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WoT Pronounciations - Silly "I'm bored at work" question

clutzyninja
clutzyninja
in Wheel of Time Books

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Do you guys pronounce the names and places in the books according to the glossary, or according to the way they first were "pronounced" in your head?  Or some mix between?

 

I know Birgitte, for example, is supposed to be (bur-GEET-ah), I think?  But she is firmly in my head as (Ber-Geet), period.

 

Aes Sedai, on the other hand, I was prouncing all jacked up when I first started reading, and switched to the glossary/correct pronounciation when I got to it.

 

How about you guys?  Does anyone even care? lol

there was a 4th age podcast on this, it's pretty interesting.

 

but I still pronounce most things th way I read them in my head the first time, though that's wrong I guess.

I pronounce Aes Sedai as, well, Ai-ess See-day, not the "Eyez Sedai" the glossary tells me is correct. It just flows better in my mind. And Birgitte is Burjet for me.

I would say it is a mix, some of the pronunciations have changed over the years while others have not.  I have not studied the glossary extensively so there are some that I am probably still mispronouncing and don't know it.   When I first read Birgette's name it registered as Bridget, I pronounced Aiel as though they were a type of beer and I had no freakin' idea what to do Nyneave's name at first so for the first few books I just didn't pronounce it at all.  She was like Prince in the early 90s, her name was just a symbol  with no pronunciation.  Then when I finally did start pronouncing it it was Nin-ave.

The worst one for me is Semirhage and Siuan Sanche. (I didn't even bother trying to say the latter, and I pronounce Semirhage "Seh-murr-hage")

 

I do still say "Aiel" like "Ale" to this day though, it rolls off the tongue better for me than "Eye-eel"

I had a lot of trouble with Siuan's first name too.  At first I pronounced with like Sue Ann.

 

I have a friend who insists that Mat's name is pronounced like mate.  I don't know if that is correct or not but I absolutely refuse to pronounce it that way  whatever the case.

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For me:

 

Aiel = Ale

Nynaeve = Nye-NEEV

Siuan = Swan

Ghealdan - GAY-al-dan (That might even be correct, for all I know, lol)

 

I've switched to "Fail,"  but I was stuck pronouncing her as "fah-EEL" for a while, for some reason.

About a fourth of the way through my first reread I started switching over to the correct pronunciations.

My pronunciations are:

 

Aes Sedai: Ae-ez Sed-eye (which I think is wrong)

Birgitte: Bur-geet-ah (vaguely right)

Siuan Sanche: Swan sawn-che (kind of close?)

Aiel: Eye-eel (roughly right)

Nynaeve: Nye-neev (as in the glossary)

Seanchan: Swan-chan (wrong, I know)

This is interesting.  The forst time I read The Eye of The World I read the entire thing before realizing there was a glossary.  Considering my penchant for reading fantasy I should have looked for one but I got caught up in the story and just winged it.  I admit that names gave me pause and I murdered some of them but others pronounciations have stayed with me for the last almost 20 years.  Aiel has always been "aye-eel" to me and Suin has always been "Swan" and Seanchan has always been "Shawn-chan".  Aes Sedai I am pretty sure I destroyed to start with. :rolleyes: I just kinda buzzed past it after awhile.  Eventually the actual pronunciations became more natural.  But I always find one in every reread that I struggle with and correct through the use of the glossary.

 

Honestly, I don't think it matters how you pronounce it in your head.  As long as you know what it is that you are reading represents you are good to go.  Now in conversation...I have had conversations with people who have read the series and it was like we were speaking two different languages. :tongue:    

 

I also noticed that my kindle mispronounces some things as well.  I was fiddling wih the audio options where the kindle reads the book to you and noticed the use of "ale" for Aiel and there was a few others as well. 

 

I am curious,  do the audiobook voice actors pronounce things correctly as in the glossary?  I've never listened to one but my sister has and I notice she pronounces some things differently.

they change their pronunciations often, often in the same book, sometimes using dif pronunciations in the same scene.

 

is funny.

Ok.  I guess I don't feel bad at all about screwing it up myself then.  Not that I do anyway.  I agree, is funny.

Aes Sedai was Ay-Said-I

Aiel was Ale

Birgitte was Bridget

Seanchan was Sean-chan

Moghedien was Mog-den

Siuan was Sue-wan

Morgase was Mor-gase (like chase)

I've mostly switched to the intended pronunciations, but Nynaeve will always be nin-KNAVE

 

trolloc I pronounce Orc

Rand al'Thor I pronounce Paul Atreides.

pretty sure aes Sedai are bene gesserit so makes sense

 

and aiel are fremen or something from Gunga din.

 

Preborn Alia.... what about those quads again?

 

 

trolloc I pronounce Orc

Rand al'Thor I pronounce Paul Atreides.

pretty sure aes Sedai are bene gesserit so makes sense

 

and aiel are fremen or something from Gunga din.

 

Preborn Alia.... what about those quads again?

 

Come on cindy, you know it is not true.

For me it's:

 

Birgitte = Berr-Git

Aes Sedai = Ice-said-I

Aiel = Ale

Siune = Su yawn (I have no idea and nothing helps, it's been su yawn since book 2...)

Semirrhage = Sem err agh

Seanchen = see an chen

 

The real pronunciations don't interest me since none of my real life friends read the series.  I can never discuss it anyway, so pronunciation doesn't need to be correct anyway.

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