Hi!
Could anyone please tell me how to pronounce the surname in:
John Muecke?
Thank you.
WT
This looks like a surname rendered in a format that doesn't accept umlauts, in which case it's probably ['mykǝ] - though if the name has been anglicized for several generations the [y] might have become a more English-sounding /u:/.
b
Would you make it rhyme with 'duke'?
Also, some say:
"We pronounce it Mickey like Mickey Mouse" (emphasis added)
What do you think?
WT
That makes sense as [y] is not unlike the first vowel in 'Mickey', but with lip-rounding; German müller is English 'miller'.
Who is the 'we'? If a speech community has agreed on a pronunciation, that's a name (whatever academics may say about 'correct' pronunciation.
To pursue the analogy further, you should add a schwa to the end; in German (which I suppose this is) an e at the end of a word doesn't have to be followed by r to represent a sound - so whatever you do with the vowel sounds, 'Moecke' has two syllables
(In most Br Eng pronunciations of 'Mueller', there is no glide before the /u:/, but I can only repeat what I said before: if everyone says it like that, and if Mr Mueller adopts it, that's the name.)
b
Thanks, BobK. I found that pronunciation of Mueller in the English Pronouncing Dictionary (Daniel Jones).
Ha, that 'midge' (that's what 'Mücke' or 'Muecke' means in German), not only stings, but is also difficult to pronounce for English speaking people.
Please go the the following site ... and you will hear the correct pronounciation in German.
'Muecke' and 'Mueller' = same pronounciation
...oops - I forgot the site... sorry
dict.cc | midge | Wörterbuch Englisch-Deutsch.