How to Pronounce Zenit, From Dillard's Department Store

T

tedwhite

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I went into Dillard's in Sierra Vista, Arizona, due in the main because my girl friend called me and said that the store was having a 40% off the 75% sale already in progress. Having been, earlier in life, an English major in college, I naturally assumed that if I bought a ten dollar pair of pants I would get, not only the trousers, but a dollar and a half cash. So I rushed right down. My math was obviously askew, but I did buy a couple of shirts that ordinarily would have cost a fortune for twenty bucks out the door (you do the math, please).

In case you're wondering what, possibly, all of the above has to do with Zenit cameras and how to pronounce the name, I'll get immediately to the point. I was wandering about with my shirts trying to find a sales person, a not uncommon experience in the US, when I saw this lovely lass in a tailored suit with a little badge over the left chest signifying she was not only an employee but a supervisor. I asked her if she would check me out, so to speak. As we went through the ritual, I noticed an accent. She looked like a young Mexican woman you'd see in Colonia Polanco in Mexico City (upscale), black hair, brown eyes, very pale skin, elegant. But it wasn't an hispanic accent. I guessed French. Where are you from, I asked. Russia, she said.

While waiting for the computer to do its thing, I told her about this forum and about having bought some FSU cameras. She looked at me for a bit, then said, Oh, did you buy a Zenit? I confessed to having done so.

But the way she pronounced Zenit surprised me. I think most Americans would say "ZEE-NIT," with the accent on the first syllable.

She, did not. "ZEH-NEET," she said, with a pronounced accent on the second syllable. My father gave me one when I was in school, she added. It took good pictures.

Ted
 
RFF member Natalia is from Russia, and her web site has .wav files on how to pronounce russion names. If you find a post that she responded to, it usually has the link attached. I found out that Kiev is pronounced with accent on the first syllable too, and that the final 'V' if pronounced more like an 'F'.
 
I forgot to mention it, but I also asked her to pronounce "Kiev" and, indeed, she ended it with an "F" sound. (She was clueless about FED as she had never heard of it).

Ted
 
Fed sounds the same

Moskva, Iskra (stress on a)

Zorkii (stress on o, roll the r, and at the end a sound hard to describe, like the last sound of the word day)
 
The whole thing reminds me of a song from some movie, don't recall which one, but it supposedly took place an a Caribbean island, and an island group sings:
On the island from which we come
We have a national characteristic that is very strong
We put the accent on the wrong syl LA ble when we sing
A tropical song.

Dick
 
I always thought it was Zeh-neet. I think many non-English languages tend to pronounce vowels exactly the way they're spelled--at least my country's language does. So A is always pronounced as in BAT, not in SABLE. Or E always as in ELEPHANT. English is tricky.:)
 
Tricky? English is the Borg of languages. We assimilate everything and then ask for more... :D

Actually we just past the anniversary of William arriving in England as King in 1066. That's the real key date because that's when a german family language got forcibly united with a romance family language. That (nearly literally) bastard of languages then got off on a roll that's still going to this day. English does not know it's father and does not remember it's mother... and that's both it's strength and it's weakness. For example, it has given us the Shakespeare, the Book of Common Prayer and many other works of art while also allowing for the utter desecration of the language that both Slick Willy and Dubya have performed.

In the meantime, I really gotta buy a decent M42 camera... Which is really silly because I recently sold a very good one. Ah, well, perhaps I'll find a Bessaflex cheap... (!)

:)

William
 
William:

I have a very nice M42 Pentax Spotmatic Sp body that was just CLA'd by Eric (former head of the Pentax repair division - lives in Sharps Chapel, TN). I have more of these than I need. This particular one, as I recall, even has a new meter cell.

Ted
 
Ted: I really didn't need to know that... :D Argh. I'll scope out the budget.

William
 
Thanks Ted for the story. I too have seen a young lady working at a bank I frequent who also has a "suspicious" accent. I keep thinking that one day my timing will be right so that I may inquire of her from whence her accent comes. Maybe I'll start the conversation with, "Skuze me darlin', I was just curious. Which sy-LA-bulls do ya'll put your emf-ASS-ees on?"
 
Glad it's you that's gonna do this, instead of me. Better yet, write it down on a piece of paper and hand it to her.
 
Oh yeah. Leave written evidence of my stupidity!! .... :cool: .... Oh, well, it wouldn't be the first time. I do it here regularly. ... But after rethinking the whole idea, I'll probably just go about my merry way and mind my own business. I'd prefer to be able to show my face in that bank again.
 
I guess we could all try to speak the Queens English .... oooops that's German and FSUs aren't English either .... ooooops grabs tin hat and ducks for cover LOL

Interesting thread though ;)
 
lubitel said:
Fed sounds the same

Moskva, Iskra (stress on a)

Zorkii (stress on o, roll the r, and at the end a sound hard to describe, like the last sound of the word day)
Click to expand...
Actually the stress in the word Iskra is on I. In fact in russian there might be 2 different uses of stress in the word Iskra. Linguistically correct is stress on the first syll. However professionals use it with stress on the second syll (iskra = spark). If you are an ellectrical engineer and talk about electrical sparks you will strees on the second syll. and it will be correct.

In respect to the cameras "Iskra" the correct way to spell it with stress on the first syll.

Kiev: there are pairs of consonants in Russian: d and t, v and f, b and p etc. The first in the pair is called "voiced" and the second: surd (or unvoiced) - not sure how they call it in English. Anyway, a "voiced" consonat always gets devoiced if it is standing at the end of the word and in some other situations. Basically replaced by its pair. So v is being spelled as f (if it is at the end of the word). If you have ever heard a russian speaking English you probably noticed that we always "devoice" the last consonat in the word (d replaced by t, v by f etc)

Also i and e are spelled separately and e is spelled as a German whould spell the combination "je" or "ji" (or similar to the first sound in Englsih "yes"). This is actually how this letter is called in Russian.

Vowels also form pairs such as o and a, e and i etc. If the first of the pair vowel is not under stress, it is being speled as it's partner. I.o o is spelled alsmost like a if not under stress.

Well on top of that russian a is not really spelled the same way as english sound a :) And that is true almost about any sound. It might be close but not really the same.
 
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So far I'm glad to be french !
Seems a bit easier for me to understand russian spellings :rolleyes:

anyway, for this very interesting thread : spassiba bolchoï tovaritch
Don't loose your appetite trying to pronounce it :D
 
In every sentence, when pronouncing Iskra, the inclination will be made on the last letter 'a' and never on I. Unless you saying iskorka, where inclination is made on 'i' and it translates to sparkle.

Zenit.

The second letter is pronounced as 'ee', Similar it's pronounced in word pepper. The inclination is on letter 'i', however, and it is pronounced as in the word 'milk'

So Z-ee-n-i-t.

Fed.
For non-russian speakers, it will be very difficult to pronounce this word. As the 2nd letter "Э" does not exist in English alphabet.

Zorki, is pronounced as Zorkiy.
 
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