How do you pronounce “Cerveny”?

[DonO.]

I have heard all of the following: “SER-ven-ee”, “ser-VAY-née”, “CHER-ven-ee”, and “cher-VAY-née”. Based on what I know about Eastern European proper names, I suspect “CHER-ven-ee” is correct, but I just don’t know for sure. Anyone here have the definitive answer?

[LeMark]

I say cher-VAY-née, but I've heard sir-vin-ee is correct

[bloke]

If the letter C does NOT have a curved line above it - and isn't followed by the letter H, it is always pronounced "ts".

[donn]

On their web site, they write it Červený. č is t͡ʃ, which is to say the sound we usually get with "ch". Stress normally falls on the first syllable.

So, based in a casual review of Czech orthography - CHER veh nee. The second syllable E is as in "vet."

I'll try to remember that, I've been saying cher VAY nee.

[Ace]

It is pronounced "Chair-vin-eee" or, possibly, "Chair-vi-knee", accent on first syllable. It means the Red One. The company's founder, V.F. Cerveny came from a line of red-haired people. Source of my information is my neighbor who is native born Czech. She is an associate of the School of Law at my Alma Mater, University of California -Berkeley. (Actually, she may be retired by now.)

Ace

[Three Valves]

“She-ne-neh”

Like the Martin Lawrence character…

[bloke]

My French teacher’s answer to that question would have been, “I pronounce it quite well; how do you pronounce it?”

He also spoke about seven other languages fluently, played second trumpet in the symphony, had been a Navy band leader during World War II, restored expensive watches and Jaguars, and had a whole bunch of young foreign girlfriends.

[bort2.0]

It is pronounced "Chair-vin-eee" or, possibly, "Chair-vi-knee", accent on first syllable. It means the Red One. The company's founder, V.F. Cerveny came from a line of red-haired people. Source of my information is my neighbor who is native born Czech. She is an associate of the School of Law at my Alma Mater, University of California -Berkeley. (Actually, she may be retired by now.)

Ace

This is what I've heard too, except that the end of "chair" sounds almost like a "d"... Like "chaird" vin EE

Which may be wrong, but at least it's close? It's not an English language word, so naturally there are sounds and pronunciations that won't be easy for me to say.

There's a video on YouTube of German people trying to say "squirrel." Not easy for them to say, usually comes out like skvirl.

But then, Americans stand far less of a chance of pronouncing Eichhörnchen correctly.

[P@rick]

I have heard all of the following: “SER-ven-ee”, “ser-VAY-née”, “CHER-ven-ee”, and “cher-VAY-née”. Based on what I know about Eastern European proper names, I suspect “CHER-ven-ee” is correct, but I just don’t know for sure. Anyone here have the definitive answer?

I think like the audio clip on: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C4%8Derven%C3%BD

[bloke]

Since Donn researched that - on their Czech website - they put the mark over the C, at least we now know that the beginning of the word is pronounced “ch”.

Without hearing an authority pronounce it, (just having heard the rhythm of eastern European languages) I would suspect that the first syllable receives the accent – rather than the way that an American would tend to sort out the syllables.

[Three Valves]

But the question is NOT how do they pronounce it.

It is NOT what is the correct way to pronounce it.

The question was; how do YOU pronounce it??

[bloke]

But the question is NOT how do they pronounce it.

It is NOT what is the correct way to pronounce it.

The question was; how do YOU pronounce it??

I believe I covered this - with a discussion of my French teacher, no?

[Three Valves]

I believe I covered this - with a discussion of my French teacher, no?

Somewhat less succinctly perhaps, yes.

[Doc]

This is what I've heard too, except that the end of "chair" sounds almost like a "d"... Like "chaird" vin EE

Growing up in the heaviest Czech immigrant area/concentration, and playing Czech music all my life (with many who still speak Czeck/didn't learn English until they went to school), and playing songs with "cerveny" in the title and lyrics, I will assert that Brett is pretty much correct.

In my experience:
CHAIRD ven ee - but the D sound is not a full, hard English D. You touch it in passing almost. Kinda like how your would roll an R in Spanish, except the tongue touches once and doesn't keep rolling. And the last syllable is almost YEE - just the slightest hint of a Y at the beginning of the syllable. CHAIRd ve nyee. You might hear it said CHAIRd ve nyeh in certain uses, sometimes spelled cervene' (not really a long E sound on the end like KNEE) Some dialects are more proper or less proper, but this is the idea. It sure as hell ain't chur VAY nee.

And when folks from Czech Republic come here (or locals go visit the old country), the locals say those folks sound like they are speaking Russian or have a Russian accent. Well, I guess decades behind the iron curtain and locals being a couple generations separated from the old country makes that impression plausible.

Some of our favorite alternate lyrics:

Pivo, pivo, pivo červené
Pivo, pivo, pivo červené
Pivo makes your čurák sore
When you slam it in a door
Pivo, pivo, pivo červené

(actual lyrics HERE)

[donn]

Which may be wrong, but at least it's close? It's not an English language word, so naturally there are sounds and pronunciations that won't be easy for me to say.

This reminds me of a moment when some guys were talking about places in Brazil, and someone mentioned Recife - reh See fee. Someone who'd been there a while jumped up to correct him, no it's "heh See fee" - in Brazil, that initial R has a sound that's closest to our H.

But really, it isn't exactly our H, it's pronounced with a little more constriction or something, so it's similar but not identical. And that - where the sound is produced in the airstream - varies regionally. Voiceless velar fricative, voiceless uvular fricative or a voiceless glottal fricative, if you like. That's in Brazil. In European Portuguese, there's a little overlap - young people will often use a velar fricative somewhat like some Brazilians, but that's a relatively recent development, and commonly poorly done by adults with a result that sounds like they're trying to expel a loogy. if you look at accounts of how they're supposed to pronounce it, it's either about the same alveolar trill that you'd expect from Spanish or Italian, or a voiced uvular trill, that looks like it might sound like the French R but actually sounds very much like the alveolar trill if done well (if not done well, see above.) Oops, I forgot that in the south of Brazil, there are places where that R may be pronounced with a voiced alveolar trill.

Well, of course you could simplify matters by ruling out the European pronunciations, because of course Recife isn't in Europe, it's more or less Northeastern Brazil, and the way they pronounce it - I believe that's that voiceless glottal fricative. Not an easy sound for English speakers ... but close to H. (By the same logic, by the way, Rio de Janeiro is HEE-oo jee zhuh NAY roo.) They also have a somewhat distinctive pitch structure to their speech, unlike most European languages, that's worth studying while you're working on your glottal fricative, if you want to get it right.

But no. That may be how they pronounce it in Recife, but they talk that way because they live in Recife. In São Paulo, they don't switch to a glottal fricative to say it - they say that R, the same way they say any R. They pronounce the "de" in Rio de Janeiro the same way they always pronounce "de". In English, we use corresponding English sounds - which means, for R, the same R that we use for all words with R in them. You can skip the whole preceding discussion of Portuguese phonology, because that's all there is to it - when you see R, use the R you've got.

Back in the '80s, I used to listen to radio news, and Nicaragua came up a lot. BBC reporters often said nick a RAG you-a. That was wrong. Alternative news reporters often said nick a DOG wah. That was wrong, too - haphazard insertion of Spanish pronunciation into English is wrong (even if it were well done, and it wasn't.) So - listen to that clip of how they say Červený, but don't feel you should say "cheddarvenee" when speaking English. In my humble opinion.

[bort2.0]

Dialects are super interesting to me. Just like we all talk differently in the US, it's the same for other languages, as donn and Doc have pointed out.

I've only been to two Spanish-speaking countries (Costa Rica and Spain), and have known plenty of Spanish speaking people in the US as well, from all over the world... Spain, Puerto Rico, lots of other places in the Caribbean, Central America, Peru, Venezuela... all are unmistakably speaking the Spanish language, but also quite different from each other.

I can't remember too many of the differences, but Spain-Spanish seems to have much more "th" kinds of sounds. It's quite beautiful (and very fast).

[hrender]

I have heard all of the following: “SER-ven-ee”, “ser-VAY-née”, “CHER-ven-ee”, and “cher-VAY-née”. Based on what I know about Eastern European proper names, I suspect “CHER-ven-ee” is correct, but I just don’t know for sure. Anyone here have the definitive answer?

I think like the audio clip on: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C4%8Derven%C3%BD

In general, I try to use the pronunciation of a word most folks are familiar with so long as it's not glaringly wrong (see: nucular). For some words it's a matter of choice and local convention, e.g. niche ("nitch" vs. "neesh") and foyer ("FOY-er" vs. "foy-AY").

Locally the town Buena Vista is pronounced "BEE-yoo-na VIS-ta". I don't.

I very much appreciate knowing the correct way to pronounce Červený but will tend to pronounce it the old, incorrect around folks who don't know the correct pronunciation. If I'm talking with someone familiar with Czech, I'll do my best to use the correct pronunciation.

[Three Valves]

"Sir-Vinny"

(Esquire)

[bort2.0]

^ Two yutes

Also, two Utes
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V

[Wu299]

Finally a topic I can participate in!

I think like the audio clip on: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C4%8Derven%C3%BD

Yes please. The audio is spot on. Something like "tcher-ve-nee" (hope that's understandable).

I rarely see the spelling written with Č (i.e. correctly) internationally. But nobody expects anyone to bother with a symbol from an obscure language.

Source: I'm a Czech.