 Poster: A snowHead
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Whilst we wait for the snow....
Some piste names are just not easily read and pronounced unless a native speaker.
How about this one for starters. (Native speakers are welcome to add the local pronounciation!)
Cornegidouille
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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korn gi dwille... maybe
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Corny gid dooey, shouted very loudly 
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Kor-nej-ee-doi is the closest I could get phonetically
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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We have a Gypaete. I know how to pronounce it because I asked someone on a chairlift (my usual approach.....) and I also discovered it's a raptor. gee-pie-ett (with the initial G as in French George and pie as in Ginsters roadkill)
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pam w, Gypaete is "vulture" - Gypaete Barbu = Bearded vulture
People seem to struggle with "Creux de Formeian" here (can't even type it properly - should be some umlauts in there).
Not to mention the number of Santy Foy's we get (for info - Sant Fwah, ok?)
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Quite a few in Scotland - "Butcharts" in Glenshee springs to mind
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How about ダイナミクコース?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Cornegidouille = alwaysiceybluethatshouldbeblack
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Frosty the Snowman, I didn't know there is a Cornegidouille in La Rosiere as well
The English trying to pronounce Chateaux d Oex always makes me smile
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Boredsurfing, is it pronounced Chateaux Day??
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Boredsurfing, the only difficulty is knowing whether the -ne- is sounded - native French speakers would also differ on that. Otherwise, someone who has owned property in France for years and, presumably, talked and listened to the odd real French person, would know.  French people also differ on the sounding of final Xs and Ss, so it's legitimate to have difficulties with Chateau d'Oex.
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To help out non-natives in Scotland, Glenshee have their own web page with mp3 links to pronunciations of the Gaelic hills, pistes & infrastructures  ... http://www.ski-glenshee.co.uk/Gaelic
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You know it makes sense.
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Just been looking at tignes piste map and there are a few on there.
genepy
rhododendron
aiguille percee
perce neige
not only the piste names it took me years until i found out tignes was pronounced 'teens'
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Hutchy,
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it took me years until i found out tignes was pronounced 'teens'
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Oh dear. It isn't. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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I think you'll find it's pronounced Tig-nez! Look out for the 'piste l' (pistol) and piste 'h' (h pronounced 'ash' = pistachio nuts). Genepy is a local drink
In Meribel you will find that bambi has got seperated from it's mother as Faon (Fawn) is on the opposite of the valley to Biche (Doe). Geai is often hard for Brits to pronounce but when you know that the translation is Jay then just say that in a French accent. Also in Motteret, the Aigle (Eagle) swoops down onto the Truite (Trout).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Give me a moment to consult a dictionary, so that I can work out how to transliterate it.
Bother, I don't think that's going to help you much, but according to Harrap (using the similar word 'ligne' which is French for 'line') it would be pronounced 'Tijn'. In theory, that tells you the sound of g followed by n, which is rather like saying nya without the a on the end. But, whatever that bit of it is supposed to sound like, the s in Tignes is silent.
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| simon_bates wrote: |
I think you'll find it's pronounced Tig-nez! Look out for the 'piste l' (pistol) and piste 'h' (h pronounced 'ash' = pistachio nuts). Genepy is a local drink
In Meribel you will find that bambi has got seperated from it's mother as Faon (Fawn) is on the opposite of the valley to Biche (Doe). Geai is often hard for Brits to pronounce but when you know that the translation is Jay then just say that in a French accent. Also in Motteret, the Aigle (Eagle) swoops down onto the Truite (Trout). |
Er, right... 
Anyway, I like the highlighted bit, it hadn't occurred to me.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I was told its defiantly not pronounced 'tig-nez' and that it is either teens or teen or teenya
but ive just been searing on how to pronounce it and some people also say tig-ness, or tig-nez
google translator seems to say teenya when you use the listen feature
I am yet to find anyone agree on how to say it
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pam w,
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We could have some fun with Val Thorens, too......... also mispronounced routinely.
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Oh God. Most people do pronounce the final s in that. It's no wonder people are confused.
Must admit that, when in England, I do pronounce pistachio incorrectly. But not bruschetta. Not just pedantic, but inconsistent with it, evidently.
Hutchy,
See above. That's the closest, but with the 'a' no more than a mere exhalation.
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pam w, hang on a minute, isn't the plural of bruschetta bruschette?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
I am yet to find anyone agree on how to say it
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I think all French people pronounce it the same - that final "ya", which is very slight, is there, but hard to represent phonetically. We have a village in our ski area called "Hauteluce". One of my English friends calls it (not ironically) Haughty Lucy. I say "oat luce" but my French neighbour makes it a 3 syllable word by putting that small "e" sound (often sounded in French poems, to make them scan) at the end of the first syllable, so it sounds a bit like "oat-a-luce". But of course the two main vowel sounds have no direct comparisons in standard English pronunciation. Scots probably find it easier (the Auld Alliance etc) because the "u" sound is just a tiny bit like the "oo" in a Scots "football".
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isn't the plural of bruschetta bruschette?
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yes of course, silly me!! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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pam w,
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that final "ya", which is very slight, is there, but hard to represent phonetically.
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I thought 'a mere exhalation' covered it rather felicitously. 
That middle 'e' gets more pronounced the further south you travel.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Sat 26-11-11 20:21; edited 1 time in total
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Boredsurfing, see above. La Planya, with the 'a' a 'mere exhalation'. Come on, shirley you must know that by now.
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You know it makes sense.
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Boredsurfing, bet you wish you'd never started this, now that not just one, but two wrinkly pedants are on to it!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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That middle 'e' gets more pronounced the further south you travel
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my neighbour is from Valence, so that figures.
I find "La Plagne" easier to say than "Tignes".
And whilst we're down there, how is "Killy" pronounced? Is it like "filles" with an extra "ee" on the end?
Boredsurfing, everyone knows it's "La Plange", don't they??
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Poster: A snowHead
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pam w,
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like "filles" with an extra "ee" on the end?
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Yes - 'Keeyee'
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The terrible thing about this subject is that I find it hard to joke about it. I think I need to see somebody about this... 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Pedantica, whilst we're wrinkling away, what about a mountain restaurant called "Les Halles". I have vague recollections of being told that it was wrong to pronounce the "z" at the end of Les in front of "Halles". I've never actually asked the proprietor, which would have been sensible!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The French are proper @rseholes about pronunciation, it's not really worth bothering too much if you can get it approximately right. My GF did her year abroad in Rouen and could never get a decent explanation of the pronunciation of the name. As an English person you can make whatever noise you like and they'll still tell you it's wrong. As far as I can make out the actual pronunciation is a kind of honking noise like a goose, or a throat clearing noise.
I went with something between "roo-on" and "ron" but quite guttural and that was the best approximation I could get.
Having said that, when I was working in La Plagne French people seemed to mistake me for a French person all the time - apparently I'm a good mimic of basic phrases... Once I said a couple of bits then merci to a cashier and she started yammering away in fast fluent French at me. Then looked confused by my totally blank expression as I hadn't understood a word she'd said.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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pam w, s before h generally silent/not elided, certainly not voiced in Les Halles.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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bobmcstuff,
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The French are proper @rseholes about pronunciation
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True and they're evidently not the only ones.
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Boredsurfing, you've missed out La Plangyer - which is how a Marseillais might pronounce it. I'm sort of following French RP - which they say is at its purest in and around Tours.
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how does one pronounce Reims
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You don't even spell it like that in France! English soldiers brought back the pronunciation which became traditional in England - Reems.
I can't even begin to try and transliterate the correct French version! It approximates to Ranss, with the n hardly pronounced, just a tiny glottal stop.
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Pedantica, Yep it's Ranss by a popular vote at happy hour but at least 3 or 4 other variations exist, with hilariously, the Brits insisting on Reeems
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Where exactly do your happy hour friends hail from? What age are they? And do they tend to use a lot of slang? All these things have a bearing, as they would here. But I would argue that there is usually a single 'more correct' version of most words, albeit with a variation of vowel sounds - again as here.
I always think you can tell a northerner from a southerner - wherever the boundary is! - here, by the way they pronounce the word 'one' and that is irrespective of age and social class. In the south it's pronounced 'wun' whereas in the north it's pronounced in the way that I would say the word 'wan'.
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FAQ
thats what I was told. How is it then?
La Plagne
