Can yall please help me pronounce these words. I am not so good prounouncing such unusual words. For example I use to say Drow (with the OW you know as in OW that hurts) But it's really (ow as in oh dear) Okay here are the list of words get ur tounges ready!

Drizzt (I think it sounds like Drizz as in drizzling rain and the word IT at the end)

Guenhwyvar (I have no idea)

Menzoberranzan (No idea either)

Thanks in advance

Cheers ;)

Sythe

heh, to tell you the truth, I didn't even know Drow was pronounced like that, I also say Drow as in "OW, that hurts"

I think that is because IT IS pronouced like that. And dude Sythe, a warning. Pronouncing Drizzt's name wrong and spelling it wrong WILL tick people off on other boards. This isn't one of em. [img]tongue.gif[/img] It is pronoucedc Drist i believe. Not drizzit or even spelled drizzit. Read "Sojourn" and find why it ain't drizzit. [img]tongue.gif[/img] No offense in this post. I thougth i was being a little rude. [img]tongue.gif[/img] soz had to put that in.

Ah, that makes me feel better, so I wasn't wrong [img]smile.gif[/img]

Drow = ow as in cow. TSR said so in the early 80's and since they made it up, it's their fiat that rules.

As for the other words, which are not really English, I understand it this way:
Drizzt = Drisst (though I usually add a subtle little "z" sound in there, but I don't ever make it "Drizzit")
Menzoberranzan = Men - zo ("sew" with a "z") - burr - an (as in "Anne") - zan (like "Xan" from BG). Stresses on "Men" and "an" I think.

I always say GWEN-e-var when I read the books, but I could be wrong.

For more info on the drow langauge, here's a site.

[ 03-03-2003, 06:35 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]

Doh I am reading Sojurn right now heh. I always get mixed up between Drizzt and Drizzit. (Almost done with the book and going to the next trilogy Clerics something something)

Doh I am reading Sojurn right now heh. I always get mixed up between Drizzt and Drizzit. (Almost done with the book and going to the next trilogy Clerics something something) Also if you have played BG2 some NPC's say Drow (as in oh dear) But Aeris says the OW way.

Wrong on both counts someguy. Throughout Bg2, the words "drow" and "drizzt" are both pronounced quite frequently. Drow is pronounced dr-oh, and drizzt (as in, "I could take drizzt with one hand tied behind my back", a fairly common boast from the commoners and one I would like to see put to the test) is pronounced drizz-it.

There still remains the question of whether the voice actors knew what they were doing when they recorded those lines.

I had no trouble with Drizzt and drow, but I always pronounced the city Men-zo-BEAR-an-zan. Who knew?

You're wrong about the drow bit. Viconia is about to be burned at the stake in bg2, and the rabble-rouser shouts

"Look ye all upon this foul dr"ow" ...."

"Then the dr"ow" shall burn!"

Some of Viconia's voice clips also say :

"The dr"ow" are never idle with their time .. "

"You are not dr"ow", and are not worthy of these insults ..."

Adalon says :

"It is done. You now resemble the denizens of the dr"ow" city ..."

Drow priestess :

"The destiny of the dr"ow" is to conquer all ..."

Anyway, I've made my point. In fact, everywhere I can find in bg2, it is always pronounced drow as in "ouch".

You're right about Drizzt, though. And yes - the voice actor factor comes into it. Still, bg2 is a finely polished product. I can't imagine that the big boys and girls would have let the voice actors attempt the lines and names without at least a little instruction.

Ahh yes, the old drow vs drow debate. Kinda like the debate on whether Balrogs have wings .... There were many OpEds in Dragon Mag on this topic before TSR weighed in with the "official" pronounciation: drow - similar to ouch, exactly like the bow of a ship NOT like bow as in a Long Bow or crossbow.

I still prefer the latter [img]tongue.gif[/img]

For me, 'drow' rhymes with 'cow,' and 'Drizzt' rhymes with 'blitzed' [img]tongue.gif[/img]

oh so I guess I was right with some of the names ....... the main reason I have a hard time thinking a amazing unusual names is that I can't pronounce it. How many people do you see each day who cannot pronounce their own name right?

personally i thinkt hat if it is a word you read most frequently it is up to you how to pronounce it in your own head.

words like melee i pronounce maylay, but a friend says meelee, for gaia i say guy-uh, a friend say guy-A-uh. we dont; argue about what pronunciation is right because it doesn't matter

If you ask me, "ouch" could be pronounced either way. Tho I am not an expert, but an explanation should be more precise.
I pronounce "drow" as "draw". It sounds more natural than as in "drown".

I found Drizzt pronounced only three times in BG2. Then I quitted my search.
The "I could take Drizzt..." is the example of saying Drizzt incorrectly. He is DRIZZT (no i)!
Jan says Drizzt.
Mazzy says Drizzt (when talking to Edwin).

("MY MOTHER SAYS THAT DARK ELVES SHOULD BE HANGED UNLESS THEY'RE NAMED DRIZZT!!")

Perhaps I'm being nitpicky, but two of those words are in the Drow language and the other one is Welsh. None of them English. ;)

ok you lost me [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Welsh? Which is Welsh? And what does it mean?

Or is it just a joke?

Really? For me it's the other way around. What is your native language?

Anyway, the only time i've ever heard it said is in the BG games, and there it'sd pronounced "drown" - "n"

Gwuenhwyvar is the word that is very Welsh like. Welsh is spoken in the Dutchy of Wales (is it still a dutchy or considdered a full blown country like the other members of the UK?) and is one of the few surviving remnants of the Celtic language.

Personally, I think Dr-oh sounds better, and that's how I pronounce it. Menzoberranzan is said how it is written - at least, that's how I say it. Men-zo-berran-zan. Or Menzo-berranzan. Always pronounce the z's as z's as in bzzz for a bee. Drizzt is definitely NOT Drizzit. It is said Drizzst. The double z means that it is a sharp s followed by a t. At least, that's how I say it.
Guenhwyvar is a difficult one. I mostly pronounce it Gu-eni-var (pronounced faster, so it rolls off your tongue), but if I look closer at the spelling I'd say it's more of a Guen-wyvar, the wyvar bit as in wyvern. But I'm not sure. Practically all of this is only my opinion, but most of my friends who are into fantasy pronounce it that way.

PS: No offence, but I thought the drow pronounciation, Dr-ow, as in Ouch, was American, and that the Dr-oh was English. Hey, at least I spellt your country with a capital! :D No, sorry, no offence was meant.

I just can't get over the fact that a thread for masters of English has a misspelt word in the title....

No offence intended Sythe, I know where you're coming from. I have no idea on how to pronounce those. I always get a little bit paranoid talking about books and games with people as when you've only read a word you don't know how everyone else thinks it should be pronounced. I remember the biggest disagreement I've ever had was on the evil dwarf fighter from BG1. Dammit! Can't remember his name now! but suffice to say we couldn't agree on how to pronounce it...

uhh...all those names are hard to pronounce, let even type it. why can't they just use chinese or japanese names?

Hehe I had a little chuckle over that myself ;)

But in fact the biggest problem with the title of the thread isn't the spelling mistake but the notion that people who are good at English will be able to pronounce foreign words - not hardly! It's hard enough figuring out how to pronounce words that are actually English, let alone words that are not! English is referred to as an "orthographically opaque" language - meaning the spelling-to-sound (and sound-to-spelling), or the way words are pronounced according to how they're spelt, is not at all obvious. The word drow is a perfect example. When you encounter a novel word, the only way to pronounce it is to examine the components and work out what phonemes correspond to what letter strings. So drow is 'd' 'r' 'ow'... ?? How to pronounce ow? What english readers know is that 'ow' is not regular, that is, it can be pronounced various ways. It could be oh, as in 'tow' or 'low' or 'own'. Or it could be ow, as in 'now' or 'dower' or 'allow'. (Just for kicks too, suppose you heard the word 'drow' and it was pronounced 'droh' as in 'low' - how to spell it? Dro? Droe? Droh? Bah :D )

Drizzt is even worse. 'izzt' is not a conventional letter string in English. There are no analogous words that you can use to generate its pronunciation. So, supposing there wasn't extant evidence of its pronunciation (eg in BG2) an english speaker would pretty much have an open slate. You could say well, izzt, spelled sorta like wrist with a z-ier sound, but not necessarily. Look at a word like yacht. Based on its spelling it should be yatchet, like hatchet, or maybe yatched, like hatched, or even yacked or yacket, supposing you pronounced the ch as a /k/. But it's 'yot'. Indeed ;)

Yes, he is from Fae'run. He should know the spelling!

Quote:

I remember the biggest disagreement I've ever had was on the evil dwarf fighter from BG1. Dammit! Can't remember his name now!

Kagain? I say it as it is written.

Really? For me it's the other way around. What is your native language?</font>[/QUOTE]Croatian ;) .

I know where Wales is, but I understood that the word has meaning in Welsh, not only similar structure.

Kagain? I say it as it is written.</font>[/QUOTE]Yes! Thats the chap - but is that pronounced Kay-gun (i.e. with the first syllable long and the second one short) or Ka-gane (i.e. the other way round). Anyone?