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Post by Relenoir on Apr 20, 2004 4:15:18 GMT
The other day I was reading some of the LWC Newsletters, and I suddenly found myself feeling rather stupid when I was corrected in my saying of the word "giak." I had always thought it was pronounced like kayak, or guy-yak, and now question many other words. Just to name a few: Sommerswerd, Banedon, Kai, Tahou, Kalte, Kleasa, Shadaki, Bautar, Viveka, Tekaro, Cloeasia, and Vonotar. My thoughts: Sommerswerd: Like "Bombers word" Banedon: Like "Gain a ton" Kai: Like "Die" Tahou: Either like "are thou" or "are you" Kalte: Either like "faulty" of "Val tea" Kleasa: Like "Clean as the" Shadaki: Like "The dark flea" Bautar: Like "How far" Viveka: Like "I seek the" Tekaro: Like "See the show" Cloeasia: Like "Go Asia" Vonotar: Like "Upon a star" These are how they've always seemed like they should sound to me, but having never heard them spoken by anyone that I hadn't possibly influenced, I don't have a clue if I'm even close. I already screwed-up giak, so these could be just as bad or worse. Anyone have any insight? Thanks, Muddled in Magnamund
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Post by KaiLord on Apr 20, 2004 5:02:17 GMT
No insight from me...with fantasy words, many times you have nothing to rely on until an official source contradicts what you've always said or thought. I used to play Asheron's Call, and one of the devs actually recorded how to pronounce certain words so everyone could know what they were supposed to sound like. The end result? I still said the words the way I had been saying them, even if they were wrong. That being said, I say the following Lone Wolf words this way, with accent being the capitalized syllable: Sommerswerd: "summer sword" Banedon: "BAN a done" Shadaki: rhymes with "LA la die" KL
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deiseach
Kai Lord
Champion of the Sommerswerd
Posts: 170
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Post by deiseach on Apr 20, 2004 16:13:26 GMT
Personally speaking, I mumble the more incomprehensible words in my mind. Kai (die) bless Joe Dever (lever) but much as Harrison Ford said of George Lucas' scripts, "you can write this sh*t but you can't speak it!" I mean, look at 'Helgedad' (hell-geh-dad). It trips off the tongue like a drunken Yukon bear trapper attempting Swan Lake. Or 'Gnaag'. I oscillate between 'ng-ayg' (as in i-ing')and 'ng-ahg' but it could be 'guh-nawg'!
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Nerethel
Kai Lord
I wear pants.
Posts: 75
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Post by Nerethel on Apr 20, 2004 16:17:41 GMT
In the two audiobooks, I was also surprised to see that 'giak' wasn't like 'kayak' but rather 'key yak'. I think the kayak pronunciation flows better, so I use it. The Sommerswerd was corrected to me by Mr. Dever himself, back at a convention in Denver in '93. It's pronounced just as it's written, 'som -er -swerd'. Like 'tom er swerve'. It "takes a bit to work your tongue around it", he said. I think it's a cool way to say it, too. Makes it more unique in my mind, anyway. Viveka, I always thought, was like 'vih VEE keh', but I never got any correction on this point. Vonotar is also just as it is written, 'VON oh tar', which also made sense to me. Until I heard for certain, I never knew how I would pronounce Banedon... Either 'BAN eh don' or 'BANE don'. I leaned toward the former, the correct way, but I recall when I first read the books long ago, I knew the character by the pattern of letters, never giving much thought as to how it was pronounced. As for the rest, I don't think there is an official pronounciation guide out there, but it seems that the names all sound like they are spelled (except for 'giak'). Hope this helps! Nerethel
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Nerethel
Kai Lord
I wear pants.
Posts: 75
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Post by Nerethel on Apr 20, 2004 16:22:56 GMT
HAHAHA! Helgedad! THAT took me a while to say correctly, even after the two audiobooks! 'HEL ge dad' is correct, but I read it as 'HELGE dad', and it never held much horror for me that way.
Now that I know a little giak tongue, it makes much more sense to me.
Gnaag was always 'NAG' to me, with a little twang on it, like you have something in your throat. It figure it's amazing that humans can say the name of such a horrible being, anyway, so I take some liberties in my pronunciation to emphasize their unique and evil nature in my table top RPGs.
Nerethel
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Post by Relenoir on Apr 20, 2004 17:06:13 GMT
After telling my gaming group that it wasn't pronounced that way, everyone unanimously decided that "We like the other way of saying it better, so we'll stick with that." I wasn't about to argue, since I agreed too! ;D I always figured the double a's, such as Gnaag, Maakengorge, Haakon, etc., were pronounced "ah" like in aardvark. Well, it's nice to know I had that one right...when I was 15 years old! Of course, as I got older and more conscientious, I thought to myself, "Self, shouldn't the 'e' after the' n' make the 'a' like in rain?" So began the folley of my ways... Thanks for the help!
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Post by KaiLord on Apr 21, 2004 6:10:53 GMT
Quite interesting. I always figured with references to the sun, the golden blade, and the fact that the sword drew power from the sun (SotS, sec 353), that "sommer" was pronounced like the sunny season, summer.
Thank you so much for bringing up the "aa" words. There are a lot of them, and on all but one word, I say them like "ah". It's odd, but I always pronounced "Kraan" as "kran", like ran with a k in front of it.
KL
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Tim
Kai Lord
Posts: 28
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Post by Tim on Apr 21, 2004 7:39:46 GMT
'Sommer' in German means summer. Similarly, I always imagined that 'lund' means land in some European language. Putting the two together, you would get summer-land. Which is appropriate considering a Sun god created the Summlending people.
I've always approached the pronunciations of the names in the Lone Wolf series using a German/French/Russian accent (don't even ask how I put that one together). I just find it makes the place names seem more medieval, the bad guys more evil, and the creatures more exotic. I'd be scared to actually record what I think the names sound like. Although, you would probably get a good laugh out of it.
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deiseach
Kai Lord
Champion of the Sommerswerd
Posts: 170
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Post by deiseach on Apr 21, 2004 16:48:20 GMT
I always assumed he just altered a few letters to make it sound more exotic. Summersword is a bit bland so change a vowel or two and it has that authentic fantasy ring to it. Robert Jordan is particularly fond of this conceit, e.g Mountains of Dhoom, Trollocs, Elayne. It may be corny, but it's better than both writer's other habit of mangling syllables to come up with things Xygraagl (Dever) or Kedbrioune (Jordan) - both my inventions, by the way, but they look about right to me! Sounds about right to me. There's a real Central European feel to the Lastlands, right down to the blond, blue-eyed types who populate them. Wonder if that's why Joe made the Darklords so fantastical, so he couldn't be accused of racism. Probably got his fingers burnt with Vassagonia though. Oooh, controversial...
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Post by KaiLord on May 5, 2004 9:19:07 GMT
Okay, I just thought of another weird word and thought I'd drag this topic back out.
How does everyone pronounce "oede"? Ode? Ed? Odie?
KL
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Post by outspaced on May 5, 2004 9:58:53 GMT
How does everyone pronounce "oede"? Ode? Ed? Odie? Technically, I think it should be pronounced 'weed' (or oueed). I think it's one of Joe's attempts at humour!
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Post by The Wytch-King on May 5, 2004 10:11:15 GMT
Well, approximately "oa-E-d-ar". "oa" as in "oak", "E" as in "errant", just a bit longer, "d" voiceless, and "ar" as in "friar". But that won't help you much, that's a German pronunciation ... In English, I'd pronounce it "oa-EE-dee" ("oak", "eek", and the good ol' Doctor ...). The Wytch-King edit: Okay, outspaced's comment is rather convincing ... ;D Never noticed that similarity before. Noodnics!
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Post by Relenoir on May 6, 2004 0:30:41 GMT
I always thought it was "oh-eed". I see Outspaced's point though--clever! ;D How about this one: Shianti I always thought of it like "she wants me". Other thoughts?
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Post by KaiLord on May 6, 2004 5:54:54 GMT
Well, "want" has two pronunciations, depending on region. Some say "want" as a homonym to "won't".
But I'll go along with you. a in want as in "ah": she AHN tee
How about Cener druids? I pronounce it like "sinner".
KL
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Post by The Wytch-King on May 6, 2004 11:14:50 GMT
How about this one: Shianti I always thought of it like "she want me". Other thoughts? Thinking too much about the ladies, are we? But I would concur ("she AHN tee", as KaiLord said). In German, too, by the way ... And as for Cener druids: "YOU" as in me, "z" as in Zaalbar (KotOR, anyone?), "lass" as in ladies (okay, Relenoir has a point), "f" as in fantastic, "OO" as in tool, "L" as in language, and again a "z" as in Zaalbar. Sometimes SEE na(r), though. SEE as in "look", na(r) as in "narrator". Depends. ;D The Wytch-King edit: Missed a point. Err, dot. Fullstop. You know.
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