18 replies to this topic

[Kulyok]

Please, help me with transcriptions of these names:

Athkatla
Dynaheir
Evereska
Imoen
Irenicus
Khalid

My first language is not English, so I cannot be sure as to how they should be pronounced.

I really need them, and I need them yesterday.



P.S. Amn is [A:mn] , is it?

[Kulyok]

Thanks a lot! The amount of material on these names was astounding, but narrators decided to forego the intonation component entirely, it seems. Even Answers.com!

I'll use it.

[Archmage Silver]

Hmm... yes, I think that most of the names were also pronounced in-game by the voice actors, so the information is there in the most canon form... if someone wanted, a pronounciation guide could be made out of them as well. The version of Baldur's Gate II that has a manual, has also the character name pronounciations listed. I'm not sure, but I think that the PDF guide on the CDs has them too.

[Kulyok]

I checked Imoen's name in BG2 manual, yes. Unfortunately, it was the only one I found; and I have nearly every BG manual and tutorial available on my hard drive.

Besides, I very much doubt the manual, since it is known to have inconsistencies already; and does Viconia really pronounce "vye-CONE-ee-ah", as it states? I am not so sure.

As for the actors, they have different versions, too, and being Russian, I cannot help but hear what I want to hear, not what they say. I will never get used to Viconia pronounced as [Vai]conia, not [Vi:]conia, for example. That's why I asked.

[Princeps]

It might be better to write Kha-LEED, so that 'lead' is not pronounced as the metal lead.

An optional pronounciation of Dynaheir would be DY-nah-hair (hair as in the stuff we have on our heads)

And how could Ath- in Athkatla be pronounced Af-? Uth-CUT-lah would be my spontaneous transcription, with th as in 'there'. But th as in 'think' would also be possible. Does anyone have the canon pronounciation?

Edited by Princeps, 17 November 2005 - 11:02 AM.

[Archmage Silver]

I checked Imoen's name in BG2 manual, yes. Unfortunately, it was the only one I found; and I have nearly every BG manual and tutorial available on my hard drive.

Besides, I very much doubt the manual, since it is known to have inconsistencies already; and does Viconia really pronounce "vye-CONE-ee-ah", as it states? I am not so sure.

As for the actors, they have different versions, too, and being Russian, I cannot help but hear what I want to hear, not what they say. I will never get used to Viconia pronounced as [Vai]conia, not [Vi:]conia, for example. That's why I asked.

I tried that with Viconia, and it seems we both have the same problem there. (I'm from Finland btw)

[Princeps]

[...] Besides, I very much doubt the manual, since it is known to have inconsistencies already; and does Viconia really pronounce "vye-CONE-ee-ah", as it states? I am not so sure.

As for the actors, they have different versions, too, and being Russian, I cannot help but hear what I want to hear, not what they say. I will never get used to Viconia pronounced as [Vai]conia, not [Vi:]conia, for example. That's why I asked.

I tried that with Viconia, and it seems we both have the same problem there. (I'm from Finland btw)

As a Swedish citicen I agree with my two eastern neighbours. Vaiconia sounds as bad to me as Draizzt. Or Kaivan. Or Elliesaimie. But elvish (and drow as corrupted/transformed elvish) in the FR unfortunately (?) does not follow specific rules. For someone with a past as a Tolkien freak (albeit a distant past) the mere thought of pronouncing 'i' as 'ai' in any elvish provokes some physical reflexes more effectively than sticking a feather down the throat.

[Little Dragon]

[...] Besides, I very much doubt the manual, since it is known to have inconsistencies already; and does Viconia really pronounce "vye-CONE-ee-ah", as it states? I am not so sure.

As for the actors, they have different versions, too, and being Russian, I cannot help but hear what I want to hear, not what they say. I will never get used to Viconia pronounced as [Vai]conia, not [Vi:]conia, for example. That's why I asked.

I tried that with Viconia, and it seems we both have the same problem there. (I'm from Finland btw)

As a Swedish citicen I agree with my two eastern neighbours. Vaiconia sounds as bad to me as Draizzt. Or Kaivan. Or Elliesaimie. But elvish (and drow as corrupted/transformed elvish) in the FR unfortunately (?) does not follow specific rules. For someone with a past as a Tolkien freak (albeit a distant past) the mere thought of pronouncing 'i' as 'ai' in any elvish provokes some physical reflexes more effectively than sticking a feather down the throat.

Do what I do, ignore the manual, and pronounce Viconia whichever way seems best to you. You can always say your character has an accent if someone protests at your pronunciation. Personally, I think of nicknames, and Vicky (as in the short form of Victoria) seems too cute not to apply to Viconia. Which means her name can't be [Vai]conia.

[Archmage Silver]

Yeah, and my friends don't know how to pronounce the names either, so I'm not going to say Vaiconia or whatsoever... it'll be Vicky. Though everybody knows how to pronounce Jan Jansen! Have some turnip beer...

[Rabain]

Athkatla - [Ath] to rhyme with bath [kat] [la] to rhyme with baa

Dynaheir - [Die] [Na] [hair]

Evereska - [Ever] [Res] [ka]

Imoen -[Im] to rhyme with Sim [oh] [in]

Irenicus -[Eye] [Ren] [ick] to rhyme with flick [cus] to rhyme with bus

Khalid - [Kaal] [leed]

Viconia - [Vic] to rhyme with flick [cone] [ia] as in begonia

It's funny for Jan. I remember reading on the old Blackisle forums that Jan was to be pronounced Yan: Yan Yansen rather than the hard J most english speakers would use (in names like James, Jim, John etc).

The rest are my own pronunciations.

[SConrad]

It's funny for Jan. I remember reading on the old Blackisle forums that Jan was to be pronounced Yan: Yan Yansen rather than the hard J most english speakers would use (in names like James, Jim, John etc).

I believe this is because the name Jan and Jansen (which means 'son of Jan') are Nordic names, and we pronounce Jan as Yan.

[SimDing0]

Check his SELECT_COMMON2. It's actually "Yawn".

[Kulyok]

Thank you, Rabain. It seems that we all pronounce these names rather similarly, which is a relief.

It's funny for Jan. I remember reading on the old Blackisle forums that Jan was to be pronounced Yan: Yan Yansen rather than the hard J most english speakers would use (in names like James, Jim, John etc).

Yes, it was pretty unusual for me, too. But they did it in a very elegant way: they included the phrase "[Yan] [Yansen], at your service!" into his soundset, so I very soon got used to this transcription.

With [Vai]conia, though, her name was mentioned only once or twice. I remember nearly jumping up when Valygar said:
"And your point, [Vai]conia?"
- I wanted to say: "Hey, man, you're all wrong!"

[Creepin]

As you may already notice, both [DAI-na-hear] or [DY-nah-hair] or any other derivatives from original english spelling, as far as that goes, would have fairly obscene sounding for russian-speaking people
I, for one, always call her "Динахея" ( [DY-nah-heya] perhaps? sorry, I'm not so good at transcriptions), intentionally sacrificing exact transliteration for the sake of overall aesthetics

Edited by Creepin, 19 November 2005 - 12:00 AM.

[jastey]

How is Anomen pronounced in the English version?

[Rabain]

[Ano] as in the word piano [men]

Well that is how I read it anyway.

[Kellen]

I am sure everyone will hate me for this but Viconia is pronounced vye-CONE-yah in a banter with Nalia.

[Kulyok]

I am sure everyone will hate me for this but Viconia is pronounced vye-CONE-yah in a banter with Nalia.

Yes, unfortunately, yes. (I do not hate you for this. ) So, I decided to steer clear of her name in my banters altogether. This way, everyone is happy.