Thread: 2008-09 Name Pronunciations

It's hard to tell by the spellings how to pronounce some of these foreign names.
Luckily, the NHL provides a primer every year, which came out today:

LOS ANGELES KINGS

Andersen, Niclas (AN-duhr-suhn, NIHK-luhs)
Armstrong, Derek (AHRM-strawng, DAIR-ihk)
Azevedo, Justin (a-zeh-VAY-doh, JUHS-tihn)
Bagnall, Drew (BAG-nuhl, DROO)
Bernier, Jonathan (BAIRN-yay, JAWN-ah-thuhn)
Boyle, Brian (BOIL, BRIGH-uhn)
Braun, Constantin (BRAWN, kawn-stuhn-TIHN)
Brown, Dustin (BROWN, DUHS-tihn)
Calder, Kyle (KAWL-duhr, KIGHL)
Cameron, Bryan (KAM-ih-RUHN, BRIGH-uhn)
Campbell, Andrew (KAM-buhl, AN-droo)
Cliche, Marc-Andre (KLEESH, MAHRK-AWN-dray)
Clune, Richard (KLOON, RIH-chuhrd)
Curry, Mike (KUH-ree, MIGHK)
Czarnik, Robert (CHAHR-nihk, RAW-buhrt)
Doughty, Drew (DOW-tee, DROO)
Dravecky, Vladimir (dra-VEH-kee, vla-DIH-meer)
Drewiske, Davis (droo-WIHS-kee, DAY-vihs)
Ersberg, Erik (AIRZH-buhrg, AIR-ihk)
Fillier, Matt (FIHL-ee-uhr, MAT)
Fransson, Johan (FRAN-suhn, YOH-han)
Frolov, Alexander (FROH-lawf, Alehx-AN-duhr)
Gauthier, Denis (GOH-tyay, DEH-nihs)
Gauthier, Gabe (GOH-tyay, GAYB)
Greene, Matt (GREEN, MAT)
Handzus, Michal (HAHND-zoos, MIGH-kuhl)
Harrold, Peter (HAIR-ohld, PEE-tuhr)
Hickey, Thomas (HIH-kee, TAW-muhs)
Holloway, Bud (HAHL-OH-way, BUHD)
Ivanans, Raitis (EE-vahn-ahns, RIGHT-uhs)
Johnson, Jack (JAHN-suhn, JAK)
Kidd, Josh (KIHD, JAWSH)
King, Dwight (KIHNG, DWIGHT)
Kopitar, Anze (KOH-pih-tahr, AHN-zheh)
LaBarbera, Jason (luh-BAHR-buhr-ah, JAY-suhn)
Lewis, Trevor (LOO-ihs, TREH-vuhr)
Loktionov, Andrei (lawk-too-OH-nawf, ahn-DRAY)
Lyubushin, Mikhail (l’yoo-BOOSH-ihn, mih-kigh-EHL)
Marek, Jan (MAIR-ehk, YAHN)
Martinez, Alec (mar-TEE-nehz, AL-ehk)
Meckler, David (MEHK-luhr, DAY-vihd)
Melyakov, Igor (mehl-yuh-KAHF, EE-gohr)
Meyers, Josh (MIGH-uhrs, JAWSH)
Moller, Oscar (MOH-luhr, AH-skuhr)
Moulson, Matt (MOHL-suhn, MAT)
Murray, Brady (MUHR-ree, BRAY-dee)
Nolet, Martin (noh-LAY, MAHR-tihn)
O'Donnell, Sean (oh-DAHN-uhl, SHAWN)
O'Sullivan, Patrick (Oh-SUHL-ih-vihn, PAT-rihk)
Parse, Scott (PARS, SKAWT)
Piskula, Joe (Pihs-KOO-luh, JOH)
Preissing, Tom (PRIGH-sihng, TAHM)
Purcell, Teddy (PUHR-sihl, TEH-dee)
Quick, Jonathan (KWIHK, JAWN-ah-thuhn)
Richardson, Brad (RIHTCH-uhrd-suhn, BRAD)
Roe, Garrett (ROH, GAIR-eht)
Rowat, Linden (ROH-wat, LIHND-dehn)
Shefer, Andrei (SHEH-fuhr, AWN-dray)
Simmonds, Wayne (SIHM-muhnds, WAYN)
Stoll, Jarret (STOHL, JAIR-iht)
Taylor, Daniel (TAY-luhr, DAN-yehl)
Tenkanen, Valtteri (TEHN-kah-nehn, vahl-TEH-ree)
Teubert, Colten (TEW-buhrt, KOHL-tuhn)
Turnbull, Joshua (TUHRN-buhl, JAWSH-oo-uh)
Voynov, Viatcheslav (VOY-nawf, v'ya-cheh-SLAV)
Westgarth, Kevin (WEHST-garth, KEH-vihn)
Wudrick, Geordie (WUD-rihk, JOHR-dee)
Zatkoff, Jeff (ZAT-kawf, JEHF)
Zeiler, John (ZIGH-luhr, JAHN)
Zizka, Tomas (ZHIHZH-kuh, TAW-mahsh)

The pronunciations are listed in United Press International phonetic style:

AY long A as in mate
A short A as in cat
AI nasal A as in air
AH short A as in father
AW broad A as in talk

EE long E as in meat
EH short E as in get
UH hollow E as in the
AY French long E with acute accent as in passé
IH middle E as in pretty
EW EW dipthong as in few

IGH long I as in time
EE French long I as in machine
IH short I as in pity

OH long O as in note
AH short O as in hot
AW broad O as in fought
OI OI dipthong as in noise
OO long double OO as in fool
U short double O as in foot
OW OW dipthong as in how

EW long U as in mule
OO long U as in rule
U middle U as in put
UH short U as in shut or hurt

K hard C as in cat
S soft C as in cease
SH soft CH as in machine
CH hard CH or TCH as in catch
Z hard S as in bells
S soft S as in sun
G hard G as in gang
J soft G as in general
ZH soft J as in French version of Joliet
KH gutteral CH as in Scottish version of Loch

Zizka? Really??

Thanks, boy that took some time to do...

Where's ROO-neem?

Greene, Matt (GREEN, MAT)

Thanks, I was wondering on that one...

ah zhe vay doh, LOL, wow

has anyone figured out who johan fransson is? i remember his name being mentioned a while ago and no one had any idea who he was.

Originally Posted by metallica99mm

has anyone figured out who johan fransson is? i remember his name being mentioned a while ago and no one had any idea who he was.

The Kings aquired his rights from Dallas in the Norstrom trade. Dallas drafted him 34th overall in the 2004 draft. He is currently playing in the SEL.

They got the pronunciation wrong on Vladimir Dravecky. Way wrong. For one thing, the stress is on the first syllable in both names. For another, Dravecky doesn't rhyme with Becky, but more like with Gretzky.

VLA-dyi-meer DRAH-vetz-kee

As for Zizka, the "zh" sound in both z's is pronounced like the initial sound in Giguere, or like the "j" is pronounced in "du jour."

Handzus' name is pronounced with a "sh" sound on the end (HAN-dzoosh), not like "Zeus."

And the first syllable in Marek is pronounced like the word "mar," not "mare."

Our Slovene friends can tell us definitively, but I remember from some of the clips of Anze at the World Championships from Slovene TV that the stress in his last name is on the middle syllable (koh-PEE-tahr, not KOH-pee-tahr).