How to pronounce 'Muecke'

[wise.tree]

Hi!


Could anyone please tell me how to pronounce the surname in:

John Muecke?


Thank you.

WT

 

[BobK]

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

 

[wise.tree]

Would you make it rhyme with 'duke'?

Also, some say:

"We pronounce it Mickey like Mickey Mouse" (emphasis added)

What do you think?

WT

 

[mara_ce]

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

Could it be pronounced /mju:k/?
I´m just comparing it with Mueller /mju:lə/.

 

[BobK]

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.

Could it be pronounced /mju:k/?
I´m just comparing it with Mueller /mju:lə/.

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

 

[mara_ce]

Thanks, BobK. I found that pronunciation of Mueller in the English Pronouncing Dictionary (Daniel Jones).

 

[ruzu27]

Could it be pronounced /mju:k/?
I´m just comparing it with Mueller /mju:lə/.

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

 

[ruzu27]

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.

 

[BobK]

Thanks, BobK. I found that pronunciation of Mueller in the English Pronouncing Dictionary (Daniel Jones).

Publication date? He died before I studied 35 years ago (under a student of his). ;-)

b

 

[mara_ce]

Publication date? He died before I studied 35 years ago (under a student of his). ;-)

b

I´ve got the 15th Edition, 1997.

It gives two pronunciations: /mju:lə/ and /mʊlə/.

 

[BobK]

I´ve got the 15th Edition, 1997.

It gives two pronunciations: /mju:lə/ and /mʊlə/.

I've heard mainly the second of those, and a variety of approximations to [y]. I've heard the /ju:/ version only in very old speakers and in younger ones who use an old-fashioned pronunciation for comic effect. It's possible that in other English-speaking countries /ju:/ is used; after all an /m/ followed by a long U usually makes /mju:/ in the Br E pronunciation of English words - mucus, munificent, ammunition, mural, Muriel, music, mute...

Again, it's not a question of using the correct German pronunciation. The 'correct' foreign pronunciation can be misleading. When I was selling (among other things) English-language magazines in Spain, I had most difficulty selling 'Motor Sport' because I wasn't mispronouncing it properly. ;-)

b

 

[thatone]

is used; after all an /m/ followed by a long U usually makes /mju:/ in the Br E pronunciation of English words - mucus, munificent, ammunition, mural, Muriel, music, mute...

Don't mural and Muriel have a /ʊ/ (r-coloring maybe)?

 

[BobK]

*Not in any Br Eng speaker I've ever met.

b

PS This isn't to say that the written 'r' has no effect, different from that of other consonants, so that the /u:/ phoneme is realized in a different way. But what is different is the allophone. I'm talking about phonemes.

*PPS I've checked in a few dictionaries, and it seems the /jʊər/ transcription is common. The allophone in question isn't [ʊ] or , so the transcriber has to choose between u-like phonemes; it seems I'm in the minority ;-)