Smirnov, Mihailovitch

[Untaught88]

Hi,

Please tell me how to pronounce these names:

Smirnov
Mihailovitch

If possible. write in phonetic symbols. I'll be grateful to you.

 

[Tdol]

And the way we say them in English may not be the same as a native speaker.

 

[emsr2d2]

If you search for the words on Forvo, you'll find a German speaker's recording of the first and a Serbian speaker's recording of the second. They might help you. As Tdol indicated, speakers of different languages might pronounce them differently. If you want to know how they're pronounced in their original language (Russian?), I suggest you post your question in the "Other Languages" section, and add "Russian pronunciation" to the title.

 

[teechar]

Yesterday, I heard native Russian speakers on TV pronounce the surname of the great composer Tchaikovsky as ʧeɪˈkɒfski instead of tʃaɪˈkɒfski; the latter is how it's pronounced in the English-speaking world. ;-)

 

[Tdol]

I have heard the vodka pronounced as smeernoff and smurnoff in the UK.

 

[GoesStation]

Americans would tend to pronounce Mihailovitch to rhyme with "the high love itch", replacing /th/ with /m/. The second syllable is stressed.

 

[probus]

Americans would tend to pronounce Mihailovitch to rhyme with "the high love itch", replacing /th/ with /m/. The second syllable is stressed.

Mihailovitch is Serbian and perhaps Croatian as well. In that language the stress is usually on the third last syllable, so stressing the "ai" is normal. The "itch" phoneme sounds different in Serbian, but since that phoneme does not exist in English we always say "itch".