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Feb. 18th, 2021 10:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynImportant Fun Fact I Have Learned From Assassin's Creed Odyssey:
If you have ever, EVER, learned a Greek name, whether mythological or historical, from a teacher whose primary language was American English... unless their second language was some form of Greek, whether modern or Koine?
Your pronunciation is wrong.
Either the English version changed the vowels or it changed the emphasis to a completely different and unfamiliar syllable, or both, but when actual Greek speakers pronounce the Greek names in this game, with a handful of exceptions, the pronunciations do not even RESEMBLE those that are handed down in American classrooms. And if you use the Greek speakers' pronunciation in front of your history/literature/classics teacher, unless they speak Greek, they will correct you for sounding like a goober.
brought to you by an encounter last night with General De-mo-STHEN-ehz, not General De-MAAAAH-sthen-eez; also by the favor of hair-MEHS, not HURMeez, the historian hair-oh-doh-TOSE, not Her-AHD-oh-tuss, and the pass at ther-mow-PEEL-ey, not Ther-MAHP-ee-lay.
at least 'Apollo', 'Zeus', and 'Leonidas' sound pretty much the same but now I really have to wonder exactly how badly Americans are mispronouncing the names of the Egyptian gods given that the names we use are the Greek versions of the Egyptian names so that's one serious game of Telephone
If you have ever, EVER, learned a Greek name, whether mythological or historical, from a teacher whose primary language was American English... unless their second language was some form of Greek, whether modern or Koine?
Your pronunciation is wrong.
Either the English version changed the vowels or it changed the emphasis to a completely different and unfamiliar syllable, or both, but when actual Greek speakers pronounce the Greek names in this game, with a handful of exceptions, the pronunciations do not even RESEMBLE those that are handed down in American classrooms. And if you use the Greek speakers' pronunciation in front of your history/literature/classics teacher, unless they speak Greek, they will correct you for sounding like a goober.
brought to you by an encounter last night with General De-mo-STHEN-ehz, not General De-MAAAAH-sthen-eez; also by the favor of hair-MEHS, not HURMeez, the historian hair-oh-doh-TOSE, not Her-AHD-oh-tuss, and the pass at ther-mow-PEEL-ey, not Ther-MAHP-ee-lay.
at least 'Apollo', 'Zeus', and 'Leonidas' sound pretty much the same but now I really have to wonder exactly how badly Americans are mispronouncing the names of the Egyptian gods given that the names we use are the Greek versions of the Egyptian names so that's one serious game of Telephone
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Date: 2021-02-19 04:12 am (UTC)