Messages: 23
Language: English
Josh (User's profile) May 11, 2007, 1:28:42 AM
I don't know how it's pronounced.... or is it like (Ling-vo)... There was another word I saw with a v in it and it's hard to pronounce it separately. I'll see if I can find it.
-Josh
mccambjd (User's profile) May 11, 2007, 2:15:33 AM
Josh:or is it like (Ling-vo)...That's pretty much it!
erinja (User's profile) May 11, 2007, 1:52:35 PM
Josh:There was another word I saw with a v in it and it's hard to pronounce it separately. I'll see if I can find it.You may be thinking of "kvieta" or one of those kv- words.
The v is always pronounced like an English v. Some of the combinations don't come very naturally to English speakers but just practice, and it will come.
You may also enjoy making use of the site's audio files. The library section has some whole stories read out in Esperanto. That might give you a better feel for the pronunciation.
andreasvc (User's profile) May 11, 2007, 8:09:46 PM
erinja:The v is always pronounced like an English v. Some of the combinations don't come very naturally to English speakers but just practice, and it will come.Does this also go for odd words like Vindozo and Vikipedio? -- where it's clearly a "surrogate" W, to me...
mnlg (User's profile) May 11, 2007, 10:48:44 PM
andreasvc:Does this also go for odd words like Vindozo and Vikipedio? -- where it's clearly a "surrogate" W, to me...Yes, it's always v. One letter == one sound.
erinja (User's profile) May 12, 2007, 12:32:54 AM
In any case, in most cases the W sound is changed to V when a word enters Esperanto. So Washington is "Vaŝingtono", etc.
richardhall (User's profile) May 12, 2007, 9:36:27 AM
erinja:"ŭa" - the sound a baby makes!What else could it be?!
mnlg (User's profile) May 12, 2007, 3:39:25 PM
richardhall:A transliteration of a sound of a syllable of another language (japanese comes to mind).erinja:"ŭa" - the sound a baby makes!What else could it be?!
awake (User's profile) May 12, 2007, 5:08:34 PM
I've also seen ûesto for west, as a replacement for okcidento. There are probably some others, though I'm not sure if they are gaining usage or losing it.
As for me, I think since the sound exists in the language, it's kind of silly to restrict its usage to only diphthongs. But like so many things, that's a matter of personal taste.
erinja:If someone really wanted a surrogate W, we have that anyway, so it isn't necessary to use V - we would simply use the letter ŭ. In that case it would be "Ŭindozo". However, the only word beginning with ŭ that I can think of off-hand is "ŭa" - the sound a baby makes!
In any case, in most cases the W sound is changed to V when a word enters Esperanto. So Washington is "Vaŝingtono", etc.
mnlg (User's profile) May 12, 2007, 7:58:15 PM
awake:I've also seen ûesto for west, as a replacement for okcidento."ŭesta" was proposed for cinematography (western movies) but lately I have been told that "vakera" can be used for that. I am not really against the idea of having words beginning with "ŭ", but as many elder esperanto speakers say, you don't have to invent a language, you have to learn it.