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NZ Pronunciation please

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Old May 21st, 2005, 08:40 PM
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NZ Pronunciation please

Greetings all,

My question is:

Is Otago pronounced 'O tar go' or 'O tay go'?

This may seem trivial, but hey, it is just as important as the correct spelling.

Thanks heaps,
Jenny
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Old May 21st, 2005, 09:01 PM
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Otago is pronounced O tar go
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Old May 22nd, 2005, 03:24 AM
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My Lonely Planet guide to NZ tells me that the vowel sounds are as follows:
a as in 'large'
e as in 'get'
i as in 'marine'
o as in 'pork'
u as the 'oo' in moon

The dipthongs:
ae & ai as the 'y' in sky
ao & au as the 'ow' in how
ea as in 'bear'
ei as in 'vein'
eo as 'eh-oh'
eu as 'eh-oo'
ia as in the name 'Ian'
ie as the 'ye' in 'yet'
io as the 'ye' in 'ye old'
iu as the 'ue' in 'cue
oa as in 'roar'
oe as in 'toe'
oi as in 'toil'
ou as the 'ow' in 'sow'
ua as the 'ewe' in 'fewer'

* I believe that the 'y' in 'ye' wasn't really a 'y' but the Old Norse rune 'thorn', which was pronounced as the 'th' in 'the'. That is, in the old (or olde) days it was just used as shorthand for 'th'.

I could easily be wrong about this, but I remember being told that Maori pronunciation is similar to Hawaiian.

I believe that when Captain (or maybe Lieutenant) James Cook landed in NZ he had with him a Hawaiian, who found that he could understand enough of the local language to interpret for the Englishmen.
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Old May 22nd, 2005, 06:16 AM
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my biggest lesson was that for most Maori names (mostly towns) "Wh" is pronounced "F".
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Old May 24th, 2005, 01:17 AM
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O-tar-go is correct.
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Old May 24th, 2005, 12:29 PM
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Thanks a lot.

The Wh which is pronounced F is a bit of a worry. Especially in Whakatane and Whakapapa. How do you keep a straight face?


Jenny
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Old May 26th, 2005, 06:53 AM
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just an addition regarding Whakatane. It isn't pronounced exactly to rhyme with uck. More ock. like sock. fock car tar ne.

doen't make the locals laugh. but then I just went to germnay and sniggered at Wankbahn.
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Old May 26th, 2005, 01:20 PM
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The more common pronunciation of "get" by a Kiwi is "git", as in "pin" for "pen" and "yip" for "yep".

I'm assuming that Lonely planet guide is for Maori.
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Old May 26th, 2005, 02:56 PM
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>>just an addition regarding Whakatane. It isn't pronounced exactly to rhyme with uck. More ock. like sock. fock car tar ne.<<

According to Hare, the Maori owner of Lloyds Lodge in Whakatane, it should be pronounced "uck." He mentioned that Americans seemed kind of squeamish about that pronunciation, but we should go ahead and say it correctly.

Lee Ann
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Old May 26th, 2005, 03:03 PM
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Lee Ann's right on the pronounciation of Whakatane. Causes no end of merriment for Aussies in particular. But it is my hometown (though I live in Auckland now). People use the "Fock" pronounciation only really to avoid causing offence.

Steve
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