Her name is spelled Gcinaphi, and it's pronounced gi-na-pee with a hard "g", with a Swazi twist. The "gc" at the very beginning is accompanied by short click with your tongue against your front teeth. I'm not sure how to articulate the sound in writing, but it's sort of a kissing-type sound or a tsk-tsk sound. (Potter and Rouss, you'll know the sound I mean). So try pronouncing a hard G sound while at the same time clicking your tongue against the front of your teeth. It's as hard to do as it is to explain.
Bonus Wikipedia explanation:
The easiest clicks for English speakers are the dental clicks written with a single pipe, ǀ. They are all sharp (high-pitched) squeaky sounds made by sucking on the front teeth. A simple dental click is used in English to express pity or to shame someone, and sometimes to call an animal, and is written tsk! in American English, or tut-tut! in British English.Next will be learning how to say it well enough that I can use it in a sentence without completely losing my train of thought trying to concentrate on the pronunciation.
Can you tell me how to pronouce "Bloemfontein"?
ReplyDeleteI'll update the Wikipedia entry to include that more familiar linguistic approximation.
ReplyDeleteI think it's bloom-fon-tayne, at least that's how I've heard people say it. I actually have no idea, though...
ReplyDeletebloemfontein? is someone going to the free state?
ReplyDeletetime for a new post gare-bear.
ReplyDelete