blackdove Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 It isn't pronounced Va Amelia it is Wa seepova.This is what a freind of mine who was lucky enough to see the Bolshoi do class was told by Marina Kondratieva who as you know coached Natalia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 And some people Westernise the pronunciation of other people's names, too. When was the last time you heard someone pronounce Martina Navratilova or Maria Sharapova? BBB, is it always 3rd syllable from the end? I've always just based it on -ova being the feminine ending (Navratilova's brother is called Navratil, I seem to remember, and Helena Sukova's brother is Suk. Sorry to bring tennis into it again, but that's my second most major source of female "Russian" names) "ova" is the feminine of "ov" - Putrov & Putrova, Sukov and Sukova (also, on the tennis front, Safin & Safina). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Well, yes, but in the two cases I mentioned (both Czech, incidentally) it's the whole "-ova" which is added to the male version of the name. I know not why, but have always assumed that there's a rule somewhere that adding the "-ova" suffix doesn't change where the stress in the word is. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Well, yes, but in the two cases I mentioned (both Czech, incidentally) it's the whole "-ova" which is added to the male version of the name. I know not why, but have always assumed that there's a rule somewhere that adding the "-ova" suffix doesn't change where the stress in the word is. Czech and Russian are very different languages! The Czech names have accents which help determine the stress (IIRC). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amelia Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 It isn't pronounced Va Amelia it is Wa seepova.This is what a freind of mine who was lucky enough to see the Bolshoi do class was told by Marina Kondratieva who as you know coached Natalia. You see, blackdove, I corrected W to V deliberately because neither Natalya no Marina would pronounce 'W' because we don't have 'W' sound in the Russian phonetical system. They both don't speak English although Marina speaks more phrases than Natalia. So, if for some reason they say this hybrid word 'Vasipova', they would use 'V'. By the way, when Russian students learn to pronounce the sound 'W', it is quite a streneous job because their speech apparatus is different. They are told, firstly, to pull their lips forward as if for a kiss, then to imitate the teacher's 'W' and, finally, to pull their lips back! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 The same as German then!! Spanish is great in that it too has the stress markers as to where you accent in any word. It's not that important for a beginner as you will be understood if the stress is wrong but if you want to get the conversation flowing its much better to sound more like a native speaker obviously and placing the stress correctly really makes you much more easily understood!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackdove Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Thanks for that Amelia.A lesson learned! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 I have just started learning Russian Amelia and I mean only just but am fascinated by some of their sounds the "dze" one being one of them. Once you have any sound that is not quite there in ones own language it's very hard to get a good imitation of it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amelia Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 I have just started learning Russian Amelia and I mean only just but am fascinated by some of their sounds the "dze" one being one of them. Once you have any sound that is not quite there in ones own language it's very hard to get a good imitation of it!! I know it too well how hard it is. Good luck with your studies, LinMM. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 The hardest thing about Russian is indeed knowing which part of the word to stress, you have to hear it to know, when I watch ballet documentaries and Russian is spoken I realise that I said words completely wrongly when I visited Russia, no wonder people used to smile or even giggle when I spoke! So, how do you accent Muntagirov? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 I find the hardest part is the grammar, Russian verbs do things that English verbs would never think of doing. Consequently I only speak Russian when it is absolutely necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amelia Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 So, how do you accent Muntagirov? The stress is on 'i', like 'ee' in 'tree'. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Well I'm certainly learning a lot here! I'd love to speak Russian but I imagine it hard with a new alphabet to learn as well.... P.S. For Don Quixote I find saying Donkey Shot works quite well! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Well I'm certainly learning a lot here! I'd love to speak Russian but I imagine it hard with a new alphabet to learn as well.... P.S. For Don Quixote I find saying Donkey Shot works quite well! I tend just to say Don Q (very lazy I know!). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I say Don Key-HO-tay 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Thanks Amelia, I can say Vadim's name now I'm with spannerandpony on Don kee HO tay. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackdove Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I'm with Janet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane S Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I just follow 'quixotic' and say Don Kwiksot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann Williams Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 '...>I just follow 'quixotic' and say Don Kwiksot<...' I don't believe it, Jane - you of all people! Don Kwiksot harks back to the notorious 'Donkeyshot' once seen (by me, anyway) on an ENB gala programme and has odd echoes of the Kwikfit Fitter TV ads. I've been happy with 'Don kee HO tay' for years, however, I'm so thrown by your confidence that it will be 'Don Q' for me from now on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane S Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 It's more habit than confidence, Anne - I read the name long before I ever heard anyone pronounce it and had no idea there was any other way of saying it, and have just stuck with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimi66 Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 For pronouncing Don Q, I go for don-qui-shot-te (with an accent on "e", don't know how to type that!) . Sort of French-ish, or Argentinian Spanish accent, so I tell myself anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTL Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 (edited) In the Royal Ballet Don Quixote television screening, Carlos Acosta and Marianela Núñez, both of course with Spanish as mother-tongue, say it as the modern Don Quijote I.e. Don Kee-HO-tay, emphasis on the HO. Edited January 18, 2014 by Grand Tier Left 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odyssey Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I'd appreciate some advice with the correct pronunciation of Rojo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 "Ro-ho" :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 For Don Q it depends whether you are trying to say the Spanish version, Don Quixote ( Don Kee-HO-tay) or the French version Don Quichotte (Donkey Shot) both are correct. The original book was Spanish (Castellano) but the first ballet was in Russia where the language at Court was French. Rojo is pronounced with a short first "o" , like in "rock" and a long second "o". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regattah Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 That's complicating matters, PDQ! But it does mean we can argue that we're right however we say it. How about Cojocaru? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odyssey Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Thank you both for your help with Rojo - I wasn't sure of Melvyn Bragg's pronunciation when he interviewed her for the South Bsnk Show:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 The syllables are evenly stressed in Rojo but I agree with S and P I think the "o" 's are more similarly pronounced as well ro-ho I think if it was a longer word with "o" as the second letter then the "o" would be shorter as in romantico! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Nope, it is just the Spanish word for "red", ask any Spanish speaker (of which I am one). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I appreciate it means "red" or as a noun "the red one" so to speak......just not sure how the meaning of the word in English affects the pronunciation of the "o's" PdQ!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveclassics Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 '...>I just follow 'quixotic' and say Don Kwiksot<...' I don't believe it, Jane - you of all people! Don Kwiksot harks back to the notorious 'Donkeyshot' once seen (by me, anyway) on an ENB gala programme and has odd echoes of the Kwikfit Fitter TV ads. I've been happy with 'Don kee HO tay' for years, however, I'm so thrown by your confidence that it will be 'Don Q' for me from now on. Actually I'm sure that the BBC uses the same pronunciation, or their Radio 3 announcers do. In a way, this is logical as in this country we don't tend to pronounce the names of foreign cities the same way their inhabitants would. For example, what English person would say 'Paree' unless in France or actually speaking French at the time? It's always Pa-riss. I think that with the names of living persons it may be a question of good manners when addressing them directly to attempt the phonetically-correct version but otherwise it sounds a tad pretentious to use foreign pronunciation in English as well as being unclear. After all if I mentioned my trip to Gothenburg who would know where I had been if I called it Yourt-er-boy as my Swedish-speaking niece calls it? Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 When I wrote ask any Spanish speaker, I meant anyone learning Spanish would know the correct pronounciation. A don't suppose in the great scheme of things it matters that much, but as it is an easy short name, why not get it right? The "o" s in Rojo are the same as in the English word "follow". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Thanks Pas de Quatre and as I am learning Spanish I'd better get it right!! I'll definitely check it out with our teacher....who is Spanish......but comes from Gran Canaria ...so may be some differences in pronunciation with mainland Spain .....next Thursday. I am sure you are correct PDQ but I suspect when Ive used the word before in lessons Ive not been making much difference between the two "o" s I agree in general that it is important to get people's names correctly pronounced though so great that this thread has been started!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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