pronunciation?

JoeFriday

JoeFriday

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ok, here's probably the stupidest question that's been asked on here in a long time...

how do you pronounce "Zeiss"... I never know if it's "Z-ee-ss" or "Z-eye-ss".. or I suppose it could even be "Z-eh-ss"
 
JoeFriday said:
ok, here's probably the stupidest question that's been asked on here in a long time...

how do you pronounce "Zeiss"... I never know if it's "Z-ee-ss" or "Z-eye-ss".. or I suppose it could even be "Z-eh-ss"
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I've always heard it pronounced "Zice". Here in the States that is.
 
JoeFriday said:
ok, here's probably the stupidest question that's been asked on here in a long time...

how do you pronounce "Zeiss"... I never know if it's "Z-ee-ss" or "Z-eye-ss".. or I suppose it could even be "Z-eh-ss"
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you know 'zees' is a very interestink qvestion...

i say Z-eye-ss
 
gns said:
Now, how do you say..."Ikon"?
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I've always heard it pronounced "eye-kon", but again, here in the States we may not pronounce it as in other parts of the known universe. :)
 
ha.. so I've been saying it right, even tho my ignorant friends all say "Zeese"

and it only makes sense since you wouldn't say "Leeka"

I'll have to work on throwing that T in, as well.. then they'll really give me funny looks
 
Hi all, the Dutch are Germany's neighbours. We know a little about their language. Every 'Z' in german is pronounced with a little 't' in front. Idt is not 'Moozart' but 'Mootzart'. Therefore it is TZeiss, but not really like 'ice' but more like 'aice'. A little 'aa' first.
Ikon is juse 'IIkon'. 'Aikon' is a Russian religious thing...

Leica - similarly - is not 'Laika' but 'Leeika', the first bit like in 'lesson'.

'Voigtlander' should really be Voigtlaender, or with an umlaut on the 'a', making it pronounced like 'egg'-like 'e'. The 'g' is a very light one, it does not exist in English as far as I know.

Clarified?
 
Tss-aye-ss ee-Kon.

The Z is pronounced as a sharp tsss, not a soft zzzz.
The '-eye-' part, just like in Leica - L-eye-k-uh - is pronounced more closed & at the top than the English word 'eye' (kinda like in 'May', but not quite...), also, less dipthongized than in English (the 'ah' and 'ee' - sounds are not as distinct as in 'eye', but merge into one sound).
The second part is not 'Eye-kon' (as the English word 'icon'), but 'ee-Kon', with the stress on the second syllable (the 'kon'), not the first (as in 'icon').

Roman
 
Thanks Roman,
If you post something and wait, eventually someone will eventually show up that knows what the heck they are talking about. Now the hard part. Can you explain to an American how to pronounce the "R" in say... Roman.
 
gns said:
Thanks Roman,
If you post something and wait, eventually someone will eventually show up that knows what the heck they are talking about. Now the hard part. Can you explain to an American how to pronounce the "R" in say... Roman.
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;)
Difficult - chicanos can do it (as I know from experience), but 'merrricans have a hard time...
For a German 'r'-sound, try not to curl your tongue backwards, as for the 'retroflex' American 'r', but try using the middle part of your tongue against your palate; it is a bit less rolling, shorter than a Spanish/Mexican 'r'.
Oh, and the '-man' part in Roman is not like American 'man', but more like 'm-ah-n' - more like in the Queen's English...

;)

Roman

PS: I took some linguistics classes when I was an English major in another life...
 
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In English, as spoken in the upper South, there seem to be at least three "R"s in Washington. Just a comment. Johne
 
FrankS said:
Brett, you're running with the wrong crowd!
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you got that right, Frank... aside from my father who bought a Braun Paxette in Germany while in the service, I don't know anyone who knows what a rangefinder is.. the rest think that Nikons are the best, being slightly better than Sonys.. and they all think I'm insane for starting with a digital camera and switching 'backward' to film
 
johne said:
In English, as spoken in the upper South, there seem to be at least three "R"s in Washington. Just a comment. Johne
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Growing up in MD, I said "Warshin'ton" and it took a long time to break the habit. Now I just say "DC". :)

Then there's "Baltimer", "Baltmer" and "Bawlmer"...... depending upon where in MD you grew up. Anyone who says "Baltimore" ain't from there in all likelyhood.

Walker
 
Being from Washington (the state) originally, I always HATED hearing "Warshington."

THERE'S NO 'R' IN WASHINGTON!!!!

Whew, thanks, I feel better now. :)
 
dkirchge said:
THERE'S NO 'R' IN WASHINGTON!!!!
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The one that fascinates me is the town of Norfolk {sic} Nebraska. This is probably best known for being the childhood home of Johnny Carson. For those of you not from the States, the late Johnny Carson was a long-time TV host over here.

The townies insist, sometimes defensively, that the name of their town is to be pronounced "Nor-Fork", and yes, there's a story behind it.

From what I heard, when the town was founded in the late 1800s, they decided to name it NorFork, since it was on the north fork of the {mumble} river. The town government then sent away to the US Postal Service (or whatever it was called back then) in Washington for a post mark stamp for their new post office, and the Powers That Be in Washington (Warshington?) thought it was a typo and issued the stamp as Norfolk. The town was listed in the postal records as Norfolk and therefore appeared on maps and railroad timetables as Norfolk, and that spelling survives today.

That's what "they" tell me, anyway. :) :)
 
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