How to pronounce Tsoo

[JasperStone]

9 hours ago, Snarky said:

Soop coop?

[KC4800]

Let's ask the Hawk Tsooey Girl, she'll know.

[Psyonico]

14 hours ago, Snarky said:

The only easy thing about German (so far) is the way it is spelled is how it sounds.  Me Lee just looked right.  And i only encountered it in books for ?a decade?  Whoever did not spell it may-lay.  Blame them.  

Right there with you, I know how it's supposed to be pronounced, but my brain refuses to do so.

[Heliphyn34u]

I mean, I've been pronouncing Tsoo "Tsoo" (t'sue?) 

 

Tso Tsoo me?

 

[Snarky]

to make it more complicated.... because it is me after all....

 

say that one of us heard "Tsoo" spoken correctly.  and we make a recording, and share it  and now everyone knows how to say it.  wrong.

 

there is about a 99% chance the word is from a "tonal" language.  and they will use the same word 12 different times WITH DIFFERENT TONES to mean different things.  but westerners (unless possibly a high level musician) will miss all of that.  

[Riverdusk]

7 hours ago, Psyonico said:

Right there with you, I know how it's supposed to be pronounced, but my brain refuses to do so.

 

Same.  Growing up playing D&D in the late 70's and 80's my entire family pronounced it that way because we'd only ever seen it in print in D&D books and that made sense phonetically.  Not too many people back in those days went around saying the word melee outloud.

[TheMoneyMaker]

On 12/5/2024 at 3:10 PM, Luminara said:

 

It means you've been spelling Tub Ci wrong.

This is why nicknames are great. Don't know how to pronounce Tub Ci?  Just call him Tubby.

[Tiger Shadow]

Back in university my Hmong friend wrote a pronunciation guide for non-Hmong speakers that went, "If it's spelled in Hmong, you're pronouncing it wrong."

[Scarlet Shocker]

 

[Go0gleplex]

Isn't this simply a case of "if the Tsoo fits?"  😎

[Marine X]

On 12/6/2024 at 7:20 PM, Snarky said:

they will use the same word 12 different times WITH DIFFERENT TONES to mean different things

 

I am groot.

[Scarlet Shocker]

On 12/5/2024 at 10:20 PM, Luminara said:

 

Tso is sow, as in the female pig.  The T is completely silent in this word.

 

 

So it could just as easily be spelled Ptsoo

[Marshal_General]

On 12/6/2024 at 6:20 PM, Snarky said:

to make it more complicated.... because it is me after all....

 

say that one of us heard "Tsoo" spoken correctly.  and we make a recording, and share it  and now everyone knows how to say it.  wrong.

 

there is about a 99% chance the word is from a "tonal" language.  and they will use the same word 12 different times WITH DIFFERENT TONES to mean different things.  but westerners (unless possibly a high level musician) will miss all of that.  

One of the most famous is:

mā - mother

má - hemp

mǎ - horse

mà - scold

[TygerDarkstorm]

51 minutes ago, Marshal_General said:

One of the most famous is:

mā - mother

má - hemp

mǎ - horse

mà - scold

One of my Spanish teachers in college also spoke Mandarin (I don't even remember how we got to talking about tonal languages lol), and she did this example. My dumb ass could not hear a single difference in the inflections and such of how she pronounced these. It all just sounded like ma to me. 😭

Tonal languages are awesome, but so hard; for me anyway.

[Mopery]

I've always pronounced the word Tsoo as "throatwobbler mangrove".

[Skyhawke]

[CFIndustries]

On 12/6/2024 at 3:04 PM, Heliphyn34u said:

I mean, I've been pronouncing Tsoo "Tsoo" (t'sue?) 

Basically the same. I was borrowing from the blend of "ts" and "tz" sounds used in words like "tsetse fly."

 

Best I can descibe it anyway. American English is my native tongue, but my pronunciation of Spanish and Mandarin words is apparenty really good, so probably borrowing from a wider phoneme set.

[CFIndustries]

On 12/6/2024 at 4:20 PM, Snarky said:

there is about a 99% chance the word is from a "tonal" language.  and they will use the same word 12 different times WITH DIFFERENT TONES to mean different things.  but westerners (unless possibly a high level musician) will miss all of that.  

Mandarin has 5 "tones" and yeah learning to say them properly is one thing, listening is another. And if given a word without the accurate pinyin marks, it's a crap shoot for me (since I can't read Mandarin in native glyphic form).

 

I understand Cantonese has 9 tones…yeesh.

 

You don't have to be a high-level musician, but you do have to listen really carefully. And it helps if you properly learn to use the tones yourself so you then recognize them when listening. I'm not as good at listening, but have managed to say the words properly (been confused for a fluent speaker more than once). You do have to train yourself.

 

Some of the aweful anglicization of Chinese words and placenames I suspect was from "lazy listening."

[CFIndustries]

On 12/16/2024 at 7:24 PM, Marshal_General said:

One of the most famous is:

mā - mother

má - hemp

mǎ - horse

mà - scold

I remember this set…the first introduction to how important tone is in Mandarin. And why I spent months trying to master the phonemes first before moving on to words. Mandarin fricatives were brutal.

 

But as long as it's written in pinyin like that, learning and using the tones are not all that bad (they are tones use in English, just not in the same way). Hearing them is tougher if the speaker is native and speaks quickly.

 

The proper use of the "questioning tone" (má) is the habit hardest to break coming from English, since it's just a tone in Mandarin, and not an indicator of the sentence being a question.

 

I heard it referred to as learning the "song" of a language. Each one has a cadence, a rhythm, and certain flow. English's song is fairly simple, and Spanish isn't too tough for me, but Mandarin's song I was only just getting the hang of.

[Oubliette_Red]

 

On 12/8/2024 at 11:03 AM, Marine X said:

On 12/6/2024 at 6:20 PM, Snarky said:

to make it more complicated.... because it is me after all....

 

say that one of us heard "Tsoo" spoken correctly.  and we make a recording, and share it  and now everyone knows how to say it.  wrong.

 

there is about a 99% chance the word is from a "tonal" language.  and they will use the same word 12 different times WITH DIFFERENT TONES to mean different things.  but westerners (unless possibly a high level musician) will miss all of that.  

 

I am groot.

 

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

[Luminara]

6 minutes ago, Oubliette_Red said:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

 

[Greycat]

On 12/5/2024 at 4:38 PM, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

All that to say: "Sue" is fine, but start with the tip of your tongue pressed gently to where the back of your front teeth meet the roof of your mouth. It will create a bit of an aspirated break that I believe is appropriate for pronouncing Tsu, if not Tsoo.

 

... sounds like how I do it. I tend to think of it like... pretend you're making a sound like someone tapping a high hat on a drum kit. Starting with that slight, kind of hissy "ts." At least that's how I've pronounced it. (And I remember going through trying to find appropriate names back on live for that Tsoo Faced AE arc.)

 

(Honestly, the one "non european" name that will always get me when I read it is Nguyen. I've heard it as noo-yen  or nyo-wen... and it'll always take me a second to process.)

[Greycat]

6 hours ago, CFIndustries said:

Mandarin fricatives were brutal.

 

 

*Rolls new alt, Mandarin Fricative. Makes it a scrapper just because.*

[Apogee]

On 12/16/2024 at 7:24 PM, Marshal_General said:

One of the most famous is:

mā - mother

má - hemp

mǎ - horse

mà - scold

 

No worse than in American:

Dude - Hey

Dude? - Really?

Dude! - Awesome!

Dude!! - WTF?