Pronounciation of a French name
Hello!
Can you help me with the pronounciation of a French sportsman's namt. It's Antoine Deneriaz who's an alpine skier and taking part at the Olympics now. I want to know if you have to pronounce the final "z" in his name??
In general, in French proper names, is "s" and "z" at the end usually pronounced? As far as I can see mostly not.
Oh I wanted to say the other way round, as far as I can see they usually ARE pronounced.
Hi Rot!
Dénériaz is a typical name from Savoy ("La Savoie") in the French Alps. Indeed, in this region, many names of cities, villages and families end in "-oz" or "-az". There is the same "phenomenon" in the French-speaking part of Switzerland or in Val d'Aoste (French-speaking region in Italy).
To answer your question, the final "z" in Savoyard names is not pronounced. For instance, Avoriaz (a famous resort for skiers) is pronounced like "Avoria"; La Clusaz is pronounced like "La Clusa" (...and it can even be pronounced "La Cluse" by some locals).
So, Dénériaz must be pronounced "Dénéria".
Anyway don't worry, it can even be confusing for us French to know whether the final "s" or "z" is pronounced in French proper names lol. Actually, it mostly depends on the region which the name originates from.
In the north part of France (Lille etc...), there is a countless number of family names ending with -ez: Mulliez, Humez, Delestrez etc...but the "z" is never pronouced. However in some other French regions, the final "z" is sometimes pronounced. For Example, the 'z' has to be pronounced in the name of the French soccer goalkeeper "Fabien Barthez".
And in addition, you also have to take into consideration the French who have a Spanish or Portuguese ancestry like "Gomez", "Gomes", "Lopez", "Lopes" etc...In this case, the final "s" or "z" is always pronounced in French.
Stephane, thank you very much for your answer! Yeah, actually I also remembered Fabien Barthez, because I'm fond of French football. In the French league there are also players like Menez, Sirieix, Jaures, Planus, Grax, Dernis, Battles. Do you know if the final "z", "s" and "x" are pronounced in each of those names?
Hey Rot!
Well,
- Menez: Menez is a breton name which means "mountain" or "hill". The "z" is pronounced. I have a friend whose family name is "Le Menez" so I'm definitely sure about it.
- Sirieix: Actually, I'm not sure...but I'd say that the "x" is actually pronounced. I think it's likely to be pronounced like "siri-ex", though it may be "Siri-é" as well....
- Jaurès: the "s" has to be pronounced since there is a grave accent on the 'è'
- Planus: Well...I have always heard the "S" pronounced by TV commentators when they say "Marc Planus".
- Grax: To be honest, I have no idea whether the "x" is pronounced"
- Dernis: IMO, "s" is not pronounced
- Battles: it's pronounced like "Battlès", so the "s" is not silent. Actually, the name of Laurent Battles has always intrigated me...I've always wondered whether it was a French name.
;-)
Stephane, thanks a lot again;) I always wanted to clear it up but just didn't know who to addresse. Don't you mind if I ask you about one more name of a footballer which I'm in doubt about. It's Bernard Genghini, EURO'84 winner, and his son Benjamin Genghini, who's playing for Sochaux now. I suppose this is the name of the Italian origin, but I wonder how you pronounce it in France? I mean how you say this "gh", like simple "g", or like "j", I hope you get what I mean?
And if we speak about Sochaux, AFAIK its full name is Football Club Sochaux Montbelliard (FCSM). I'm just qurious what is Sochaux and what is Montbelliard? What town is actually this club from?
Hi Rot!
"Gh" is pronounced like "g" ;-)
and wow! you definitely know a lot about French football, certainly much more than I do actually...^^
As for Sochaux, well...Sochaux is an industrial city in the suburb of Montbéliard which is situated in the eastern region called "Franche-Comté" (near Switzerland).
Actually, I have never been to Sochaux so far, but what I say is that Sochaux is mainly known for being "the city of Peugeot" (French cars)...and for its football club.
Originally, there were 2 different clubs: "F.C. Sochaux" and "A.S. Montbéliard". The club of Sochaux was founded by the Peugeot factory. Then, both clubs merged to become the FCSM. Actually, I think that F.C. Sochaux absorbed A.S. Montbéliard. That's why most people call the club "Sochaux". By the way, Sochaux's inhabitants are called "les Sochaliens" ;-)
Hope it will have helped you to better understand the distinction between Sochaux and Montbéliard ;-)
Thanks again Stephane! So, as far as I understand, FC Sochaux represents the town of Sochaux? For example: PSG represents Paris, Ajax represents Amsterdam... which is better to say: FC Sochaux represents Sochaux... or FC Sochaux represents Montbelliard?
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how to say footballer in french
Un joueur de foot.
Je suis un joueur de foot (it's true)
Otherwise,
On Google:
"joueur de foot" -> 240000
"footballeur" - 1130 000
But
"joueur de foot qui marque un but" -> 5
"footballeur qui marque un but" - 1
How do you pronounce "Sochaux"?