Ah-lee-zay?

[dreamer]

I was wondering: On the title page of alizee america it says her name is pronounced Ah-lee-zay. My problem is with the "zay". It seems to indicate to me that you voice should go up at the end which is not really the case, it stays flat: Alizée.

Don't you love my ability to generate nonsensical threads?

[edgar93]

Originally Posted by dreamer

pronounced Ah-lee-zay. My problem is with the "zay". It seems to indicate to me that you voice should go up at the end which is not really the case, it stays flat: Alizée.

Don't you love my ability to generate nonsensical threads?

actually it has a lot of sense . I think when it says Ah-lee-zay, it means that, when pronunciating her name, ends with an i, something like Alizei

[fsquared]

dreamer, the last time this got brought up, it all ended rather badly. I'd rather we just refer back to the original thread: http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2701

[TheBarrett]

A-li-zeh?

[Rocket]

Originally Posted by TheBarrett

A-li-zeh?

By George, I think he's got it! Now say 'The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.'

[lefty12357]

Originally Posted by dreamer

I was wondering: On the title page of alizee america it says her name is pronounced Ah-lee-zay. My problem is with the "zay". It seems to indicate to me that you voice should go up at the end which is not really the case, it stays flat: Alizée.

Don't you love my ability to generate nonsensical threads?

I see things like “zay” sometimes used in American English to show pronunciation. It simply means that the zée should be pronounced “zay”, just like “day” or pay” would be. It doesn’t signify any added accent or stress or change in pitch on the syllable, just a "z" with a long "a" sound.

[dreamer]

Originally Posted by lefty12357

I see things like “zay” sometimes used in American English to show pronunciation. It simply means that the zée should be pronounced “zay”, just like “day” or pay” would be. It doesn’t signify any added accent or stress or change in pitch on the syllable, just a "z" with a long "a" sound.

To pronounce the "ée" like the "ay" in "day" or "pay" would be exactly the wrong way to say it. Your voice has to stay flat.

[YesterdaysAirRace]

Originally Posted by dreamer

To pronounce the "ée" like the "ay" in "day" or "pay" would be exactly the wrong way to say it. Your voice has to stay flat.

So the complaint is there's no sound after the "a," right? But there's no way to write a long "a" sound in English without something after it. So what do you propose in its place? (I propose we use the IPA.

I read that other thread, part of it, about how to pronounce Lily, and someone made the point that you pronounce it the way you pronounce it. We're speaking English, so we'll pronounce it like we're speaking English. Believe me, I've worked for French-speakers, and they prounounce my name like they're speaking French (rolled R, vowels as if they were French, and no accented syllable--all wrong, but, I still understood it was me they were about to start bitching at).

[brad]

Originally Posted by YesterdaysAirRace

We're speaking English, so we'll pronounce it like we're speaking English.

I like this, you are exactly right.

Besides, the purpose of the "Ah-lee-zay" on the main page is to give people a general sense of the correct pronunciation. It is hard for us to remember I think, but I know that I pronounced her name totally wrong before I heard her say it.

I am sure it is not a 100% perfect pronunciation, but "Ah-lee-zay" is a pretty close generalization of it. I have actually considered changing it to "Uh-lee-zay" because that is the way I say in my head.

[lefty12357]

Originally Posted by dreamer

To pronounce the "ée" like the "ay" in "day" or "pay" would be exactly the wrong way to say it. Your voice has to stay flat.

Believe it or not, syllables like “zay” and “may” are commonly used all the time in English to French phrase books published here in the USA. As Brad pointed out, for the English speaking American newcomer to Alizée, it’s a close enough approximation. Deepwaters wrote a fine post on the subject, but putting something that in-depth on the home page here would be overkill.

Once one has been around here as long as most of us have, one will have heard her name spoken hundreds of times and will become aware of the correct pronunciation. Or they can simply just read this thread...