[placebo1969]

So, this kind of reminds me of a Seinfeld episode. About 5 years ago, I started getting my hair cut at the mall by a Vietnamese woman who is also my neighbor. Her name is spelled Duc. I swore that when she initially introduced herself, she pronounced it like "duck." However, recently at the haircutting place, the other girls pronounced her name as "duke." Now, it's certainly possible that they screw up her name and she doesn't care to correct them. When I talk to her I usually don't say her name directly. But because it's been so long, I don't want to ask her. How is "Duc" pronounced in Vietnamese?

[Eug]

Sorry to hijack your thread, but this sign always gave me a chuckle. I wonder how it's pronounced.

[olePigeon]

I had a friend named Fuc Nguyen, and he said it's pronounced "Fook." If I had to guess, I'd say Duc is pronounced like "Duke." Nguyen is pronounced "new-win."

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

I had a friend named Fuc Nguyen, and he said it's pronounced "Fook." If I had to guess, I'd say Duc is pronounced like "Duke." Nguyen is pronounced "new-win."

In English, not in Vietnamese.

In Vietnamese, it’s more like ‘ngwyuhn’ (in the north) or ‘ngwuhn’ (in the south), which is a bit of a tongue twister to an American mouth. But it’s only one syllable, not two. (‘Ng’ as in ‘thing’, not as in ‘finger’—[ŋʷ(j)əˀn], if you want the real thing.)

A bit of Googling tells me that this hairdresser’s name is likely Đức, in which the relevant part is that the vowel is not u, but ư. The little curl on the end makes a big difference.

If it were Ðuc (without the curl), it would be pronounced like ‘duke’, i.e., broadly [ɗuk], whereas with the curl, Ðưc, it would be a bit more like ‘duck’, though not really like ‘duck’.

The vowel written as ư in Vietnamese is one that doesn’t exist in English, and I’d imagine it’s probably quite difficult to hear. According to Wikipedia, it’s usually a backed, lowered [ɨ] (which also doesn’t really exist in English, though it shows up in many dialects as a ‘raised schwa’, like the e in ‘roses’). But depending on the individual speaker, and exactly how much that speaker backs or lowers the vowel, it can almost become either [ɯ] (an unrounded [u]) or [ʊ] (as the vowel in ‘put’). So an English speaker might hear one ‘version’ of the vowel as [ʊ] or even [ʌ], but another ‘version’ as [u].

Clear as mud, eh?

[Paco500]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

I had a friend named Fuc Nguyen, and he said it's pronounced "Fook." If I had to guess, I'd say Duc is pronounced like "Duke." Nguyen is pronounced "new-win."

I worked with a guy named Fuc (he also pronounced it Fook). He was a wonderful stereotype. I rode in a car he was driving three times and he was in an accident every time. He once sideswiped a cement support in a parking garage, once rear-ended someone at a stoplight and once backed into someone in a parking lot.

Good times.

[pooka]

I don't speak vietnamese but it reminds me of a recent event. I saw a guy walk up to a vietnamese girl and start speaking faux chinese. Something like "Peeeeeechaaaaaaan weeeeeeeee dooooong"

She punched him in the stomach and I cried so hard a little pee spot formed on my pants. Good times.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by pooka 

I saw a guy walk up to a vietnamese girl and start speaking faux chinese. Something like "Peeeeeechaaaaaaan weeeeeeeee dooooong"

She punched him in the stomach and I cried so hard a little pee spot formed on my pants. Good times.

Mm-hm. “A guy”, indeed. Busted!

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

I had a friend named Fuc Nguyen, and he said it's pronounced "Fook." If I had to guess, I'd say Duc is pronounced like "Duke." Nguyen is pronounced "new-win."

My mother had a doctor whose name was Phuc Nguyen. He went by "Harry." Years later, I happened to be on a rotation in residency with another medical resident who was born and raised in Vietnam. (his last name was Dang... Dr. Dang )

I asked him how Dr. Nguyen's name would be pronounced, and what he said sounded more like "Fope" (rhymes with "dope").

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Person Man 

I asked him how Dr. Nguyen's name would be pronounced, and what he said sounded more like "Fope" (rhymes with "dope").

When a word ends in a velar consonant (k or ng) and the vowel preceding the k/ng is a u or a diphthong ending in a w sound, the k or ng is articulated bilabially also, i.e., like a k and a p (or an ng and an m) said at the same time. (It’s also preceded by a glottal stop and it ends up being unreleased, but that’s less important)

That’s probably why you thought it sounded more like ‘Fope’—in reality, he probably said [fuk͡p], or more precisely (with the glottal closure and unreleasedness) [fuʔk͡p̚].

[pooka]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

Mm-hm. “A guy”, indeed. Busted!

Man, I wish. I'm scared of Asian chicks. But I am fluent in fauxnese

[olePigeon]

Of course, you could just ask her how to pronounce her name.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

Clear as mud, eh?

Once you learn what each of those marks do, I think it's awesome. The spelling of the word tells you exactly how to pronounce it.

[placebo1969]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Of course, you could just ask her how to pronounce her name.

Well, as I said originally, it's been a long time since she initially introduced herself (5 years). I don't even know if she knows my name.

[hyteckit]

Fuc or Phuc: Fook or Foak (like oak tree)
Duc: Duck

I'm pretty sure of it.