Help Needed pronouncing Skaters Names | Page 14 | Golden Skate

Help Needed pronouncing Skaters Names

Alberta

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 24, 2014
That's most likely because Polina's mom is Russian, so she probably says her daughter's name the way it sounds in Russian, and here's its English transcription: Polina [pə’li:nə]. The stress in on the second syllable which means that the first "o" is reduced and sounds like the neutral unstressed "ə". So I would say "P'lina" suggested earlier is pretty close to how the name originally sounds. It's a very popular name in Russia.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
... The stress in on the second syllable which means that the first "o" is reduced and sounds like the neutral unstressed "ə". ....

Yep, that's why (sort-of why) I said it is plausible for other Polinas to say Pawlina.
ETA: AFAIK, an unstressed "o" is pronounced as "ah" if it is in the syllable immediately before the stressed syllable. If not immediately before the stressed syllable, it is pronounced as "ə". Examples: Москва, as opposed to the first syllable of хорошо. Or compare the pronunciations of the first "o" vs. the second "o" of хорошо.​

But the point of this thread is to nail down how individual skaters -- such as Polina Edmunds specifically (as opposed to any other Polina) -- pronounce their own names.

Not how their parents say the skater's names (see the discussion re Nam Nguyen and his parents).
How the skater says her/his own name.

ETA:
What I thought I had recalled was someone (an announcer or whoever) stating that Polina Edmunds (not Polina's mother) pronounces her own name as Pawlina. I was just pointing out to myself :laugh: (and to anyone else who cares) that Polina in fact does not use that pronunciation.​
 
Last edited:

Biellmann

Match Penalty
Joined
Sep 14, 2016
Another option, you can watch national competitions and listen to announcers and how they pronounce their own skaters names.....
On wikipedia you can listen to name pronouncements too
 

cathlen

Team Gorgeous Cacti!
Record Breaker
Joined
May 2, 2015
Country
Poland
Bless Ted's heart. :laugh: I also do think about saying chai when I read his last name.

I actually prounanced it right in my head. :) I just read it as I see it and it sometimes turn out to be completely wrong :drama: but not this time :hap10:
 

nolangoh

Steps and Spirals enthusiast
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 15, 2015
Speaking of Jun Hwan, does anyone know his name in Chinese characters?
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Speaking of Jun Hwan, does anyone know his name in Chinese characters?

This is in his fan fest:

Cha Jun-hwan (Hangul:차준환) (born October 21, 2001) is a South Korean figure skater

Hangul is all I have at this time.
 

sabinfire

Doing the needful
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 30, 2014
I still don't remember where I originally got the notion that the pronunciation for Edmunds' first name is "Pawlina" -- but in her video today, the first syllable does not sound like Paw-.

[It is plausible to me that others named Polina might say Paw-, but Edmunds does not.]

USFS has made things interesting by including a mini "Pronunciation Guide" in a new official promo packet, so make of these what you will:

USFS PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

Mirai Nagasu = Muh-RYE Nah-GAH-sue
Polina = PAUL-ina
Tennell = Ten-ELLE

Hochstein = HOCK-steen
Krasnozhon = Krass-no-SHAWN
Rippon = ri-PAWN
Tomoki Hiwatashi = Ta-MOE-key Hee-wa-TAH-shee

Knierim = Kin-EAR-im
Liu = Lou
Scimeca = Ska-MEC-a
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
USFS has made things interesting by including a mini "Pronunciation Guide" in a new official promo packet, so make of these what you will:

USFS PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

... Polina = PAUL-ina ...

Thx, sabinfire.
So Paul-/Pawl- is the official word.

But the stress belongs on the first syllable???
I don't detect that in "your" video of Polina (2014 source material) or "mine" (2016).

In any case, it is nice to see how Polina has grown from a cute girl to a more mature beauty :cool:.


Marie-France Dubreuil gives the pronunciation of her last name and then says her first name -- starting at approx. 27:00 in last month's TSL interview:

 
Last edited:

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau say their names in the latest episode of the Ice Talk podcast.

About 45 seconds from the beginning of Episode 12.

http://www.icenetwork.com/fans/icetalk


Keiji Tanaka says his name in a promo video that was shot at NHK Trophy:


(Nathan and Yuzuru do too, but we already have heard them say their names elsewhere.)
 
Last edited:

cathlen

Team Gorgeous Cacti!
Record Breaker
Joined
May 2, 2015
Country
Poland
Some videos form ISU WC Helsinki 2017 Facebook of skaters saying their names:

Alexei Bychenko ISR : https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/637072916417321/
Natalia Kaliszek & Maks Spodyriev POL: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/636706459787300/
Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nolan Seegert GER: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/634170670040879/
Joshi Helgesson SWE: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/632840476840565/
Ioulia Chtchetinina & Noah Scherer SUI: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/632501970207749/ (I remember some users being curious how to spell Ioulia surname)
Jorik Hendrickx BEL: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/628843367240276/
Olivia Smart & Adria Diaz ESP: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/626791460778800/
Jiri Belohradsky CZE: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/622832694508010/
Helery Hälvin EST: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/622868841171062/
Taylor Tran & Saulius Ambrulevičius LTU: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/609045292553417/
Laurence Fournier-Beaudry & Nikolaj Sørensen DEN: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/603073873150559/
Tarah Kayne & Danny O'Shea USA: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/599479200176693/
Bela Papp FIN: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/593380284119918/
Cecilia Törn & Jussiville Partanen FIN: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/585892581535355/
Alexander Majorov SWE: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/582565671868046/
Ryuju Hino JPN: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/578072185650728/
Nathan Chen USA: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/574570476000899/
Loena Hendrickx BEL: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/569277996530147/
Madison Hubbel & Zachary Donohue USA: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/561888727269074/
Daniel Samohin ISR: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/556112304513383/
Patrick Chan CAN: https://www.facebook.com/helsinki2017/videos/550879688369978/

Quite many videos ;) The only name for me to even understand was Laurence Fournier-Beaudry, just shows how bad at French I am :drama:
 
Last edited:

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
It is worth noting that facebook now has an option for you to link a recording of how you pronounce your name on your home page.

Perhaps some skaters have taken advantage of this option.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012

Fish in the sea

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 8, 2016
Not related to the topic, but I made a video on how to pronounce Russian skaters names. I don't make any explanations, just pronounce their names. Seeing a discussion about Evgenia's name in this thread made me finally finish this video that I've been meaning to make since the end of last season https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G48sk-Vq5jo&feature=youtu.be Hope this video will be helpful to someone. And I hope my voice doesn't sound annoying :slink:

I only included single skaters that are going to be in the spotlight next season.
 

Barb

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Not related to the topic, but I made a video on how to pronounce Russian skaters names. I don't make any explanations, just pronounce their names. Seeing a discussion about Evgenia's name in this thread made me finally finish this video that I've been meaning to make since the end of last season https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G48sk-Vq5jo&feature=youtu.be Hope this video will be helpful to someone. And I hope my voice doesn't sound annoying :slink:

I only included single skaters that are going to be in the spotlight next season.

omg, thank you! I love how the name Elena is pronounced
 
Top