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How do you guys pronounce certain names in BG

booinyoureyesbooinyoureyes Member Posts: 6,164
in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
I've been thinking about a couple names that I have pronounced incorrectly over the years (took me for ever to realize that her-me-oh-nee was incorrect...stupid movies)

For example, the "Kh" in Khalid sound is meant to represent the "strong k" that you find in Arabic. I have also noticed a variation in the amount of emphasis people put on the letter "h" in Dynaheir.

The number one question, though, is how do you pornounce the "j" in Ajantis?
Do you go
a. Ah-Jan-Tis with the middle syllable pronounced as it is in "January"
or
b. Ah-Yan-tis with the middle syllable sounding more like the football club from Amsterdam?
«1

Comments

  • enqenqenqenq Member Posts: 499
    Firstly I don't know the name of that football club...

    But yeah, option a anyway. I've never heard j spoken as y, except from my own mouth and that of my Swedish kinsmen. Yump for yoy.
  • iuventasiuventas Member Posts: 95
    edited March 2014
    I always say Ajantis with y, like in "you". Same for Jaheira (also I roll the r there, it sounds more druidish, idk why), it was pronounced this way in first part's voiceover and the fact it changed to the "January" pronounciation in BG2 feels just wrong, I refuse to give in!:)
    And yeah, with hard kh for Khalid, like the MMA fighter Khalidov.

    My language's pronounciation of the letters is usually the same (read how you see it, accidentally open the chamber of secrets), so in Polish j is (almost - borrowed words etc) always pronounced like English you-y, while English January-j is represented as dż dipthong, same for the "Arabic" kh becoming ch. So, Chalid and Dżaheira, according to second part of the game.
    That's also why English - Danish even more - are so weird to learn, pronounciation differs greatly from written forms and it's something my native language didn't prepare me for.
    Post edited by iuventas on
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  • TethorilofLathanderTethorilofLathander Member Posts: 427
    I think the football club he means is Ajax, pronounced Eye-axe rather than Ay-Jacks :D
  • mjsmjs Member Posts: 742
    Just on Ajantis: i thought it was a softer J, as in the french "je". So Aj-shan-tis. Or like @Metalloman‌ has defined much better above i his post above ^
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    Ajantis gets pronounced with a heavy J because I like to think of him as an alcoholic paladin and his name pronounce this way sounds like Jaundice, which is therefore appropriate.
  • booinyoureyesbooinyoureyes Member Posts: 6,164
    edited March 2014
    I do the y sound for the j. Edit: in ajantis not Jaheira
    In Greek, my families native language, there is no j and no b. so when pronouncing eirds in other languages most in my family replace b with "mp" and the funniest is j which is replaced with "tz" (and my Anglicized name begins with j!)

    So they would pronounce Jaheira tza-ear-ah
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    I pronounce "ja" in Ajantis in the same way Gorion pronounces "ja" in Jaheira.
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    Dynaheir like Dinajeir (DEENaje-eer), Khalid like Kalid (KaLEED).
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited March 2014
    For me it would be

    Ja-hear-a, a hard K with Khalid (Ka-leed like CrevsDaak used), A-jan(like january)-tis for Ajantis, and Die-na-hear for Dynaheir
  • LoubLoub Member Posts: 471
    edited March 2014
    CrevsDaak said:

    Dynaheir like Dinajeir (DEENaje-eer), Khalid like Kalid (KaLEED).

    Actually, I believe Dynaheir is pronounced "Dee-NAH- eer" due to the tonic syllable being commonly the second to last one in most languages, and I believe the H is there to emphasize that fact.
    Where in the abyss does an "H" sound like a "J"? Even in spanish, it's the other way around - Although, given that you're Argentine, you might be trying to convey the H sound in english, which sounds exactly like spanish's J, which puzzles me, since until now you had shown very few faults in your discourses and yet you make such a novice mistake. Truly, it would be really amusing to listen to you saying things like "Jay in Rey Heyes' hay" if such a misconception also carried to your speech.

    And yes, Jaheira's name is pronounced by most as Jah-HEAR-a (with a distinctive rolling of the tongue in the "R", which we call "Roman R" at UFRGS), with the exception of dumb b***h Aerie, who pronounces it "Ja-HAY-rah".

    Viconia's name is also inconsistent - for the most part, its VAI (as in the verb vie)-coh (as in the noun coal)-nee-ah, yet Rasaad pronounces it VEE-coh-nee-ah on more than one occasion.
    Post edited by Loub on
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    The way voice actors pronounce the names (especilly in EEs) is not necessarily the right way.
  • KaltzorKaltzor Member Posts: 1,050
    Pretty much how the characters pronounce their own names... They usually do say it...

    Except hexxat who gets pronounced something along the lines of stupid vampire who needs to die.
  • ItstucktwiceItstucktwice Member Posts: 182
    Despite loads of evidence to the contrary, I still pronounce the "C" in "Viconia" as a soft S.
  • NonnahswriterNonnahswriter Member Posts: 2,520
    I always heard Viconia with a short-i sound. "You can't spell Vicky without 'icky!'"

    Then Nalia pronounced it with a long-i and I was all... "Whaaaaat? o_O"

    Never looked at that drow the same way again.
  • illusionillusion Member Posts: 17
    Ja-hear-a(Hard J, rolled R)
    ka-leed
    a-jan-tis(hard J as in January)
    dee-na-hear
    vye-co-nee-ya
    Brawn-when

    Can't really think of any other names off the top of my head that are difficult(at least joinable characters)
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    I pronounce Dynaheir the way Stewie Griffin pronounces "Dynasty."
  • ArchaosArchaos Member Posts: 1,421
    edited March 2014
    I'm not sure I understand the confusion of some people.

    The correct way to pronounce the names is the way the voice actors themselves pronounce it because usually that's how they have been told by the creators how to pronounce it.
    It's as simple as that.

    I mean we can think of various ways to pronounce some words and even native speakers get confused.
    And that's because English is a messed up language with no clear rules on how to pronounce some stuff and it's open to interpretation.
    And that's coming from someone that loves English.

    For example, if you never heard "Jaheira" before you could pronounce it "Ya-heer-ah", "Ya-heir-ah", "Jah-ayra", "Yah-ayra", "Ya-hire-ah", "Ja-hire-ah" and so on.

    In Greek, as @booinyoureyes can agree, words are pretty clear on how they can be pronounced and we include intonations. Which means we know exactly where to emphasize a word and how to pronounce a letter.
    Similar to French that uses "é". (So it's Poh-keh-mon and not Poke-mon). Except we do it for every vowel in every word.

    I mean if some people want to pronounce names differently than what is heard, then don't mind me if I pronounce "George" (pronounced "Johrj") as "Geh-or-geh".

    Trivia: "George" comes from the Greek Georgos (Geh-oh-rgos) which means farmer. Geo (meaning earth, like geolist) and (e)rgos which means work or labor.

    Another example. Ultimate could be pronounced as "ool-tee-mate", "all-tee-mate", "al-tee-mate", "all-time-ate" etc.
    Though, ultimate is pronounced the way it does because that's what we heard.

    Irish pronounce "about" as "ah-boot" unless I'm mistaken. So even that is not clear. Just listen to Korgan.

    Point being, that English pronounce George and other words, the way they do, because... english.
    Even though my pronounciation would be the correct one, both root-wise and phonetically.
  • artificial_sunlightartificial_sunlight Member Posts: 601
    Can someone make a short movie with cut-paste sounds of the voice actors who say names. I know Khalid Jaheira, Montaron, Imoen (bij herself)are mentiond by their partners so it should be easy. But I'm to lazy :P
  • RewolfRewolf Member Posts: 102
    I try to pronounce the names as the voice actors themselves say it, or how I think that the name should sound in english (with a dutch accent to it, in my case! :D ). This comes down to:
    Jaheira - Jah-heir-ah
    Khalid - Kha-leed (Kha, as in Khan, the one Captain Kirk hates so much)
    Dynaheir - Dye-nah-here
    Imoen - Ih-mu-en
    Minsc - Minsk
    Xzar - Ksar
    Need any more examples? :P
  • JenzafarJenzafar Member Posts: 303
    Not a name, but while we're on the subject: how does one pronounce the word geas? I believe I've heard the voice actors say it several different ways.
  • CorvinoCorvino Member Posts: 2,269
    I've always thought geas would be pronounced the same as geese, or at least so closely that you wouldn't hear the difference in conversation.
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