, 2023
@petrillic

Couple things:

• People aren't saying "Schwarzenegger" all that close to "correctly"; unlikely that "Tchaikovskiy" is being pronounced all that close to "correctly", either.
• "Ncuti" seems even less anglicized than the first two. To a casual reader, "Nc" doesn't convey "sh".
Show threadThiagoDec 14, 2023
@ferricoxide @petrillic was thinking the same thing. I just pronounce all 3 as they are written. For the first 2, afaik, you can just pronounce as written and you are close enough
Show threadKagan MacTane (he/him)Dec 14, 2023

@falcon @ferricoxide @petrillic If I pronounced Schwarzenegger "as it's written", I'd say it with a zzz sound in the middle. But everyone I know (including me) uses a "ts" sound instead.

We *don't* pronounce it "as it's written", and we've gotten so used to it that we don't even notice.

We can do the same with "Ncuti".

(But Beethoven would've been a better example than Tchaikovsky. Also Mozart and Chopin.)

Show threadferricoxide
@kagan @falcon @petrillic

It's more than just the "say z as 'tz'," though. Regardless, most Americans' pronunciation is close enough that any native German-speaker that had that last name would understand, "oh, I think they're talking about me". 😄
Dec 14, 2023 at 3:48pmWeb
Show threadKagan MacTane (he/him)Dec 14, 2023
@ferricoxide @falcon @petrillic I wasn't trying to find ways in which Americans' pronunciation of "Schwarzenegger" differ from Austrians', just one quick example of how Americans' pronunciation of it differs from "how it's written". I was pointing out that we *don't* "just say it the way it's written"; we've learned to pronounce that Z differently from "the usual". Like pronouncing NC as "sh".