Lechwe Pronunciation
- Thread starter lechweoryx
- Start date
jbnbsn99
Well-Known Member
There are two correct ways to pronounce Okapi. Traditional way is Oh-ka-pi. The less used way derived from the Lese language is Oh (stop) ah-pi. The later pronunciation does not pronounce the K.
Duiker is altogether different. The sound of "ui" apparently does not exist in English. It is somewhere between "oy" "ai and "ay." From what I understand the pronunciation that is closest to the original Afrikaans or Dutch is close, but not exactly, day-ker.
Oh and it is Zee-bruh, and O-rang oo-tan from us Americans.
Duiker is altogether different. The sound of "ui" apparently does not exist in English. It is somewhere between "oy" "ai and "ay." From what I understand the pronunciation that is closest to the original Afrikaans or Dutch is close, but not exactly, day-ker.
Oh and it is Zee-bruh, and O-rang oo-tan from us Americans.
this thread's been rolling along so I thought I'd throw in my two cents worth. One thing to bear in mind is that most languages have more or less stable vowel sounds (unlike English which has multiple sounds for each vowel). If you know the vowel sounds you can pronounce the word properly. And particular languages have specific but non-obvious ways of pronouncing certain consonants, or ways of adding or dropping syllables that aren't always clear to an English speaker (Malagasy being a particularly nasty one for things like that 
). And don't even get me started on tonal languages like Thai!! Furthermore, turning the foreign word into an English one often mangles the 'proper' pronunciation. Then there's the matter of different accents (eg, North American, South African, Australian) to confuse issues.....
lechwe - LECH-way [or, as phoenix says, LECH-weh which is a similar sound] (from the Sechuana name leche)
duiker - DYE-kuh (Afrikaans, 'diver', the name actually being a shortened form of duikerbok 'diving buck')
okapi - oh-KAH-pee (Wambutti (Bambuti) o'api -- the apostrophe is a glottal stop so to European ears it sounds most similar to a 'k' sound)
fossa (or fosa) - foosh or FOO-shuh (Malagasy. The 's' is pronounced like a 'sh', and the last 'a' should properly be dropped) - I will admit I cannot bring myself to call it a 'foosh', it just sounds wrong!
sifaka - shee-FAHK (Malagasy -- again, the 's' is pronounced 'sh', and the last 'a' is dropped)
takin - TAH-kin (from a North Assamese name)
zebra - ZEH-bruh [although all Americans of course pronounce it ZEE-bruh, because they have their own special way of (mis)pronouncing words] (from Portuguese, probably from Arabic zeora, imitative of the call of the Grevy's zebra, but another suggestion is from Congolese or from Abyssinian zibra 'striped')
orang-utan - pronounced as Zooish says [another Malay name that constantly annoys me with mispronunciation is siamang -- see-uh-mung, not sye-uh-mang]
touraco - TOO-ruh-koh (from French, from a native name which is imitative of the call)
). And don't even get me started on tonal languages like Thai!! Furthermore, turning the foreign word into an English one often mangles the 'proper' pronunciation. Then there's the matter of different accents (eg, North American, South African, Australian) to confuse issues.....lechwe - LECH-way [or, as phoenix says, LECH-weh which is a similar sound] (from the Sechuana name leche)
duiker - DYE-kuh (Afrikaans, 'diver', the name actually being a shortened form of duikerbok 'diving buck')
okapi - oh-KAH-pee (Wambutti (Bambuti) o'api -- the apostrophe is a glottal stop so to European ears it sounds most similar to a 'k' sound)
fossa (or fosa) - foosh or FOO-shuh (Malagasy. The 's' is pronounced like a 'sh', and the last 'a' should properly be dropped) - I will admit I cannot bring myself to call it a 'foosh', it just sounds wrong!
sifaka - shee-FAHK (Malagasy -- again, the 's' is pronounced 'sh', and the last 'a' is dropped)
takin - TAH-kin (from a North Assamese name)
zebra - ZEH-bruh [although all Americans of course pronounce it ZEE-bruh, because they have their own special way of (mis)pronouncing words
] (from Portuguese, probably from Arabic zeora, imitative of the call of the Grevy's zebra, but another suggestion is from Congolese or from Abyssinian zibra 'striped')orang-utan - pronounced as Zooish says [another Malay name that constantly annoys me with mispronunciation is siamang -- see-uh-mung, not sye-uh-mang]
touraco - TOO-ruh-koh (from French, from a native name which is imitative of the call)
Can I throw guenon into the mix? Having toyed with several variations over the years, I seem to have settled on gwe-non (with no real emphasis on either syllable).
This is an interesting subject as we (well, ZooChatters at least) all grow up reading about unusual animals, but rarely hearing the names aloud. Over time you settle on a pronunciation in your own mind which can be hard to shift, even when you are told different. Sifaka is a classic example: I know how it should be pronounced, but still feel a bit self-concious when I say it the "correct" way.
Let's not even get started on the pronunciation of scientific names!
This is an interesting subject as we (well, ZooChatters at least) all grow up reading about unusual animals, but rarely hearing the names aloud. Over time you settle on a pronunciation in your own mind which can be hard to shift, even when you are told different. Sifaka is a classic example: I know how it should be pronounced, but still feel a bit self-concious when I say it the "correct" way.
Let's not even get started on the pronunciation of scientific names!
My Pronunciations:
Guenon - Goo / en / non
zebra - zeb / bra (but no the same way I pronounce bra)
fossa - foss / sa
okapi - Oh / kap / pi
Lechwe - Lech / weeeeeee!
dhole - d / ole (like dole as in umeployment)
gelada -jel / arda
takin - tah / kin
duiker - doo / ik / er (obviously wrong
)
Most (if not all of them) are not going to be the correct versions
Guenon - Goo / en / non
zebra - zeb / bra (but no the same way I pronounce bra)
fossa - foss / sa
okapi - Oh / kap / pi
Lechwe - Lech / weeeeeee!
dhole - d / ole (like dole as in umeployment)
gelada -jel / arda
takin - tah / kin
duiker - doo / ik / er (obviously wrong
)Most (if not all of them) are not going to be the correct versions
guenon - gih-non, although gweh-non is quite common (from French, I've never been able to find a definite etymology for it, some sources say it means 'she-monkey' and others 'grimacer')
dhole - dole (to rhyme with 'hole') (Hindu)
gelada - jih-LAH-dah (Arabic, from giladah 'mane')
dhole - dole (to rhyme with 'hole') (Hindu)
gelada - jih-LAH-dah (Arabic, from giladah 'mane')
absolutely. When I was younger (by which I mean about 7) I used to pronounce pangolin as 'pangolian' and it took a while to get used to the correct way. One problem I commonly encounter is pronouncing names correctly and other people basically looking down at me because they think its wrong! Sifaka would be a good example of thatrobmv said:
I think that's just an accent thing - the second 'a' is equivalent to the ones in 'bath' or 'grass'. On a UK level, imagine a line from the Wash to the Bristol Channel (more or less) - I would expect people brought up north of that line to favour M'cack and people brought up south of the line to favour M'cark.
(Or, put another way, tens of millions across the Midlands and North of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland pronounce these words normally, a couple of million in the South pronounce them weirdly
)(I should add that I'm not sure which is closer to its pronunciation in its original language, or even which language it is from)
I started out saying Gore but then switched to Gower, simply because I think it sounds better (like most British accents, mine doesn't roll the 'r's very well, so Gore just sort of fades out at the end!). I genuinely have no idea which is more correct.
For me, it's Seh-row (row as in row row row your boat!).
I think that's just an accent thing - the second 'a' is equivalent to the ones in 'bath' or 'grass'. On a UK level, imagine a line from the Wash to the Bristol Channel (more or less) - I would expect people brought up north of that line to favour M'cack and people brought up south of the line to favour M'cark.
(Or, put another way, tens of millions across the Midlands and North of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland pronounce these words normally, a couple of million in the South pronounce them weirdly
(I should add that I'm not sure which is closer to its pronunciation in its original language, or even which language it is from)
I think it's from Portuguese but I'm not sure where they got it from (maybe India/South East Asia - I'm just guessing). In terms of the vowel pronunciation, there isn't a north south divide, it's a flat vowel in both northern and southern English so 'M'cack'.
I have learnt I have been pronouncing a few things wrong. I never knew about Fossa or Sifaka.
A couple of odd variations I have heard.
I know someone who will argue until they are blue in the face that Okapi is pronounced ocka-pie. I have always said oh-kar-pee
I have also seen a documentary on Orang Utans that pronounced it as oar-rang-ooo-tan with heavy emphasis on oar and ooo. For that one I have always said uh-rang-uh-tan.
For Takin I have always said tack-in.
A couple of odd variations I have heard.
I know someone who will argue until they are blue in the face that Okapi is pronounced ocka-pie. I have always said oh-kar-pee
I have also seen a documentary on Orang Utans that pronounced it as oar-rang-ooo-tan with heavy emphasis on oar and ooo. For that one I have always said uh-rang-uh-tan.
For Takin I have always said tack-in.
I just checked around my office and they all say m'cack. It's always a flat vowel, in the same way, back, lack, shack, hack, are all flat vowels north or south.
Well, I've heard it pronounced both ways, so I don't think it's as clear cut as those examples (remember we're only discussing it becuase someone queried it upthread!
). I would always say m'cack because I'd use the same sound for bath and grass anyway! 
lechweoryx
Well-Known Member
Looks like Letch-way has won!!!
macaque - mih-KAK or mih-KAHK, both pronunciations are equally common. Personally I say it mih-KAK but technically it should probably be mih-KAHK. The name is Portuguese and may be derived from the Sanskrit name markata for the rhesus, but a popular etymology given is that it is derived from an African name for a monkey, applied to the macaques in error by the 18th century French naturalist Buffon (he had a history of attributing incorrect names to animals which then stuck)
gaur - GOW-a (to rhyme with power or sour). Hindu, from the Sanskrit name gaurah (basically meaning 'wild ox', from gauh, 'cow')
serow - SEH-row (to rhyme with cow not glow). Its a native name from Sikkim
gaur - GOW-a (to rhyme with power or sour). Hindu, from the Sanskrit name gaurah (basically meaning 'wild ox', from gauh, 'cow')
serow - SEH-row (to rhyme with cow not glow). Its a native name from Sikkim
lechweoryx
Well-Known Member
Just wondering how you pronouce Nyala?
