LibriVox Forum

bluechien wrote:I'm reading a piece with a greek quote from Plato's symposium above the introduction. After listening to a few words pronounced in various dictionaries, and knowing no greek, I feel more and more like I would love to ask someone who knows this language, if they would be willing to contribute this line to my reading, rather than me doing the possibly-listener-unfriendly thing of going it alone.

(namely:
εἶσὶ γὰρ οὖν, οἳ ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς κυοῦσιν
)

Is it kosher to ask this kind of favor here?

Hello, Eva!

I think there are more than one ways to pronounce it, because it's a language that it's not used anymore (at least, not in its original state), so the different schools of the study of Ancient Greek insist on different pronunciations.
This is how I would pronounce it: ee sea gar oon, ee en tess psee-khes kee-oo-seen
This is for you to try to imitate the sound if it helps: https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/greektext_03_04_17.mp3

Rapunzelina wrote: Hello, Eva!

I think there are more than one ways to pronounce it, because it's a language that it's not used anymore (at least, not in its original state), so the different schools of the study of Ancient Greek insist on different pronunciations.
This is how I would pronounce it: ee sea gar oon, ee en tess psee-khes kee-oo-seen
This is for you to try to imitate the sound if it helps: https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/greektext_03_04_17.mp3

I will give this some practice and see what happens.

Thank you so much, Rapunzelina! Very very cool.

The following Greek word has cropped up in a work (I am told it means 'paint'):

βαφή

Any guidance on pronunciation would be appreciated!

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%B2%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%AE

Seems somewhere between bah-PhEH and vah-FEE. The Beta is a "soft" B.

tovarisch wrote:https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%B2%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%AE

Seems somewhere between bah-PhEH and vah-FEE. The Beta is a "soft" B.

Thank you - I'll pass it on to the reader.

Lynnet wrote:The following Greek word has cropped up in a work (I am told it means 'paint'):

βαφή

Any guidance on pronunciation would be appreciated!

Here's a recording from Forvo, which seems to match with what tovarisch said.

JorWat wrote:

Lynnet wrote:The following Greek word has cropped up in a work (I am told it means 'paint'):

βαφή

Any guidance on pronunciation would be appreciated!

Here's a recording from Forvo, which seems to match with what tovarisch said.

Thank you.

I have a few small snippets of ancient Greek from the last section of my solo (viewtopic.php?f=28&t=63282)... If anyone can offer pronunciation hints or transliterate them for me I would be very very grateful!

(1) περίοδος γῆς; and (2) γενεηλογία

these are book titles, it seems from the context.

and then this reference:

Ηρακλέα καλέεσκεν, ὅτι κλέος ἔσχε διὰ Ἥραν

and another title:

τὰ Σικελικά

I'm not particularly knowledgeable about Ancient Greek, so others might be able to help more, but here's at least a start:

plaidsicle wrote:

(1) περίοδος γῆς; and (2) γενεηλογία [I believe this is supposed to be spelled 'γενεαλογία']

these are book titles, it seems from the context.

These are transcribed as períodos gês (and means something like 'earth period') and geneālogíā (meaning 'genealogy').

Going by forvo.com, these seems to be pronounced 'pay-REE-odd-os gess' and 'yen-ah-loh-YEE-ah'

plaidsicle wrote:and then this reference:

Ηρακλέα καλέεσκεν, ὅτι κλέος ἔσχε διὰ Ἥραν

We have 'Hērakléa kaléesken, hóti kléos éskhe diá Hḗran', (something like 'Hercules [word I can't find], that has fame after Hera') which seems to be prounounced 'hair-rah-CLAY-ah kah-LAY-ace-kane, HOT-ee GLAY-os ESK-huh dee-AH HAIR-run'

plaidsicle wrote:and another title:

τὰ Σικελικά

'tá sikeliká' (The Sicilians) 'tah see-keh-lee-KA'

thank you so much! this is very helpful.

A useful place for asking about pronunciation is Hinative.com. This is a language exchange forum (and phone app), where typically people learning languages ask each other questions. It's possible to post recordings of you saying things, and if people choose to, they can record their native pronunciation for you.

I'm trying to figure out the pronunciation of the female name Dyveke. The clearest pronunciation I have found online is Swedish and it sort of rhymes with Rebecca with more emphasis on first syllable. But three syllables. Norwegian - similar but emphasis rising on last syllable.

The person in the piece I am going to read is from 16th century Dutch descent but was mistress of Danish king. Any Danish pronunciation I have found on line is garbled and muffled and really hard to tell anything from it.

To make things weirder, there are pronunciations from speakers of English that pronounce it with 2 syllables, but vary on the emphasis and how to say first syllable. DIH-vek vs. DIE-vek.

Would speakers of Scandinavian languages find DIH-vek-eh acceptable? Or go with the "English" pronunciation?

If she's of Dutch descent, I would lean towards the DIE for the first syllable, and two more for the rest, vek-eh (with envy-eh's) as you suggest.

However, since this is a proper name of a proper person: choose one pronunciation that you like (and which is easy for you) and then you just say it "with conviction". It usually works, honestly! Generally, people won't complain and I doubt that she herself will complain, whereever she is right now

gah, I have found a few more Greek snippets in this appendix!

τὰ Περσικά,

and also

compare the phrases γοργίεια σχήματα, γοργιάζειν

thank you again in advance if you can help!

I guess it's my turn to assist again.

plaidsicle wrote:gah, I have found a few more Greek snippets in this appendix!

τὰ Περσικά,

'tá persiká' (The Persians), 'tah purr-si-KA (I believe like this, but with an 'ah' sound at the end)

plaidsicle wrote:and also

compare the phrases γοργίεια σχήματα, γοργιάζειν

thank you again in advance if you can help!

'gorgíeia skhḗmata, gorgiázein' (Gorgias's [feminine] appearances, Gorgias [derogative]) 'gor-GEE-ee-uh (like the first two syllable of this, and the last two syllables of this) SKAY-mah-tah, gor-gee-AH-zeen' (I'm really not sure about this one... Γοργίας is Gorgias, -εια makes words feminine, and -άζειν seems to 'express incomplete resemblance, hence generally pejorative', but I can't find any actual Ancient Greek words using it that I can find pronunciations for.)