I can't find how this is pronounced: Bobigny

Bo-Beanyee.

quote:

Originally posted by Americana in Parigi:
Bo-Beanyee.

Thank you - my 17yo son leaves tomorrow for London/Paris and will stay first in Bobigny and I just wanted to know how to pronounce it - I've gone on one good site for pronounciations, but Bobigny wasn't listed. thanks again

Hate to tell you Bobigny is not the most exciting suburb.

Also hate to tell you no native speaker of French will ever accept an American pronunciation as correct. And they're probably, in a strict sense, right. But you get lots of cuteness points for trying, so tell him to give it his best shot, nod and smile and try again when corrected, and graciously accept the sadly ironic moue --a word I wouldn't even dare attempt in France-- that will be the result. It'll work eventually.

Can't tell you the number of times I've had this kind of conversation...
"Pardon, Luron?" waving hands in vague indication of the turn I hope we take. The place can't be more than five minutes drive away.
"..." Slight headshake, puzzled smile.
"Le village de Luron. Ou est-il?" Point at the map. It's ignored.
"..." Another of the same.
"Luron, si vous plait. Ou est Luron?" Point again at the map. This time it gets a glance.
"Ah, Dur-ohnng! Vous cherchez Dur-ohhng."
"Oui, oui, Dur-ohhng."
"Ah, non, monsieur, Dewuerr-ohn-hng."
Really. Nothing to do at this point but nod and graciously accept the sadly ironic moue and try to take notes on lefts and rights. It's all in good fun.

thanks - good tips, but we probably won't be hearing from him anytime soon. Besides he's with the People to People International Student Ambassador Program group of 35 or 40 other high school seniors and they've got everything all planned to the minute I think. Thanks again for your info - I did tell him to at least try to use the pleases and thank yous, hellos and goodbyes in the languages of the countries he will be in. I'll find out in 3 weeks when they get back.

Perfect, Bucky! I've had that conversation many times myself. It's always even more fun in Provence, with the Provencal pronunciation added to the mix.

Bucky, I relate big time! If I ask about Rouen I likely learn about Roanne; ask about Caen and learn about Cannes.

Jennie, I envy your son the experience at his age. Wish I had had the opportunity, pronunciation tribulations included.

I love to be corrected in Europe, makes me feel so cosmopolitan. Too bad it never takes for long!

When we rent a car, my husband drives and I'm the navigator. I'll try to pronounce the never-before-heard city names to him in French and we just start laughing at ourselves!

The Fine Gardening website has this cool feature where you can HEAR the Latin pronunciation of plant names online. We need a similar website for French cities!

Cameron

Ah well, I do remember those games about pronounciation. I usually turn this around with my French friends and ask them to pronounce "Streichholzschaechtelchen" - German for "petite boite d'alumettes". After that nobody can pronounce anything properly anymore because we are all laughing so hard ...

Try this experimental site:

http://www.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php

Patrick: I just tried it. The pronounciation is very good.

Well, part of the game is to not be a native speaker, and part of it to be up against natives with thick accents. Between the two, ya just can't ever really win.

And it can apply to your own language. I remember being in the London suburbs years ago, traveling with an Australian. We asked an old codger for information about the local bus, and after we walked away I asked Alan, "Did you understand him?" "Not a word of it," he said. Three native speakers of what is allegedly the same language! Hah.

Patrick, I just typed in a few French city names, at random, using the web site you posted. Most of the pronunciations are fine, though Alain is a little brusque. However, the pronunciation of Aix-en-Provence by all three French speakers I tried (Alain, Juliette, and Arnaud CA) is just wrong. "EH" is not right for Aix, which should sound like "EKS". Arnaud also pronounces Rouen as if it rhymed with bien. It doesn't, it rhymes more or less with grand. His pronunciation of the nasal vowels is slightly off.

How odd, so these gentlemen with names like Alain and Arnaud are obviousy not remotely French.

When booking train tickets in Bordeaux, the seller wouldn't hand over our tickets until I correctly pronounced Caen & Le Havre. I'm not sure that I ever got it right, but we had a lot of fun before she gave me the tickets - it was an unexpected highlight of travelling by train!

(Off topic, off color, but real experience…)

Chris B,
On my first trip to Venice, at Harry's Bar I tried to order orange juice with campari in Italian.
But instead of "spremuta" I said "spermuta".
The waiter, unlike your SNCF dominatrix, was most accommodating. He just said: "subito" (right away)!

Chris, if I was a ticket agent, I'd probably do the same thing! Cute story. Thanks.

Come to Britain and try getting to Milngavie and Kirkdcudbright...

I love this thread, it reminds me of my first meeting with a now close Provençal friend who didn't know what I was talking about when I pronounced Saint Remy as it is written.