Friday, January 25, 2008

English name with French pronunciation

When I first arrived in France, I have a lot of pain in remembering and recognizing people or brand name. Even though they spell exactly like some of the English name and brand, the French pronunciation changed everything. Example:

I heard Hono, and it was Renault
Iwong = Yvon
Mikail = Michael
Hisha = Richard

What a big different in pronunciation! Just imagine that you are watching the French version of "Friends" and they are calling Rachel "Hashel".

Now that I know a bit about the culture, I discovered that for some of the name they have the feminine and masculine version, which is kind of sweet:
Michel Vs Michelle
Fabien Vs Fabienne
Louis Vs Louise
Yvon Vs Yvonne
Simon Vs Simone
François Vs Françoise

I wonder if someone manages to get twin (a boy and a girl), could they call the boy Mikael and the girl Mishel?

9 comments:

  1. The worst ones are the ones that sound the same, like Pascal & Pascale.

    And when I first got here, I wanted to go see a female doctor, so I picked one named "Gwenaël" thinking it was a woman....boy, was I surprised to see a 50 year old man instead!!

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  2. Anonymous11:58 PM

    Alvin....alvine O_O
    if malay ...it's Alvina

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  3. Anonymous4:12 AM

    mine would be cibol & cibolle?

    like bernard and bernadette

    my christian name is bernard

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  4. Anonymous2:03 AM

    it is 'ghishagh' for richard i think.
    and only after i learn french i know why the name 'benoit' is pronounce as 'benoa'.
    just 1 question, the KFC that you went before is where?
    is it in Nantes?
    because i want to go to Nantes for a daytrip maybe.
    wana eat KFC as well.
    is it in the centre ville?
    how fare from gare?

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  5. KFC in Nantes
    Rue Californie
    44340 Bouguenais, France
    +33 2 40 34 42 20

    It is quite far from the train station and downtown. You will need to take bus or buses. The fried chicken in the town center just closed shop. Fried chicken not so popular among the French.

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  6. Anonymous8:21 PM

    oh, forget to tell you that i am in La Rochelle.
    there are how many gare(s) there?
    i wonder which 1 to choose when i search for ticket at voyage sncf.
    for nantes, there are ; nantes centre, nantes gare and nantes.
    can you suggest which 1 is in centre ville?
    or the nearest 1.

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  7. There is only one train station in Nantes. Choose the one "Nantes gare (44)". You can take tramway ligne one which take you directly to town center. Just 3-4 stops away.

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  8. Anonymous12:24 PM

    I love it when it is Michel & Michèle. ;) Oh... they also shorten the name "Gwenaël" to Gwen. The first time I was introduced to this guy named Gwen, I thought I heard it wrongly and couldn't understand why he is called Gwen (a girl's name) till I realised his full name is Gwenaël - a classic brittany name.

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  9. Gwen = white, Aël = Angel : white angel, indeed a typical Brittany name.

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