I feel a little sheepish even asking this question-- because I actually spent two weeks around this area-- but how do you pronounce "Dordogne."

I feel sure I am saying it wrong!

Kathy

I've always assumed it's "Dor- donn -ye", with that last vowel being a shwa. But I was only there for 3 days.

M

hola Kaydee.(or should I say bonjour)

I don't often come into this french forum...

We lived in St Foy de Longas (Close to Bergerac) for a year and a half. It was great fun and a learning curve for localised accented French dialect. Couldn't understand a word they said for a while untill we got into it.

We pronounced Dordogne as door doine. The locals here added an ng to loads of words. so pain was pang and the town of Gran Castain was grang castang..They also added a kind of ong or ang sound to the last sound of door doineng...

blimey it was hard work...

Now we live in Andalucia close to the town of Zahara de la Sierra which has the dubious fame of being the town with the worst dialect in the whole of Spain..

best of luck

Clive

Well, it only took me 6 months to catch this thread....

Marian's correct. While I appreciate what Clive offers, it is strictly a regionalism (true, it's THE regionalism of that particular region, but the rest of the country pronounces the name without the twang). I'm loathe to encourage non-French speakers to learn regional pronunciation as if it were THE way to pronounce. It's best to learn what's accepted as standard pronunciation first, and then understand that a regional pronunciation differs from the standard. A similar phenomenon occurs in the Provencal accent as well, and even Quebecois has a similar thing going on.

If you're trying to pronounce proper French, go with Marian's advice. Her transliteration is clear, but adhering to the system used in the Slow Trav French Language Lessons, we'd write it as "Dohr-dohn-(nyuh)" the last syllable being pronounced minimally, with what we call in music, a "shadow vowel."

Cheers,

Hola/Bonsoir...

Yes "Dohr-dohn-(nyuh)" Would be correct..The NYUH is very similar to the Spanish ENYA (Ñ) i.e almoonyeca..(Almuñeca)

so you get dordoynya...being quiet/softer on the ynya bit

Definately agree though to work through the accepted pronunciations before you try the dialects.

(unless of course you move to rural france like we did with no French language knowledge at all. Then you just have to learn to speak like the locals...)

Clive and Sue

Clive and Sue have it right. like in any country in Europe there is regionalism and dialects and approved languages too. France is the only country not signatory to the UN code on regional languages probably because afraid of its fragmentation. For instance Spain is;and you might hear there are a few there too (I am from Canary islands origins).
The truer purest French is always said to be around Tours in the loire valley of France.
have fun with them, try a few and the trip will be more memorable.

quote:

like in any country in Europe there is regionalism and dialects and approved languages too.

Yes. My problem occurs when people confuse the two and categorically state "this is the way you pronounce it" citing a strictly regional pronunciation.

yes unfortunetely as there is to choose they always have "EXPERTS".
i learnt as i go along, like one of my favorite sayings
Travel is like a book: the more you travel:the more books you read.

and we are not event talking of accents.....huh!!! I am told by the French natives that my french has a Spanish accent. How they could be so exact? he he he!!! My English is from NJ, and my portuguese from Brazil:and my Spanish oh well that one they cannot tell at all!!!

quote:

Originally posted by David:

quote:

like in any country in Europe there is regionalism and dialects and approved languages too.

Yes. My problem occurs when people confuse the two and categorically state "this is the way you pronounce it" citing a strictly regional pronunciation.