pronunciation of names - Most popular for September 2007
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Paços de Ferreira (Port.)
Sometimes the Portuguese "ç" is misinterpreted as "c". Should be [pasoosh].
Pécs (Hun.)
In Hungarian language "cs" stands for [ch] - [pech].
Rochdale (Eng.)
Actually, it's predictable - [rochdeil], but one could suspect any way to pronounce the name of
this English club.
Rotherham United (Eng.
John O'Shea (Irl.)
This Irish surname should be pronounced as [o-shey].
Keogh (Irl.)
Another Irish surname which should be remembered: [kee-ou].
Kjetil Wæhler (Nor./Swed./Ger.)
In Norwegian and Swedish languages "kj" stands for [ch]. In German language the "h", if not at the
beginning of a word, usually is mute.
Tomasz Kuszczak (Pol.)
The difficult "szcz" denotes a sound close to "shch" in "fresh cheese": [tomash kushchak].
Tor Hogne Aarøy (Nor.)
In Norwegian language the double "аа" is [o], the "о" is often read as [u], the "g" before "n"
sometimes is read as "y", while "ø" after consonants is read as French "eu": [tur huine orøy].
Artur Boruc (Pol.)
In Polish language "c", if not followed by "h", is pronounced as [ts]: [bo-roots].
Banguera (Col.)
"U" in this surname is mute. It only indicates that "g" should be pronounced as [g], not as [h]:
[bangera].
Ben Alnwick (Eng.)
This fancy surname is pronounced fancily too: [enik].
Benny Feilhaber (Ger.
Gabor Király (Hun.)
In Hungarian language the "ly" is pronounced as [y], as in "boy": [gabor kiray].
Gary Doherty (Irl.)
In this Irish surname the "h" is mute.
Gary Loughran (Eng.)
This difficult English surname is pronounced like [loo-ran].
Guillaume Beuzelin (Fr.)
This French player should be pronounced as [giy-yom böz-len].
Maciej Żurawski (Pol.)
In Polish language "с" stands for [ts] (if not in combination with "h"), "j" stands for [y], while
"Ż" - for [zh]. The combination "ie" means a long mild [e]. "W" is [v]. So, [matsey
zhuravski].
Mahon (Eng.)
Despite that it does not have an ending "e", it is pronounced as if it had one: [mahoun]. Note
also, that a derivation "McMahon" is read differently too.
Steven Pienaar (Dut.)
In Dutch language the "ie" stands for a long [i], while doubled "аа" is pronounced as a single
[a]: [pinar].
Szombathely (Hun.)
In this Hungarian surname you should remember two things: first, the "sz" stands for [s], and
second, the "ly" is [y], as in "boy": [som-ba-tey].
Thomas Myhre (Dan.)
The "y" letter in Scandinavian languages stands for French [u] sound, if not at the beginning of a
word.
Shimizu S-Pulse (Jap.)
Another example when "sh" in Japanese language is followed by "i". In such cases it's pronounced as
[s].
Southend United (Eng.)
Although not completely adequate, but it's inevitable to render English "th" as [t] in foreign
languages.
Torquay United (Eng.)
The name of this town from Devon should be pronounced as [tor-kee].
Wolverhampton Wanderers (Eng.)
Another case when the native speakers can't come to an agreement: [wulver(h)empt(o)n].
Wycombe Wanderers (Eng.)
As we already mentioned, in "mb" the "b", as a rule, is mute.
Zagłębie Sosnowiec (Pol.)
In Polish language the very specific letter "ę" is pronounced very specifically too" [em].
Ákos Buzsáky (Hun.)
We already told about Hungarian [sh]. Now you can see what Hungarian [zh] is like. It's rendered
with "zs" in spelling: [akosh buzhaki]. Those who don't understand what [zh] is about, replace it
with French [j].
Aleš Neuwirth (Czech./Ger.)
This Czech player has a Czech name and a German surname. According to the rules of German
phonetics, "eu" should be pronounced as [oi]: [alesh noivirt].
Jaroslaw Fojut (Pol.)
In Polish language "j" stands for [y]: [yaroslav foyut].
Jason Euell (Eng.)
In England itself they prefer a one-syllable pronunciation [yull]. Although a two-syllable variant
is legitimate too: [yuell].
Jeffrey de Visscher (Hol.)
The Dutch "sch", as has been said many times, breaks apart into [s] and [h]: [viss-her].
Martin vejnoha (Czech.)
Another Czech "h", which should be pronounced rather as [g], since it's voiced: [shvey-noga].
Metcalfe (Eng.)
In this surname the "l" is mute: [metkaf].
Mirsad Bešlija (Croat.)
This surname is read due to the rules common for the western slav languages: [mirsad beshliya].
Moritz Volz (Ger.
Raimond van der Gouw (Dut.)
The rules of Dutch language demand this surname to be pronounced as [van der gau].
Riccardo Scimeca (It.)
In Italian language "sc", if followed by "i" or "е", is read as [sh]: [shimeka].
Robert Malcolm (Eng.)
The second "l" in this surname is mute: [malkom].
Roman Bednář (Czech.
Darren O'Dea (Irl.)
This Irish surname should be read like [o-day].
Darryl Flahavan (Eng.)
Another English surname of Irish origin, which should be remembered: [fleiv(e)n].
David Střihavka (Czech.)
The letter "ř" in Czech language is aspirated so that it turns from [r] almost into [zh]. In its
turn Czech "h" is always voiced and should be rendered through [g] sound: [str(zh)igavka].
Ian Baraclough (Eng.)
A very difficult name with unpredictable pronunciation: [barlow].
István Ferenczi (Hun.)
We have told many times that in Hungarian the "s" is always pronounced as [sh]. Now we present the
[ts] sound, which is represented by a combination of "cz": [ishtvan ferentsi].
Ivan Sproule (Eng.)
Although this surname is often pronounced as [sprool], the player himself prefers being called as
[sproul].
Nicky Wroe (Eng.)
In English language the "Wr" combination at the beginning of a word has "W" mute.
Pavel Ricka (Czech.)
In Czech language "с" is always [ts], don't take the "ck" for English [k]. It's [tsk]: [pavel
ritska].
Peñarol (Ur.)
Some forget sometimes about the tilde, which results in wrong pronunciation of a club's name.
Sami Hyypiä (Fin.)
In this tricky Finnish name the doubled "yy" is pronounced as single French "u": [hiu-pee-a], "iu"
should be one syllable.
Sedgwick (Eng.)
Although the root "e" is omitted here, the "g" anyway should be read as in "gesture", not as a [g]:
[sedzhwik].
Shunzuke Nakamura (Jap.)
First, the "Sh" is pronounced here as [sh], because it is followed by "u", not by "е" nor "i", and
second, the Japanese swallow the second "u" in this name: [shunske].
