Pronunciation of Nguyen

zzz   Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:31 pm GMT
Is it true that Nguyen is actually pronounced [wIn] and not [NujEn]?
Josh Lalonde   Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:38 am GMT
In Vietnamese, it is pronounced [NwiEn], which sounds somethink like 'ngwin' in English (I haven't marked tones here either). However, in my experience, [nujEn] is the preferred pronunciation from anglophones.
greg   Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:43 am GMT
Josh Lalonde : « However, in my experience, [nujEn] is the preferred pronunciation from anglophones. ».

Alors qu'ici on dira plutôt /EngHijEn/ (X-Sampa) = /ɛngɥijɛn/ (API).
Delia   Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:56 pm GMT
In Orange County, CA, there was a congressional candidate named Tan Nguyen whose campaign slogans were "A Nguyen-Win Situation" and "Just Nguyen, Baby!", obviously playing on "Nguyen" 's homophonous similarity to "win".
Guest   Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:25 pm GMT
There was a kid in my high school whose name was A. Nguyen. (first name starts with A)

Because of political correctness we were to pronounce his surname "Noying" which approximates the Vietnamese pronunciation. Put this together with his first initial and we would call him "Annoying".
Skippy   Fri Mar 16, 2007 3:27 am GMT
My friends in Texas who have that last name pronounce it "win"
Jim   Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:18 am GMT
Wikipedia gives /ŋwiɜn˧˩˥/ (X-SAMPA /Nwi3n_M_B_T/) for "Nguyễn".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n
Mikey   Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:23 am GMT
I've heard plenty of ways of saying it:
"Noo-en"
"New-in"
"New-jen"
and telemarketers call up to ask for a "Mrs. Ne-goi-jen" but the more accepted one in where I live, it's pronounced like "New-wen" where it rhymes with "Karen" and "Heroin" but not "When" or "Win".