Pronunciation of the word 'skuyf'

[Diphthong]

Hello,

I'm very interested in how different native English speakers would pronounce the word 'skuyf'. This is not an English word but it is the name of a new product I want to launch in English speaking countries and I have no idea how native English speakers would pronounce it. Is there any doubt about how it is pronounced? Is it very different for American, Irish, Scottish and English accents? Capturing the pronunciation in text is a bit difficult so it would be very much appreciated if people would create an audiofile or a video in which they pronounce the word using vocaroo or mail it to me at pronounce.skuyf AT gmail.com. Please supply your country and accent and your age (for the age, an indication is good enough).
I hope some of you will take the time to do this. Your help is appreciated. Please also ask others to send me an audio/video sample so I can get a good feel for the general pronunciation. All audio and video files will be handled with great care and will not be shared and/or made public.

-edit- Added request for vocaroo because seems to be a good alternative to emailing. And fixed some small errors.

 

[emsr2d2]

Sadly, after trying to record something else earlier, I discovered that I can't get Vocaroo to work on my laptop. So I will do my best to describe what I would think it should be pronounced.

My initial thought was "skife" (rhymes with knife), then I thought "skoo-weef" as I thought it might be Dutch. Then I thought maybe it could be a non-native speaker's attempt to spell "skewiff/skew-whiff".

If you have a very clear idea of how you want it pronounced, I think you're going to have trouble with it. There is no single way to pronounce that combination of letters. It's not a natural combination of letters in English.

 

[PHenry1026]

You can get a very good idea of how an English speaker might attempt to pronounce this non-English word by visiting

http://www.ivona.com/us/

Then typing or pasting skuyf into the Text area

Next select any of the English voices

Then Press Play

;-) Percy

 

[Tdol]

My first thought was /skɔɪf/

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I'd rhyme it with knife, too.

 

[Diphthong]

Thank you for all your replies. I think the pronunciation that rhymes with 'knife' is not too bad even though the Dutch pronunciation is different. The word is a small alteration of the south-african word 'skuif', which in turn is based on the Dutch verb 'schuiven'. The diphthong 'ui' exists in Dutch as the IPA [oey] and I uploaded the Dutch version just for reference. http://vocaroo.com/i/s1nHl4GqCFA8
So now I know how English speakers will probably pronounce 'skuyf'. Thanks!

 

[Tdol]

The reason I suggested a different pronunciation (/skɔɪf/ = skoyf) is Johan Cruyff, whose name is pronounced /krɔɪf/ (Croyf) by English speakers. I think that his name would influence many speakers. Famous footballers' names can be an indication of how many speakers would pronounce something from languages they know nothing about.

 

[Raymott]

That's a good point. But 'Sky' and Skype' are such common words; 'uy' as in 'guy' is English.
Besides, footballers come and go.