Here's where you can ask how to pronounce exotic band names

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I always thought Einsturzende Neubauten was: ein-SHTUR- tsend NEW-baw-ten (neu like in Neu!) and with a long 'a' not long 'o' in bau. Am I wrong?

― A Nairn, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

see bo ma t to

― anthony, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Loren Mazzacane Connors? Lamonte Young?

― dave q, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Neu is pronounced Noy. Though its rare for anybody to pronounce Kraftwerk in german (...verk) so maybe you get to be free and easy with it.

(and nearly tying up two parts of this thread!)

I always pronounce Labradford 'La Bradford' like the band "La Dusseldorf" except moved to just north of Leeds.

― Alexander Blair, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Funny, I've always pronounced Autechre "AW-tek-rah'

― Dare, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

ow do u prononce catatonia. dunno wot happen to them decent band has she topped herself yet?

― XStatic Peace, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I think Notwist are pronounced No-Twist. What I have heard of their album on German radio is very very good. The album took them 15 months in the studio. They are already spoken of as one of the best rock albums in 2002!

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

anton. and tracer hand: Brecht <> Brekt. "ch" does not sound as a hard k at all. It is soft. I think it exists also in Greek. The German "Milch" does not sound like "milk" either. It sounds like a "sch" (which sounds like "sh") without the "s". ;-)

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

cibo matto? syd barrett (is it barrett as in beret?) moog (does it rhyme with vogue?)

I thought it was CHEEbo Matta
Barrett = barrett, like ferret or parrot
Moog => vogue, yeah.

I thought Labradford was like Labrador (but never really cared.)

― Dave225, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Mego? And again, Ayler? John Tchicai?

ps ending Autechre with Rah and not Er is just plain silly.

― ennui, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Coming back to Kraftwerk, I have a German friend here in England who insists on pronouncing their name in the most British way imaginable: /Krahft-work/. That's ridiculous, I told him. That's like me going to Germany and saying /Ah-fex Tvin/ /Preemahl Scream/ (replete with gutteral german 'r' sound)' etc.

― Daniel, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Hmm, I say the NOT-wist. On the few occasions I say it at all, that is.

Doesn't everyone say Kraft-Verk? Although I tend to pronounce every W as V and every J as Y (ie Yan St Verner). Well, a lot of them, anyway, I wouldn't say Veen or Yoy Division. That would just be silly.

One thing I would like to know- Otomo Yoshihide. Is it YOSH-I- HEEDE? YO-SHI-HIDER? This is probably really easy, but I just want to check...

― emil.y, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Further evidence of collapse of NME: last time they did an all-time top 100 album list ('92/93?) there was an artists' faves section - under Mercury Rev was listed "Isle of Sun Ra (in brackets - '60s jazz)." I worked out they probably said Ayler and Sun Ra, but everyone I've spoken to goes for the Isla (as in "St Clair") pronunciation. Richard Cook would never have made that mistake.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I've never known anyone to say anything but Krahft-work. Except northerners, who'll make the 'af' of Kraft rhyme with that of 'daffodil', obviously. Do you really say 'Kraftverk', emily? That's hilarious! Do you make the 's' in Paris silent too?

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Jandek - 'yan' or 'jan'?

― Graham C, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Nick, what, just a silent 's', without pronouncing it Paree? Like, Parih? I might start. I take it that means not everyone says Verk, then? But it's more natural to do than force a W sound- Kraftverk kraftverk kraftverk. Kraft-work. Very stilted.

― emil.y, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

i have a funny story about the moog pronounciation thing but i'm sure i've told it before.

― ethan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Hang on a second, do you really say Krahft?? I mean, I can understand glahse and bahth, but Krahft Cheese Slices?

― emil.y, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Ethan, I'm not in the moog.

Emily, you know that's not what I meant re: Paris. But do you pronounce it the proper French way?

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Emily, isn't Kraft Australian originally? Their pronunciation of it is closer to my poofy southern ways than your hard vowels, isn't it? The Australian accent having originated from Cr-ahfty Cockerne Convicts and all..

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

What about Yoyd Cole? (As in cabellero.)

― Dave225, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

No, I don't pronounce it the French way. I do think that the Germanic preference has something to do with ease (rather than just the fact that I prefer, say, Mouse On Mars to Daft Punk)- it seems natural to me to drop the Js into Y sounds where appropriate, and the same goes for W/V (although I actually can't think of anyone aside from Kraftwerk who I would use that on). Things like changing the way of saying Paris seem a lot more affected...

I don't know about the origins, but saying Krahft just makes me think of the Queen eating plastic cheese.

― emil.y, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

You're not one of those people who says 'Yenga' are you?

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

As in Jenga? Nooo- is it meant to be? If it's something that has become so ingrained in this country as an English pronounciation, I'm not going to be that awkward about it. I honestly thought most people do pronounce it Kraftverk.

I guess what it also partly is, is that is your surname were Jones, then (aside from making rubbish music) you'd probably be a bit pissed off if some guy from Swedinia insisted you were Yones. So if there's some German or Swede or summat, I try to pronounce their name properly. Out of courtesy. And it became a habit.

Nobody complains about people saying Neu as Noy, do they? Why? Because it's the right way of saying it.

― emil.y, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

No obvious way of pronouncing 'Neu' so people are happy to find out the proper way. Jenga is not really pronounced 'Yenga' (as far as I know - isn't it supposed to be some African word?) but I have known people to say it.

I think it's cute when Irish people come here and pronounce the 'th' in Streatham and Thames. But I guess that's a different issue. OK then, I like French people calling me Nicola.

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

It says something about my friends that I've never had a conversation about Neu!, and did not know it was pronounced "Noy." It seems so much better to me if its pronounced "New." Is the "eu" always prounounced "oy" in German?

I've never heard that story, Ethan. Moog rhymes with "rogue", right?

― Mark, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

well it's not a very good story, basically a few years ago my friend and i decided moog records were hilarious and went around saying 'fly me to the moog!' and 'in the moog for love!' all the time and we were doing this in this asheville record shop with a surly female clerk who nastily pointed out to us that it's pronounced like 'mogue' and we got really mock serious and said, oh, thanks so much for letting us in on that, and then left the store and laughed at her for her lame (and surely deflected) attempt at making fun of us. only months later did i woefully discover she was actually correct.

― ethan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I must say I would piss off Robert Moog- his machine is a MOOcowG. Not a MOWgrassG.

I actually don't mind that much people saying 'New', but it isn't the right way. I'm not sure if it is always said like that in German -I can't think of any other words with that arrangement of letters, frankly.

Now how do you say Cica?

― emil.y, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I just want to take this opportunity to bring up the best fact ILM has ever brought me; that Joy Division's second album is 'actually' pronounced 'clozer', as in that which closes.

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Is the "eu" always prounounced "oy" in German?

Ja.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Do Germans pronounce Jah Wobble 'Yah Wobble'? That would be funny har har har.

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

No - better yet 'Yah Vobble' - how could I have missed that?

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Division's second album is 'actually' pronounced 'clozer', as in that which closes.

Is this from a trusted source? I have never heard that... But I don't want to say it as trivia at a party and then find out it's bullshit. So how do you know?

― Dave225, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

My source. Admittedly, Alex, Ally and Mark.S don't rank alongside Whitaker's Almanac in terms of reference material standing, but hey, they're a lot more fun.

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I agree with Emily that it's only right to try to pronounce foreign names as the people would wish the to be pronounced. My Krahft-work anecdote was about a german anglicising a german name for my benefit, which I didn't really need. The question, for me, though, is how far do you go in front of your mates. Do you bother with the full-on French pron of Francoise Hardy, with proper back-of-the-throat r sounds? It sounds a mite strange in the middle of a sentence in English to suddenly go all pouty and shruggy just to pronounce one name! And do you pronounce Cornelius /cor-neary-arse/? I guess not.

― Daniel, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Sarah doo-ger is correct (hard g)

Neu! and Swefn G Endlar?

― Graham, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Svefn G Englar is pronounced "sig your ross SEC-und AL-bum"

― Mark, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Svefn G Englar is pronounced "sig your ross SEC-und AL-bum"
I thought it was "fa-LOE up EE-PEE", since Agaetis Byrjum was actually their 2nd album already (3rd if you count the remix album). Woo boy, I am the life of the party.

― Sean Carruthers, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Neu is just "new" aren't they?...

― jel, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

NEU! = "noy", not "noo".

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Isn't Sigur Ros not any of the exotic "See-gure Roase" people come up with, just Sigger Ross?

― Graham, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Neu! should be pronounced Noy. Kraftwerk should be pronounced Kraftverk

That is all.

― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Einsturzende Neubauten = EYEN-shtur-tsuhn-duh NOY-bow-tuhn. ("bow" rhymes with "cow") If someone can find me a webfont of IPA symbols, I will be eternally grateful.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"bow" rhymes with "cow"

...as in enivob nez

― Dave225, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I once got corrected for pronouncing the Helvetica Neue typeface as "noy", not "noo". Is that what the extra "e" does?

― Curt, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

In German, "Neue" would be pronounced "NOI-uh", not "NOO". So, no.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

How do you pronounce The Strokes?
Sort of like Linda Blair in the Exorcist

― helenfordsdale, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Dan, your German pronounciation is OTM. Where did you learn those pronounciation syllables from? They include stress (capitals), hyphenation (-) and sound, don't they?

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Also, doesn't Einsturzende Neubauten mean "the sound of new buildings falling apart?"

― nickn, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Dan, some of the international phonetic alphabet can be found by clicking insert then symbol on Word. I presume that's what you meant by IPA.

― Daniel, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

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