4 ms·

I couldn't disagree more. Literally no one has a problem pronouncing yet another great Czech: Dvořák. And I defy you to turn that into a phonetical spelling t

I couldn't disagree more. Literally no one has a problem pronouncing yet another great Czech: Dvořák. And I defy you to turn that into a phonetical spelling that isn't a abomination upon church and Christ. We shouldn't be afraid of asking too much of people in regards to other cultures and languages. We humans are more intelligent than you're giving us credit for.

pavel_lishin 7y ago
> Literally no one has a problem pronouncing yet another great Czech: Dvořák I know exactly how I pronounce it, but it wasn't until your comment that I realized that I have no idea whether I'm doing so correctly or not.
CrLf 7y ago
Does that mean everyone pronounces it "Dvorjak"?
- AstralStorm 7y ago
  The better approximation to fricative z is usually rz. (Like Polish dipthong.) rj could be mispronounced as unrecognizable ar-jay combo, resulting in something resembling dwor-yak or dwor-jak instead of rd3. (Sorry about lack of proper IPA.)
trickstra 7y ago
You are most safe just pronouncing it as "Dvoraak".
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Sharlin 7y ago
Literally no one? I'm fairly sure a majority of native English speakers has never even heard of Dvořák, never mind know how to spell his name correctly.
yread 7y ago
Spanish call him Deborak or something like that... So not everyone
aasasd 7y ago
Dvořák's name is another good example for my point. What's the use of parading around the ‘ř’ in English texts if the sound can be pronounced only by speakers of Czech, a few nearby dialects and Kobon speakers in Papua New Guinea? Well guess what, every language has a spelling in its own alphabet, for the pronunciation that the speakers adopt for ‘Dvořák’—including English, in this case. At least even with ‘ř’ it's not as bad as ‘Čapek’, since ‘ř’ is likely just replaced with more-or-less-hard ‘r’ when speaking, and not an unrelated sound.
- david927 7y ago
  Before I learned Czech, I pronounced it like most English-speakers: da-vor (rhymes with door) zhak (rhymes with shack). Now that I speak pretty decent Czech and can throw down a respectable 'ř'(which is one my great life accomplishments :), I feel that the English pronunciation is absolutely fine, and it requires no change. You write can write Čapek in any way you want. But, personally, I'm proud that it's spelled that way. People know his great works, they (across all languages) commonly use a word he coined, and they literally make people learn a tiny bit more about the Czech language when they say, "Ah! So in Czech the Č is a CH!"

pavel_lishin 7y ago

> Literally no one has a problem pronouncing yet another great Czech: Dvořák I know exactly how I pronounce it, but it wasn't until your comment that I realized that I have no idea whether I'm doing so correctly or not.

CrLf 7y ago

Does that mean everyone pronounces it "Dvorjak"?

AstralStorm 7y ago
The better approximation to fricative z is usually rz. (Like Polish dipthong.) rj could be mispronounced as unrecognizable ar-jay combo, resulting in something resembling dwor-yak or dwor-jak instead of rd3. (Sorry about lack of proper IPA.)

trickstra 7y ago

You are most safe just pronouncing it as "Dvoraak".

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

Sharlin 7y ago

Literally no one? I'm fairly sure a majority of native English speakers has never even heard of Dvořák, never mind know how to spell his name correctly.

yread 7y ago

Spanish call him Deborak or something like that... So not everyone

aasasd 7y ago

Dvořák's name is another good example for my point. What's the use of parading around the ‘ř’ in English texts if the sound can be pronounced only by speakers of Czech, a few nearby dialects and Kobon speakers in Papua New Guinea? Well guess what, every language has a spelling in its own alphabet, for the pronunciation that the speakers adopt for ‘Dvořák’—including English, in this case. At least even with ‘ř’ it's not as bad as ‘Čapek’, since ‘ř’ is likely just replaced with more-or-less-hard ‘r’ when speaking, and not an unrelated sound.

david927 7y ago
Before I learned Czech, I pronounced it like most English-speakers: da-vor (rhymes with door) zhak (rhymes with shack). Now that I speak pretty decent Czech and can throw down a respectable 'ř'(which is one my great life accomplishments :), I feel that the English pronunciation is absolutely fine, and it requires no change. You write can write Čapek in any way you want. But, personally, I'm proud that it's spelled that way. People know his great works, they (across all languages) commonly use a word he coined, and they literally make people learn a tiny bit more about the Czech language when they say, "Ah! So in Czech the Č is a CH!"