Pronouncing Breed Names...

I can't speak French, so make a pretty pathetic attempt on "papillon." (Pap - ee- YONE is kind of what I say.) It embarrasses the heck out of me because, shoot, I have one!

ORIGINAL: Cita

I can't speak French, so make a pretty pathetic attempt on "papillon." (Pap - ee- YONE is kind of what I say.) It embarrasses the heck out of me because, shoot, I have one!

 
Me too!  I don't know if i just the Wisconsin twang or what, but when people who know french say it they draw it out a lot longer and I feel stupid.

Papeeyawn, is how my French would tell me to pronounce that.  And the French have different accents and dialect depending on where you are...

editing:
actually the Pa would pronounce more like puh, short a.

I love saying the plurals of the Keeshond, Kuvasz, Komondor, and Puli!

Keeshonden, Kuvaszok, Komondorok, and Pulik!

Me too! I considered, very breifly, getting a pair of any of them, so that I could say, "I have two Keeshonden." or whatever, and confuse the HECK out of people. Of course, none of them would fit me. Too much coat, among other things. The coat auto-disquialifies them, though.

Like, Lowchen. I've never heard anyone pronounce it, but I pronounce it like I would if I were speaking German. I knew the word "little lion" before I knew the dog breed, so it seems bizzare to pronounce it any other way. I think most people would say lo-chen. That and the o is supposed to have an umlaut and most people don't bother, which is understandable - HOWEVER... if you can't add the umlaut to a vowel, you're supposed to add an e at the end of it. Lowchen should be Loewchen if you're not going to use the umlaut.

I'm with you here.  Even when spelled/pronounced correctly, Lowchen is a difficult one for me.  You've got a o-umlaut and the "chen" which has always been hard for me, since I'm not a native speaker. (for those who didn't take German, the "ch" is NOT like our ch when we say cheese or champion, it's more of a throaty sound similar to the "h" in our word human).

the "ch" is NOT like our ch when we say cheese or champion, it's more of a throaty sound similar to the "h" in our word human).

 
well put.. i never realized that it's almost exactly the same sound...
for some reason i am amazed by this.. i'm just weird like that...

ORIGINAL: ron2

Even though my maternal grandfather was german and I studied german, I pick a little bit of other languages and I have been known to mispronounce Bichon Frisee on purpose.[sm=devil.gif]

me too... and shihtzu... pardon my spelling.... when my sisters and i were little we all got AKC books and dog breed encyclopedias for Christmas - we were stoked! - but when we came to those two breeds we were afraid of mispronouncing them and getting in trouble.... we had this fear that our dad or my step mom would only hear the "B" word" and the "S" word.... then of course hald the problem was solved when my step mom bought two shihtzu puppies.... shee zoo is how she pronounced.... and i think she did it that way on purpose too...... [8|]

actually i heard on one dog show when they first introduced the lowchen they were pronouncing like "Lurvchin" and this one guy was rolling the R's like crazy and making them as gruff and German sounding as possible- obviously going over the top with making the proper pronunciation. i figured since they made such a stink over it then there had to be no doubt of the pronunciation.

my opinion on the Anglo-influence... bugger them. i want to pronounce things the proper way. people mispronounce dachshund because they are ignorant of the location. they think the dog is a "dash" hound because they're small and when they run.. they dash.. makes sense. what REALLY irks me is people calling them Weiner dogs... grrrr
and a bone of contention when i was a kid... there was this little Scottish Terrier that would wander through the school yard during play time. he belonged to someone living near by, but yeah.. he liked to visit. EVERYONE was calling him a "Toto" dog.. as in Toto from Wizard of Oz... OMG NO!! would they listen to me? noooo....
well one or two kids did, but they only believed me because i showed them the dog book from the library... i havent changed much in that respect... ever since i was a little kid old enough to know what a dog was i have had this deeply embedded desire to correctly label ALL dog breeds... i dont really know why.

oh yeah... the breeds i have the toughest time with (not so much with AKC anymore because if you watch enough dog shows you eventually hear it pronounced right, if not by announcer then by the breeder they are interviewing or the judge) but the rare breeds from over seas... i cant recall anyone in specific right now, but there's one book i have that gives me a head ache....

arent language barriers fun!!??

ORIGINAL: DumDog


and a bone of contention when i was a kid... there was this little Scottish Terrier that would wander through the school yard during play time. he belonged to someone living near by, but yeah.. he liked to visit. EVERYONE was calling him a "Toto" dog.. as in Toto from Wizard of Oz... OMG NO!! would they listen to me? noooo....

Somewhat off topic, but I know what you mean!  I have come to despise the movie "Finding Nemo" because now whenever any kid comes to my  house they pound on my aquarium and scream, "NEMO!!!"

[sm=lol.gif] yeah well people call my dog "Petey" when they see her because she looks like the dog from the Little Rascals - the older versions, not the new one... i'm tempted to draw a ring around her eye this Halloween and dress my son as Spanky... har har

and back to dog names.... the Belgian shepherds!!! remember the ones i mentioned that are semi-rare and have weird names?
well try this -
Groenendael.. is that grown - in - dale ? or growin? dall? dale?
and Norwegian Buhund.. boo?

and Schiperke is a funny name. my sisters and i always pronounced it "Ship-perk" ... but... no.. its skipper - kee... which is just cute.

and Sealyham Terrier makes me nervous... i am half Welsh and i KNOW you cant trust their spelling to be the literal pronunciation....
though most people seem to pronounce it -seel - ee - ham...
 i also used to pronounce Vizsla the way its spelled... but now people are calling them "Veeshlah" or something... eh?
and then here's the doozie... the proper name for the Mexican Hairless... Xolosomthineruther..... not even going to attempt misspelling it..

My big pet peeve is Lhasa Apso.  (Lah-sah Ahp-so)  I can't tell you how many people say it Lhapso Apso, Lahsa Apso... *shudders*

The name husky came from the Siberian Indian people that are called, Chukchi...The Ch apparently sounds like an h and the rest fell into place and became 'husky' in our tongue.  - Those Indian people are cool looking too.  They look like native American, but often with blue eyes!

Yeah I thought keeshond was just that. (key-shond) But I found out it was pronounced Kayz-hund. O.o
I know someone who pronounced Ibizan wrong. It's EYE-bee-Zan. Not Ibbie-Zhan

ORIGINAL: Whippetdude
 It's EYE-bee-Zan. Not Ibbie-Zhan

that i did not know... i say ih - beezon , the i sound being the same as it or in

Its a common mistake. Like how they teach you in 1st grade how to sound out words. Like the Islands.. the Ibizan Islands...

I realized recently that I have been mispronouncing Malinois...is it Malin-o?  If someone knows, please confirm! []