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Thread: How do you pronounce "Wegen"?

  1. #26
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pronounce "Wegen"?

    BTW, in case Wegens aren't expensive enough for you, there is this "Rare-Vintage-Pre-War-Gibson-Guitar-Mandolin-Pick" on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Vintage-Pre...3A1%7C294%3A50

    Just so you know, no tortoises were harmed in the manufacture of this pick - it's celluloid. The bidding right now is up to $34.21 + $2 shipping.
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  2. #27

    Default Re: How do you pronounce "Wegen"?

    What a great thread! I once had a Dutch friend tell me that all names starting with Van are Dutch: Van Gough, Van der Berghe, Van Morrison ...

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeroen View Post
    It has been fun following this thread.

    I hope I am not ruining the fun for David and Kevin, and maybe some real Dutchies frequenting the board.

    Our W is not like your V in vintage or voodoo. It is even softer than your V in river. It actually sounds like your W, but we don't have the ooish sound preceding it.
    If you americans would try to pronounce VW our way, you guys would almost say "vayooway". (Hoo)We (hoo)would'nt.

    The first E in Wegen is the american (not british) pray, stain and weigh sound.

    The G is indeed the "smoker in the morning" sound of Loch Ness; or more subtle: the J in the Spanish pronunciation of San José. The German Ch from Bach or Liechtenstein is perfect for Southern Dutch pronunciation. (Yes, small countries have souths too).
    I am from the North, and I like my G's throaty, especially when I hit myself with a hammer on the thumb and ask God why he hasn't doomed me forever instead.

    Van Gogh is not Ven Gof, but Vaughn Choch. (with a short o like in Loch).

    The second E is a short uh like in moment or later.

    The N is like yours.

    Vay-gun would be closest.
    The V would be too v-ish, and the G not right.

    As has been said: pronouncing it like Wegen would not raise eyebrows here.

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  3. #28
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pronounce "Wegen"?

    Actually, that i have used them for many years and have never had a reason or opportunity to say the name out loud strikes me as a little curious. I never even thought about how i would pronounce it.
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  4. #29
    Lord of All Badgers Lord of the Badgers's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pronounce "Wegen"?

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    OK - I bumped into my Dutch friend today, and she said "vey-chen," as has been noted before. She also said it translates as "roads" - plural
    almost correct - IF Mr W pronounces it authentically. I spent a lot of time in Holland... in Dutch the W is somewhere between a V and a W. It's a very soft V that sounds W like... hard, but possible.
    The "en" sounds almost like "un", but the Dutch soften the "n" to almost nothing ... so can sound almost like "vway-chuh".... i think it can even be a dialect thing.

    My dutch friends liked to try & get me on "Scheveningen"
    but i got there in the end ;-)
    (it's a seaside town)

    for me the vowels were the worst...

    Boom (meaning 'tree') is like "bohm"
    Leuk (as in nice) sounds like an upper class englishman saying "loak"
    but that's nothing compared to "ou" "ui" sounds... or the "u" vs "oe"
    or... Leeuwen (Lions)... which is "lay-u-when"

    and put an s into the mix, then an 'sch'... oh my... s'hertogenbosch
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  5. #30
    Registered User Toni Schula's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pronounce "Wegen"?

    Quote Originally Posted by CJHedges View Post
    What a great thread! I once had a Dutch friend tell me that all names starting with Van are Dutch: Van Gough, Van der Berghe, Van Morrison ...
    Shame on me, I always pronounced it like the German "because of" ;-) because it shares the exactly same spelling.

  6. #31

    Default Re: How do you pronounce "Wegen"?

    How do you pronounce "Volkswegen?"

  7. #32
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pronounce "Wegen"?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Mando View Post
    How do you pronounce "Volkswegen?"
    V W.. Fau Vay isnr it?
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  8. #33
    Registered User Toni Schula's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pronounce "Wegen"?

    Quote Originally Posted by mandroid View Post
    V W.. Fau Vay isnr it?
    Frau Weh (= Mrs. Vay)
    That's what I understood when I was three years old and my father had that nice light blue Beatle. (I had no problem to understand "Kaefer" )
    Last edited by Toni Schula; Feb-18-2019 at 4:16pm. Reason: Delivered a missing 'd'

  9. #34
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pronounce "Wegen"?

    The gutteral ch is mostly lost in English but was very common in earlier languages of the Indo-Germanic or Indo-European tradition. You'll quickly encounter it if you learn German, or Greek (Greek χ = chi, the gutteral "ch") it is a hard "h" in the back of the throat like the clearing of the throat. Apparently, this is close to the Dutch "g" in Wegen.
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  10. #35
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: How do you pronounce "Wegen"?

    I pronounce it



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