# Forum Other Languages Romance languages French  Is it true that in French the name Putin sounds odd?

## SAn

subj.

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## it-ogo

> subj.

 Yes, if read according to the French rules "Putin" sounds like "whore" that's why they use "Putine" instead of "Putin".

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## Hanna

True, the rude word is putain, which means what you say.....  
However the way they transliterate Putins name is Poutine which doesn't mean anything other than french fries/chips with mozzarella cheese - fastfood
I don't think it sounds very similar to "putain", the pronunciation is different.  
This type of thing happens to some foreign names in all countries. They need to spell it like that, for the pronunciation to make sense.

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## alexsms

> I don't think it sounds very similar to "putain", the pronunciation is different.

 'Poutine' sounds different.

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## Spiderkat

> Yes, if read according to the French rules "Putin" sounds like "whore" that's why they use "Putin" instead of "Putin".

 Not really. Putin is simply the English spelling according to the English transliteration. Since the rules of pronunciation is different in French we go by a different transliteration that also matches the French spelling and that's the reason we spell it Poutine.
But with some imagination, the way Putin is spelled would sound like putain if it were pronounced strictly according to the French pronunciation rules.

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