Pronunciation help please!! :)))

How does the surname 'Smerdon' pronounce?
Is ['smə:dən] correct?

Thank you.

 

Smer dun

 

I haven't got those letters on my keyboard.

 

I think we all deserve a Smir noff

Spruce

 

Spruce, sure you do! :D



Thanks, Ziggy. I extracted the transcription characters from a resident dictionary on my computer. I have a background in phonetics, so it's not difficult to guess the pronunciation. However, I prefer to check references carefully, it's my job. This name seems to be a rare one, and it's not in my paper dictionaries.
And my problem was how to write it in Bulgarian, as the Cyrillic alphabet doesn't allow for one-to-one correspondence. To add to that, the Bulgarian for 'smerd-' transcribes into a root morpheme, which means 'stinking', so I was trying to avoid the sound...

It's all solved, thanks for your prompt responce!

 

Glad we could help Angelina.

Is Bulgarian for Badger Borse, or am I thinking of Hungarian?

 

Neither, Ziggy (to be precise). :D Your guess is closer to Hungarian though.
Here is an English-Hungarian Dictionary entry for 'badger': MTA SZTAKI: English-Hungarian, Hungarian-English Online Dictionary

Bulgarian and Hungarian have nothing in common, they belong to different language groups.

The Bulgarian for 'badger' is 'язовец', pronounced as ['yazovets]
We use a different alphabet (Cyrillic). If you cannot read this, don't destroy your Windows language settings or the keyboard layout. :D

It's the Encoding option of your browser, but it's better not to change this either (if it works properly now). I heard you had a 'Google update' problem recently. :WINK1:

 

Ahh, bit like Jazbec, I was talking to an Architect from Slovenia at college.

 

Monty Python Hungarian Phrase Book - YouTube