true pronunciation

M

MagenDavid

Want some Kosher Salami?
Joined
Nov 2, 2008
Messages
501
Being a man of more esoteric pursuits, I got to thinking today as I was slicing plastic bottles and chopping into TV's with my new lightsab... I mean sirupati. And, yes, sometimes my job kicks ass. But I got to thinking. It seems unlikely that how I pronounce "sirupati" is the way Sher or Bura does. Probably the same with ang khola, hanshee, or any of several other khukri terms (including the word khukri itself). So, does anyone here have a good sense of non-anglicized pronunciation when it comes to such nomenclatures?
 
MagenDavid said:
Being a man of more esoteric pursuits, I got to thinking today as I was slicing plastic bottles and chopping into TV's with my new lightsab... I mean sirupati. And, yes, sometimes my job kicks ass. But I got to thinking. It seems unlikely that how I pronounce "sirupati" is the way Sher or Bura does. Probably the same with ang khola, hanshee, or any of several other khukri terms (including the word khukri itself). So, does anyone here have a good sense of non-anglicized pronunciation when it comes to such nomenclatures?
Click to expand...

I could not find an exact match, although if you use this neat little unit and set it to turkish-ipek (the last one in the pull down menu) and type in any of those words...I'm pretty sure it comes close enough.
http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html
 
Last edited:
The trick to pronouncing "Sirupati" is to always be brandishing it when you say it. That way, no one will correct you if you say it wrong:D

In all seriousness, I just pronounce the HI products phonetically. It's gotta be close, right?;)
 
Well there are some little things to pay attention to.
For example, I have a Nepali friend named Devesh... he pronounces it as Deves. It's like Dehvess, the s is not harsh, but drawn a little longer. Similar to how many Indian Americans speak english - in general that is. Also, say "Buddha", and the d isn't harsh, it'd more like budtha, with a very slight and subtle th. Or the south Indian martial arts, Kalaripayattu, and that's often spoken as kalari-paituh, instead of kalari-paya-too. I know my examples aren't strictly Nepalese, but hey, there is definitely a broad general sound to many Indo languages, and some similarities... just as all Chinese languages and dialects have similarities - even if many are mutually unintelligible and might as well be different languages today - they shared a common root some time ago.

So, I could be extremely incorrect here... but maybe it is...

Sirupathi (basically a t but with a slight th)
 
kukulza28 said:
Well there are some little things to pay attention to.
For example, I have a Nepali friend named Devesh... he pronounces it as Deves. It's like Dehvess, the s is not harsh, but drawn a little longer. Similar to how many Indian Americans speak english - in general that is. Also, say "Buddha", and the d isn't harsh, it'd more like budtha, with a very slight and subtle th. Or the south Indian martial arts, Kalaripayattu, and that's often spoken as kalari-paituh, instead of kalari-paya-too. I know my examples aren't strictly Nepalese, but hey, there is definitely a broad general sound to many Indo languages, and some similarities... just as all Chinese languages and dialects have similarities - even if many are mutually unintelligible and might as well be different languages today - they shared a common root some time ago.

So, I could be extremely incorrect here... but maybe it is...

Sirupathi (basically a t but with a slight th)
Click to expand...

This hits on the crux of my question. That is, pronouncing the consonants. See, I have no experience with the Indo-Aryan languages Nepali, so I'm curious about how the consonants sound. Ultimately I'm just asking for the intellectual enrichment of it, because like Gunz says, flashing the syrup-ah-tee while I say it that way pretty much silences the critics ;)
What about the kh sound in khukuri? Hard like an English K, or softer (albeit rougher) like a German ch?
And would anyone know if the r is trilled like in Spanish or not?
 
Like I said I am not expert...
I have heard Rs rolled and not rolled... but I don't know if those Indians were same dialect, or if one was Tamil and the other Telugu... I know both were from that general area... (meaning Central/Southern India :D not all that close-by). I have a hard enough time trying to distinguish my own people's dialects, nevermind India.

Maybe PM Yangdu and ask her nicely how Sirupati is pronounced? I bet she could help ya. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top