Thread: Confusion over pronounciation

Originally Posted by bitpicker

The problem here is that Russian does not have the phoneme we represent with "H" in "Hamlet" and elsewhere. It is frequently represented as г and even pronounced like that, I've heard Russians pronounce the name of the city Hamburg like Gamburg for example.

"H" was traditionally transliterated as "Г".

There is a tendency toward a phonetical transliteration now. For example, Irish physicist William Hamilton is known as Гамильтон in Russia. On the other hand, the name of British driver Lewis Hamilton is transliterated and pronounced as Хэмилтон. Nevertheless, if you see the letter "г" in a name you should pronounce "г". There is no exceptions, afaik.


BTW. Ломоносов, Ода: "...Что может собственных Платонов И быстрых разумом Невтонов Российская земля рождать."

Originally Posted by Полуношник

"H" was traditionally transliterated as "Г".

There is a tendency toward a phonetical transliteration now. For example, Irish physicist William Hamilton is known as Гамильтон in Russia. On the other hand, the name of British driver Lewis Hamilton is transliterated and pronounced as Хэмилтон.

In some of the "official" Russian translations of the Harry Potter books, the names were transliterated as follows:

Hagrid --> Хагрид
Hogwarts --> Хогвартс

Harry --> Гарри
Hermione --> Гермиона

The Cyrillic spellings for "Hagrid" and "Hogwarts" follow the modern tendency to use Х when representing the English "h" sound. So the question is, why didn't they follow the modern rule for "Harry" and "Hermione"? There are two reasons:

(1) Historic consistency: Гарри was the Russian spelling used for U.S. President Harry Truman, and the stage magician Harry Houdini was known as Гарри Гудини. Similarly, the feminine name Гермиона appears in Russian translations of Homer's Odyssey -- she's a Greek princess, and the daughter of King Menelaus and Queen Helen (English translations call her, of course, Hermione).

(2) To prevent an accidental dirty pun that would make Russian schoolchildren laugh uncontrollably. Хермиона, in particular, would "sound very unfortunate" to a Russian schoolteacher who wishes to maintain good order and discipline in the classroom -- in the same sort of way that the name of Lake Titicaca in Peru "sounds very unfortunate" in a classroom of English-speaking children.

Nevertheless, if you see the letter "г" in a name you should pronounce "г". There is no exceptions, afaik.

Actually, there are two noteworthy exceptions, both relating to the same "person": the specific forms Бог (God, when in the nominative singular) and Господи (O Lord!, in the archaic "vocative") -- there is a tendency to pronounce them more like Бох and Хосподи.

P.S. I put "person" в кабачках (in quote marks) only because this pronunciation rule applies whether you are a devout believer or a total atheist who doesn't think there is any such person as "God" or "the Lord". In either case, if you want a mild way to express minor surprise, shock, anger, etc., that's more or less equivalent to "Ohmigod!" or "Oh, dear!" in English, you would write "Господи!", but the pronunciation is closer to "Хосподи!".

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

(2) To prevent an accidental dirty pun that would make Russian schoolchildren laugh uncontrollably. Хермиона, in particular, would "sound very unfortunate" to a Russian schoolteacher who wishes to maintain good order and discipline in the classroom -- in the same sort of way that the name of Lake Titicaca in Peru "sounds very unfortunate" in a classroom of English-speaking children.

That sounds hilarious. Out of curiosity, what would Хермиона suggest exactly?

Also, about the teachers "keeping order", just how bad is Russia's education system in controlling students? I ask because I saw a youtube video of school violence there. Even teachers were being like punched in the face, haha.

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

-- in the same sort of way that the name of Lake Titicaca in Peru "sounds very unfortunate" in a classroom of English-speaking children.

Great explanation, Throbert McGee!
BTW, poor Titicaca (Титикака) can seem hilarious to young Russians as well. "Кака" (which is used by mothers and young children) means a turd or something unpleasant, and "какать" is colloquial for "to defecate".

P.S. I put "person" в кабачках (in quote marks)

в кавычках
кавычка (sing), кавычки (pl) - quote mark(s)
кабачок (sing), кабачки (pl) - a kind of zucchini