How to pronounce these photography terms? (not right or wrong thread!)

John Rountree said:
Try this site: www.forvo.com
It is a dictionary site that will pronounce the words for you so you can hear how they sound. I was turned on to this site when I was trying to learn the correct pronunciation for one of my favorite fountain pen inks: Herbin. So, I know it will handle words from languages other than English, as Herbin is French.
Click to expand...

Nice! Thanks very much for the link. I think I just heard Voigtlander said by a German person for the very first time! 😀
 
John Rountree said:
Try this site: www.forvo.com
It is a dictionary site that will pronounce the words for you so you can hear how they sound. I was turned on to this site when I was trying to learn the correct pronunciation for one of my favorite fountain pen inks: Herbin. So, I know it will handle words from languages other than English, as Herbin is French.
Click to expand...

Check post #14 for links! 🙂
 
This is just how I've pronounce them (some are incorrect)

• Summicron - Soom-e-kron

• Summilux - Soom-e-lux

• Voigtländer - voight - land - er

• Ikon - eye-kon

• Zeiss -(like rice, or lice, but with a Z)
 
I don't try too hard to pronounce foreign names in their native way - it's pretty much doomed to failure. The english do generally manage to pronounce the german "ei" and "ie" correctly (oppositely from english) but other than that I think we pronounce pretty much as-english.

Interesting that no-one goes on holiday to "pa-ree", they go to "pa-riss"! There are anglicised versions of many names and I tend to use them, it's not a question of disrespect for the native word, it's just easier to say.

You guys should be grateful the Welsh don't make cameras! With no offence to anyone Welsh, the joke goes that if you can't spell it and can't pronounce it, it's Welsh! Scottish names can throw us too - try Milngavie, which (I believe) is pronounced "mull-guy".

As an aside on names, Americans (and others) have trouble with Worcester ("wooss-ter", not "war-sess-ter"), Gloucester ("gloss-ter" not "glue-sess-ter") Towcester ("toaster" not "tow-sess-ter") and Leicester ("less-ter" not "lie-sess-ter"). Then there's Cirencester ("siren-sess-ter") to confuse them!

A friend recently noted the "zay-iss" lens on my new smartphone, that made me cringe once I realised he meant Zeiss! It doesn't say on it, so I hadn't realised but he's a "phone-freak" and knew.
 
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