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Pronunciation! (1 Viewer)

Enji

Enji

Well-known member
Being a Swedish girl, living in Sweden, rarely getting abroad nowadays (student with no money) I love the Internet because it lets me practice my English. Since I joined Birdforum I've learned the English names of pretty much all the birds in WP (well, at least all occurring in Sweden), but! There are a few names that I honestly have no idea how to pronounce. So, maybe you friendly folks would like to help?

First there's Chough. Should it rhyme with cough, or though, or something else entirely? I can't figure it out.

Next, Guillemot. Sounds French to me, should I pronounce it that way? Or is it "Englishfied"?

Finally, Capercaillie. I get the caper part, but not the rest.

Oh, please help a poor pronunciation-challenged girl!
 
Hi Enji

I see you're having fun with the peculiarities of English orthography. Don't we all...!

Anyway, the three species you mentioned are pronounced as:

Chough - chuff
Guillemot - like "gilly-mott" (yes, it has been anglicised)
Capercaillie - like "cape-a-kay-lee"

Hope that helps.
 
Indeed it helps! Now I won't come across as a total moron if I ever go birding in Britain... ;)

Thanks!
 
Hi Enji,

I agree with Stoggler's phonetic interpretations for Guillemot and Chough but some people over here pronounce Capercaillie 'Cappa - kay- lee' it largely depends on which part of the UK you come from.

Capercaillie's name some say is from the Gaelic translation 'Horse of the Woods' due to their distinctive variety of clicks, gulps and 'clop-clop' horse like calls. They are amazing birds and remarkably difficult to see.

I hope that helps
 
Bird-Nut said:
Hi Enji,

I agree with Stoggler's phonetic interpretations for Guillemot and Chough but some people over here pronounce Capercaillie 'Cappa - kay- lee' it largely depends on which part of the UK you come from.
Click to expand...

I agree with that - it does depend on where in the UK you're from. Either way is fine though.

Bird-Nut said:
Capercaillie's name some say is from the Gaelic translation 'Horse of the Woods' due to their distinctive variety of clicks, gulps and 'clop-clop' horse like calls. They are amazing birds and remarkably difficult to see.

I hope that helps
Click to expand...

Indeed - the actual Gaelic name is capull coille, meaning as you say, horse of the wood. Didn't know it was due to the noise it makes. Interesting.
 
Enji,

There's an R in cape-R-caillie, making the a in caper, hard as in cat. Don't listen to those Anglified pronounciations above;).

Occasionally the caillie part is spelt cailzie but that's just nonsense!

Anyway I've seen far more in the forests around Uppsala than in Scotland!

Cheers,
Andrew
 
Hi Enji

Just to confuse you further Choughs (or Chuffs) are supposed to get their names from their calls (like Cuckoos). Their call sounds like "Kee-ow"(!)

But they're definitely pronounced "chuff"...... :h?:
 
Heh, so it seems there are more than one way to pronounce Capercaillie... well, good to know! :)

And yes, I might come to Britain one day for some birding. Have a friend in London who I ought to visit, and hopefully I can squeeze in some trips to some nice places too.

So you've visited our forests, Andrew? Cool. Yes, there are quite a few Capercaillies in there... magnificent birds.

John, that's confusing, but then, we also have birds named after their calls which might not be obvious to begin with. And on that note... Chough in Swedish is called alpkaja, which literally means "Jackdaw from the Alps", and the Swedish word kaja (Jackdaw) is an onomatopoetic word, although one I can understand somehow, because the Jackdaws do sound like kaja. Or kja. Or something like that. ;)

EDIT: Eh, nevermind the above. I mixed up the Chough with Alpine Chough. The Chough is in fact called alpkråka in Swedish, which means "Crow from the Alps". Names are confusing. Bah. 8-P
 
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Bird-Nut said:
Hi Enji,

I agree with Stoggler's phonetic interpretations for Guillemot and Chough but some people over here pronounce Capercaillie 'Cappa - kay- lee' it largely depends on which part of the UK you come from.

Capercaillie's name some say is from the Gaelic translation 'Horse of the Woods' due to their distinctive variety of clicks, gulps and 'clop-clop' horse like calls. They are amazing birds and remarkably difficult to see.

I hope that helps
Click to expand...

hi Enji

Well done to you getting to grips with the English language and the names of birds.

Indeed it depends what part of the UK you come from. I am from Edinburgh, Scotland. I can hear the pronounation changing the further up north of Scotland you go.

I agree with Bird-nut that that way to pronounce Capercaillie is the way I would pronounce it.

Capercaillie 'Cappa - kay- lee'

Yes, that is how I would say it to a tee! The same applies to the other two names.
 
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Wow, nice link indeed! Clarifies the pronunciation of species I'd forgotten I also wondered about. Interesting read. And all of this makes me happy that the Swedish names don't seem to suffer from this, they're all really straightforward. The latinised names however... all the ways I've heard those pronounced could fill a book!
 
Enji said:
Wow, nice link indeed! Clarifies the pronunciation of species I'd forgotten I also wondered about. Interesting read. And all of this makes me happy that the Swedish names don't seem to suffer from this, they're all really straightforward. The latinised names however... all the ways I've heard those pronounced could fill a book!
Click to expand...

hi Enji

Link is fabulous for English names. I have added to my website links.

I have been to Spain recently, and I was surprised to see that the the Latin names are seen as more important than the English names.

Our Ornithologist guide told us he has difficulty remembering so many 'universal' names for one bird. He deals with people from all over the world in the birding department

The Latin names are 'universal' to one species - so I was told. It is better than having an English and a Spanish name (or Swedish in your case) for the same bird or species of bird.

As you say pronouncing Latin names now that is another thing all together

What do you think?
 
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Not always that easy:

Western Great Egret Casmerodius albus
Great White Egret Ardea alba
Silberreiher Egretta alba

All the same bird, but different authorities and languages...
 
Colonelboris....may i add my thanx to 'others'.....in particular the link to pronunciation of scientific/latin bird names....fantastic!

ps...was interested that 'Chough' was, probably, originally pronounced 'chow'....makes sense considering this birds call...
pps....speaking of 'chow'....remember years ago this was quite a popular way of saying 'goodbye'....today i never hear, even amongst Leicester slang folk,! the 'term' being used...[times and words they are a changing....same as it ever was]...!
 
user

I think that would have been an Anglicisation of the Italian 'ciao' (that they use informally for either goodbye or hello).
But I'm happy to be corrected.
 
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