Pronouncing some shaving products?

[atison]

Since wet shaving products are rather global in origin, I am curious of the actual pronunciation of most of the products I only see in written form, and never hear pronounced. Help me out with a few and add any more that you think there are many pronunciations of in our readers heads.

Spiek (I imagine an eastern european trying to pronounce speek)
Tabac (My guess is it is ta-bac but this is such a strange word to me)
Weishi (Maybe way-she)
Proraso (I think this is an easy one, Pro-ray-so)

I had a longer list, but it turns out most of the other names I have no idea how to pronounce are all scotch's so I will post those in the appropriate forum.

 

[Silvermink]

I believe Proraso is "pro-rah-zo". The A in Italian is always pronounced as in "father".

 

[KiltedShaver]

Speick came up in another thread and one of our German friends said they pronounce it "Spike".

 

[Go West Young Man]

Spike, Tah-bak', way'-shee, pro-raz'-oh.

You missed Godrej and L'Occitane, by the way! We've had some interesting discussions on those one too

 

[Nils]

Speick came up in another thread and one of our German friends said they pronounce it "Spike".

Shpike, actually.

 

[AlanL]

Shpike, actually.

And the vowel sound is more like in the word spy, not like i in bike.

 

[Shavely Manden]

Tabac (My guess is it is ta-bac but this is such a strange word to me)

It's a German brand but a French name -- the French word is pronounced is "tah-bah", but I imagine the German is "tah-bak". I normally hear "tah-bak".

Proraso (I think this is an easy one, Pro-ray-so).

I've normally heard "pro-rah-zo".

And the vowel sound is more like in the word spy, not like i in bike.

Maybe this is an accent thing, but...those are the same sound!

 

[Shavely Manden]

L'Occitane

L'Occitane? That's not that difficult, for a French name..."lock-see-ten".

 

[Go West Young Man]

L'Occitane? That's not that difficult, for a French name..."lock-see-ten".

Actually, the last syllable should be either 'tan' or 'tane' depending on your accent. Sounds easy enough, but some of the manglings that came out in that thread were classic - I think the best was "El Octane"

 

[TheVez2]

Maybe this is an accent thing, but...those are the same sound!

Really? Why I put a 'y' in there, I pronounced it slightly different.

 

[Shavely Manden]

Really? Why I put a 'y' in there, I pronounced it slightly different.

Aren't they both a long "i" (both sounding identical to the letter's name)? In can't tell any difference.

In related news, thank goodness nobody was in the office a second ago -- they'd probably think I'm crazy, repeating "spy bike" over and over.

Actually, the last syllable should be either 'tan' or 'tane' depending on your accent. Sounds easy enough, but some of the manglings that came out in that thread were classic - I think the best was "El Octane"

Hmm...maybe this is a difference in our English pronunciation, since I read "tane" as "tayn", which makes it sound like it's being said with a strong Southern accent (or maybe French Canadian...I can't ever listen to Quebecois French with a straight face). Also, to me, "ten" and "tin" are exact homonyms.

I think the reason I'm wanting to stick in a schwa instead of an "a" is the English habit of accenting that syllable -- "lok-see-tin" isn't quite correct, but "lok-see-TIN" sounds much less ridiculous than "lok-see-TAN".

And somebody absolutely needs to make a soap called "El Octane". Or, better yet, an A/S. I'd buy it.

 

[AlanL]

Maybe this is an accent thing, but...those are the same sound!

Hmm, maybe it is regional.
How about by vs. bike, and try vs. trike?
Anyway, the ei sound in German is a bit longer, like our words eye, I, aye.

In English we tend to shorten this vowel sound a bit (but we still call it long) if followed by another consonant in the same word. So the first syllable of "by cur" doesn't sound like "biker."

Heh... or does it?

 

[Go West Young Man]

I elongate the "i" sound in "spy", but chop it short in "bike". Would you pronounce "spy" and "spike" the same?

*edit - Alan just made the same point, but better *

 

[spindlecone]

KAI? kay, ki

 

[galopede]

Lucky they don't make shaving products in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Anglesey, North Wales

Gareth

PS Being a Taff, I CAN pronounce it!

PPS Why does it split the name into two parts when the message displays? It went in as one word!

 

[Zephyr]

Last time I visited a L'occitane shop the girl who worked there pronounced it like "lossitan".
I don't know it it's right, but I hope so for her sake.

 

[Zephyr]

Lucky they don't make shaving products in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Anglesey, North Wales

Gareth

PS Being a Taff, I CAN pronounce it!

PPS Why does it split the name into two parts when the message displays? It went in as one word!

I actually tried to teach some Walish? some years ago, but it didn't make any sense to me at all.
I'd rather go for chineese or russian next time.

 

[BentonClay]

As I understand it, the difference between "spy" and "bike" is that "bike" is often pronounced with a dipthong, which is a combination of two or more vowel sounds. So while spy ends with a so-called "long i" sound, words like "bike" and "ice" are often pronounced 'buh-eek' or 'uh-eese'. This is a regional thing very prevalent in Canada and less so in some regions of the U.S.

 

[Shangas]

I use Proraso shaving-soap. I always pronounced it "Pro-rah-so". Never saw what was particularly difficult about that.

 

[galopede]

I actually tried to teach some Walish? some years ago, but it didn't make any sense to me at all.
I'd rather go for chineese or russian next time.

Welsh!

Gareth