Difficult Designer / Brand Pronunciation

[cookies3939]

What about Rive Gauche?

[stilettogirl84]

ree-vay go(to the mall)-sh

[cookies3939]

Thanks so much. And where is the stress??

[stilettogirl84]

sorry

REE-vay (go)sh -long o sound, not gosh

[shallow_waters]

Originally Posted by stilettogirl84

sorry

REE-vay (go)sh -long o sound, not gosh

actually it's more like "reeve", as the "e" is not accented.

[Deleted 2]

Anyone care to tackle the pronunciation of Yigal Azrouel (umlaut on the e)?

[PrinceOfCats]

Originally Posted by cookies3939

What about Rive Gauche?

ree (as in 'Reebok')
v (as in 'Valium')
go (as in 'Go figure')
sh (as in 'Shaken not stirred')

You could pronounce 'gauche' closer to 'gosh' but I've heard native speakers use both and all sorts of shades in between. When pronouncing 'gauche' in English (as in, 'My, that's rather gauche of you'), it's generally the former.

[cookies3939]

Wt about Kenzo and Kris Van Assche??

[Cinthia]

Originally Posted by milamar

As far as I know French, you don't pronounce "s" when it stands as the last letter in the word. And the accent should fall on the last "e". Correct me French native speakers if I'm wrong with this one, but i suggest: air-ME'

I can help you on this one since I'm French. It is pronounced air_mess because Hermés is a Greek name. He was a Greek deity ( the son of Zeus and Maia and the messenger of the gods)

[Melisande]

Originally Posted by cookies3939

Wt about Kenzo and Kris Van Assche??

Ken as in Ken

zo as in Zoroaster ...or zone, if you like but without the "ou" double vowel, just a straight open o.

the accent goes equally on both syllables, as in KEN-ZOH

[mjk]

I have a couple of dumb questions...

Is the "a" in Raf and Sander pronounced like raft or like wall? "Raff" doesn't help me...

[shallow_waters]

Raf is either pronounced like rough or like Ralph (minus the L).
Sander is pronounced like Sunder.

[mjk]

Originally Posted by shallow_waters

Raf is either pronounced like rough or like Ralph (minus the L).
Sander is pronounced like Sunder.

Gracias!

[wonderland]

Ooooohhhh...

Didn't know this tread exsisted. Thank god. It will save many of us from possible embarassment!

Do you say Chloè and pronounce the accent on the e, making it like Chlo-ay or do you say the e hard making it just regular Chloe?

[Creamy Thighs]

Yigal Azrouel:
Yee-gal As-roo-elle

Kris Van Assche:
Kris (pretty straightforward) Van (ditto) Ash

Chloe
Klo (as in close)-ey (as in key)