Message: "Re: Sonja in English? (m)"

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[Opinions] Re: Sonja in English? (m)

by Jacinta Ismene (curiouslystrong)

4/17/2009, 3:02 PM

Well, Sonja isn't my preferred spelling and I personally wouldn't use it, but I think the majority of people in the US realize that '-ja' names are just un-Anglicized spellings that are pronounced '-ya'. I wouldn't blink twice at a KAHT-yah spelled 'Katja', and I think anyone silly enough to try to pronounce it KAHT-juh would be the one who'd end up embarrassed. The same goes for anyone who'd try to pronounce Sonja SAWN-juh. Then again, it is possible that I'm giving the general populace too much credit here.

I agree that it would be a challenge to get most English-speakers to say ZONN-yah, as that pronunciation is particularly unintuitive from an English-speaking perspective.

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- LoQuiero

4/17/2009, 3:23 PM

Re:

Oh, OK, I get it, well, then maybe it's not even such a big thing to call your child this as it wouldn't be mispronounced all the time ;).

- Schezar +1

4/17/2009, 3:22 PM

My aunt's name is Katja prn kat-ja. The only Sonja I know prns it sawn-ja.

ooh, the second one's a lie. I know two Sonjas, and one does pronounce it sawn-ya.

This message was edited 4/17/2009, 3:23 PM

- Jacinta Ismene (curiouslystrong)

4/17/2009, 3:26 PM

Really? That's interesting, I never would have expected that. I think being on BtN so much kind of warps my perceptions of how people might pronounce things, since I just expect everyone to know/use the pronunciations in the database, lol.

ETA: Of course in the database the given pronunciation for Sonja is ZAWN-ya, so I don't know why I wouldn't expect it to be pronounced that way, then. *shrug*

This message was edited 4/17/2009, 3:30 PM

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