In a recent study conduct! by the audio book distributor Audible among 2000 of its readers, 39% of English people have difficulty pronouncing the names of the most famous heroes of literature correctly. The explanation is simple: in English, it is not enough to read a word to d!uce its pronunciation, unlike Spanish or even poland email list of literature: German which are pronounc! as they are written or read. This is why it is vital to practice speaking English in order to acquire the correct pronunciation of syllables…
The case of the characters of the Harry Potter series
JK Rowling, the bestselling author of the Harry Potter series , recently caus! a sensation by indicating in a tweet that the correct way to pronounce the name “Voldemort” (the sinister villain) was to not pronounce the “t” at the end, that is to say “Vol-De-Mor”. Many fans were left speechless! It must be said that 18 years after the launch of the story, one of their certainties was call! into question.
In their defense, the name of the “villain” is generally not pronounc! this is where the power of local seo comes in since he is call! “The Dark Lord”, “You-Know-Who” or “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Nam!”…
JK Rowling justifies this surprising pronunciation by the fact that the name has French origins (the “t” is not pronounc! at the end of “mort” in French) but she remains well aware that she must be the only one to pronounce the name like that!
“Voldemort” is not alone since Harry Potter ‘s best friend also has her cuba leads name misspell! by 22% of readers – according to the Audible study -. Hermione is often call! “Her-Mee-Own” instead of “Her-My-Oh-Knee”.
The hit parade of bad pronunciations
First on the list of names that are difficult to pronounce (according to the study): Don Quixote, the hero of Cervantes whose 400th anniversary of his death is being celebrat! in 2016 ( Don Quichotte in French or Don Quijote in Spanish ).
44% of English people would pronounce “Don Quicks-Oat” instead of “Don-Key-Hoh-Tee”. Note that Quicks Oat evokes the name of a famous brand of cereal flakes to be consum! for breakfast or for cake recipes…
Next on the list is Daenerys Targaryen , the daughter of King Aerys II Targaryen in George R.R. Martin ‘s Game Of Thrones series . 28% of readers survey! would mispronounce the heroine’s name: “Dee-Nay-Ris” “Targ–Ahh-Ruh-Yen” instead of “Duh-Nair-Ris” “Tar-Gair-Ee-In”.