Umlaut

[Chickenhawk]

Long time reader, first time contributor. A thought . . .

In German, the Umlaut (two dots over vowels) can be substituted with two letters with no umlauts. For example, "ü" can be written as “ue” (preferred for proper names) and is pronounced as you hear it in Nika’s last name. Nika is from Croatia, formerly part of the German-speaking Austrian Empire, so some of the people have German names. Nika speaks German, I understand. Mühl or Muehl relates to a mill. Bueckers can also be spelled as Bückers (the English plural "s” was probably an Ellis Island type transcription addition). Buecker relates to the Beech tree. We could have Bueckers and Muehl or Bückers and Mühl, which means that it could be that the Slime Sisters are also The Umlaut Twins.

 

[oldude]

I can honestly say that your post covers a topic never before discussed on the Boneyard. Considering all the many remote and obscure topics brought up on this forum, that’s truly an accomplishment.

Welcome to the Boneyard.

 

[D J B]

Welcome to the Boneyard, Hühnerfalke.

 

[jchusky]

What

 

[Sifaka]

I can honestly say that your post covers a topic never before discussed on the Boneyard. Considering all the many remote and obscure topics brought up on this forum, that’s truly an accomplishment.

Welcome to the Boneyard.

As long as we are having fun with arcane topics, let's not be so naïve as to confuse the umlaut with a dieresis. While these two diacritics look alike, they are distinct in function. The dieresis indicates stress, as in naïve. Without the dieresis over the i, it would not be pronounced separately, but would be part of a diphthong.

Cooperate, without the diacritic, might mistakenly be pronounced as if it had only three syllables: coop-er-ate.
The dieresis in coöperate alerts us that the second o is also part of a syllable: co-op-er-ate.

 

[Jackcatscal]

I have a good friend here in San Diego who was born, raised, and educated in Düsseldorf, Germany. (Note the umlaut. The city is also famous for Altbier, a wonderful contribution to western civilization.)

His last name has an umlaut. Early on, he moved to London as a young businessman. But, as he says, the Brits don't believe in umlauts, so he lost his. Then, he moved to the U.S. a lot of years ago. And we Americans also don't believe in umlauts. However, when I met him, I realized that something serious was missing, so I started a campaign to "give Herb back his umlaut." It's been successful so far, and Herb has regained his umlaut...

 

[Sonny44]

60 years ago Mrs. Huggler didn't teach me this or was it Mrs. Höuggler?

 

[eebmg]

Not everyone's eyes can see the Umlaut easily. Hold strong Paige.

 

[ETSA]

60 years ago Mrs. Huggler didn't teach me this or was it Mrs. Höuggler?

I don't believe the combination "öu" exists in German. Could have been Hüggler, but to keep the original sound they would have spelled it Hueggler as Chickenhawk points out above. The "s" ending for Bueckers isn't necessarily a transcription error as Chickenhawk suggests - many German patronymic family names, for instance, can be in a genitive form and end in an "s".

 

[Woof 101]

For me umlaut only gives me flash backs to early English classes. Not a good student or a lover of the class which I have always regretted sense. Umlaut gives me a recall of the teacher that detested "um". She would make everyone speak and if you stalled and used um in the narrative it was "Um is dumb!"
Got the point and to this day can't believe how many in high positions can't speak without constantly saying ah or um multiple times before the next statement.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Yes, the dreaded umlaut. Popularly taught by saying 5,555 in German, repetitively, at least in my school.

 

[Skeets]

Welcome to the Boneyard, Hühnerfalke.

OK had to google it, Huhnerfalke = Hawk. How is that pronounce phonically? And please I know Hawk is pronounced Hawk

 

[Pinhead]

For me umlaut only gives me flash backs to early English classes. Not a good student or a lover of the class which I have always regretted sense. Umlaut gives me a recall of the teacher that detested "um". She would make everyone speak and if you stalled and used um in the narrative it was "Um is dumb!"
Got the point and to this day can't believe how many in high positions can't speak without constantly saying ah or um multiple times before the next statement.

While I recall she sounds more proficient recently, the first time I heard WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert speak I was aghast at the amount of "ums" in her speech. She was new at the job and it might have been one of her very first oratories while learning the ropes, but it was painful listening to and I was shocked the WNBA would advance her voice as theirs.

 

[cohenzone]

While I recall she sounds more proficient recently, the first time I heard WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert speak I was aghast at the amount of "ums" in her speech. She was new at the job and it might have been one of her very first oratories while learning the ropes, but it was painful listening to and I was shocked the WNBA would advance her voice as theirs.

How do you pronounce “um” with an umlaut over the “u”?

 

[Oracle9]

Pleeeeease can November 7th come already.

What

Don't even look at that rabbit hole..........5 more days this will all be behinds us.

 

[Chickenhawk]

I can honestly say that your post covers a topic never before discussed on the Boneyard. Considering all the many remote and obscure topics brought up on this forum, that’s truly an accomplishment.

Welcome to the Boneyard.

Thank you. Look forward to participating in what should be a wonderful year.

 

[D J B]

OK had to google it, Huhnerfalke = Hawk. How is that pronounce phonically? And please I know Hawk is pronounced Hawk

It actually means chicken hawk, like the OP's moniker. Pronounced as:

Hühnerfalke pronunciation in German

How to say Hühnerfalke in German? Pronunciation of Hühnerfalke with 24 audio pronunciations and more for Hühnerfalke.

www.howtopronounce.com

 

[BfromCT]

The new Umlaut thread of chickenhawk explaining the ü in Mühl is very informative, and, yes, umlaut vowels are generally transliterated to vowel plus e in English, hence Muehl and Bueckers. When I first became acquainted with Paige’s name, I pronounced it the way Germans would and not as she does, as Beckers.

The German language has other umlauted vowels, e.g., ä, ë, and ö. The addition of the umlaut changes pronunciation, for example, a is pronounced ah and ä sort of like ae. Often there are no direct ways to translate German sounds into English. In addition to umlauts, there are the diphthongs au and eu, not to mention such peculiarities as the liquid l in Schnell and and long n in Hauptmann.

Having laboriously learned German many, many years ago and having spent two years in occupied West Berlin, I developed a great love for the German language. Despite the strange to English sounds and the seeming harshness of it, German is a beautiful language with the distinct advantage over English in that all words are pronounced the same way. In other words, as soon as you see a word you know how it should be pronounced, unlike English in which it is necessary to learn many words that are spelled the same and pronounced differently depending on the meaning and homonyms, words that sound the same, but spelled differently and have different meanings.

Then there is the á in Juhácz. That is a common French diacritic, but I have no idea how it is pronounced in Magyar, assuming my memory that she is of Hungarian background is correct.

So, as we look forward to next season, let’s hope that we have plenty of opportunities to say good things about the player with the ü and that with the á. First game in 13 days.

 

[tomcat]

This is one of the most interesting posts in a long time. Thank you for introducing it, and welcome.
The topic reminded me that the accent problem presented by my family name -- a simple French accent that most people ignore and that I add only to confuse folks -- is a trifle by comparison.

 

[LoboDays]

It wasn’t until I reported for duty in the U.S. Army that I learned that “mother” was only half a word.

 

[CL82]

Long time reader, first time contributor. A thought . . .

In German, the Umlaut (two dots over vowels) can be substituted with two letters with no umlauts. For example, "ü" can be written as “ue” (preferred for proper names) and is pronounced as you hear it in Nika’s last name. Nika is from Croatia, formerly part of the German-speaking Austrian Empire, so some of the people have German names. Nika speaks German, I understand. Mühl or Muehl relates to a mill. Bueckers can also be spelled as Bückers (the English plural "s” was probably an Ellis Island type transcription addition). Buecker relates to the Beech tree. We could have Bueckers and Muehl or Bückers and Mühl, which means that it could be that the Slime Sisters are also The Umlaut Twins.

“Thank you for your interest in German phonetics.”

(Welcome to the board)

 

[ETSA]

The new Umlaut thread of chickenhawk explaining the ü in Mühl is very informative, and, yes, umlaut vowels are generally transliterated to vowel plus e in English, hence Muehl and Bueckers. When I first became acquainted with Paige’s name, I pronounced it the way Germans would and not as she does, as Beckers.

The German language has other umlauted vowels, e.g., ä, ë, and ö. The addition of the umlaut changes pronunciation, for example, a is pronounced ah and ä sort of like ae. Often there are no direct ways to translate German sounds into English. In addition to umlauts, there are the diphthongs au and eu, not to mention such peculiarities as the liquid l in Schnell and and long n in Hauptmann.

Having laboriously learned German many, many years ago and having spent two years in occupied West Berlin, I developed a great love for the German language. Despite the strange to English sounds and the seeming harshness of it, German is a beautiful language with the distinct advantage over English in that all words are pronounced the same way. In other words, as soon as you see a word you know how it should be pronounced, unlike English in which it is necessary to learn many words that are spelled the same and pronounced differently depending on the meaning and homonyms, words that sound the same, but spelled differently and have different meanings.

Then there is the á in Juhácz. That is a common French diacritic, but I have no idea how it is pronounced in Magyar, assuming my memory that she is of Hungarian background is correct.

So, as we look forward to next season, let’s hope that we have plenty of opportunities to say good things about the player with the ü and that with the á. First game in 13 days.

I also often do what you do with the pronunciation of German names.

You won't find any German words spelled with an "umlaut" over the letter "e", or "i" for that matter. You're more likely to see it in English denoting that the vowel is pronounced separately from an adjacent vowel, like Chloë or naïve (but that is called a diaeresis). German dipthongs are actually helpfully spelled with two letters like you noted. In English we might pronounce one letter for a dipthong. "A" becomes ay-eee, "O" is oh-uuu, "I" is eye-eee.

I first learned German in the Bavarian Forest area and made it to occupied Berlin for only about three weeks in October 1970 to support the people of Andrews Barracks working on Teufelsberg.

We have all thoroughly enjoyed the basketball players, both men and women, who have come to UCONN from overseas, from Russia, Israel, Germany, etc. Really looking forward to this year's group. But let's not get started on Juhácz and the Hungarian language's four letters U and O, three of each with different diacritics.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

thought the guy was singing 'pa pa pa umlaut ow ow, pa pa umlaut ow.'


guess not.


upon further review, i may have to replace my current alarm clock video with this one. it is appropriate becuz the other one is 'welcome to the jungle.'

 

[jabstep]

Long time reader, first time contributor. A thought . . .

In German, the Umlaut (two dots over vowels) can be substituted with two letters with no umlauts. For example, "ü" can be written as “ue” (preferred for proper names) and is pronounced as you hear it in Nika’s last name. Nika is from Croatia, formerly part of the German-speaking Austrian Empire, so some of the people have German names. Nika speaks German, I understand. Mühl or Muehl relates to a mill. Bueckers can also be spelled as Bückers (the English plural "s” was probably an Ellis Island type transcription addition). Buecker relates to the Beech tree. We could have Bueckers and Muehl or Bückers and Mühl, which means that it could be that the Slime Sisters are also The Umlaut Twins.

Wow, I did not know we were allowed to learn the Critical Umlaut theory here on the Yard.

 

[Skeets]

When we talk about our foreign players we frequently overlook Edwards. Many Canadians speak English, but they talk a little funny up there, eh? (sorry Jingo)

 

[D J B]

Wow, I did not know we were allowed to learn the Critical Umlaut theory here on the Yard.

Just goes to show that there really is no limit to what can be learned here on the BY, allowed or not.

 

[oldude]

When we talk about our foreign players we frequently overlook Edwards. Many Canadians speak English, but they talk a little funny up there, eh? (sorry Jingo)

Je me souviens!

 

[BfromCT]

I make it a practice to never respond to comments on my postings, whether good or bad, but ETSA on the evening of November 1st made mention of two critical places in occupied West Berlin - Andrews Barracks and Teufelsberg - in message 22 of the Umlaut thread. I am intimately acquainted with both of those places and his mention of them makes clear that we both belonged to the same esoteric Cold War Army unit, although I was a German linguist in the Berlin Brigade.

Another German factoid, probably of interest to practically no one, is that the w sound does not exist in the language, and the letter w is pronounced like a v, while the v is rendered as f.

The umlaut question is also leading me to bring up another of my no noes, that of changing a thread topic. It has occurred to me that UConn has not had many European players over the years except for recently with Anna Makurat, Nika Mühl, and Dorka Juhácz, although who can forget the great Svetlana Abrosimova No one that I can think of from Germany, although the men had a big who didn’t play much around 15 years ago. I vaguely recall that there may have been a European in the late 90s, a guard who didn’t play much

Indeed, aside from Canadians, the team has had few others from outside the U.S. There was the transfer from Washington of a New Zealander who she never played a minute on the team. She red shirted and then left UConn. The Huskies had a player from Israel around 1990 and she may have been on the first Final Four squad. If my memory is correct, she played only one year, like Nadov Hennefeld.

The reason why is that UConn has often been able to recruit the players the team needs. Still, with the increased level of competition and a lot more good teams recruiting the best, no coach can afford to neglect possible European gems.

 

[ETSA]

... ETSA on the evening of November 1st made mention of two critical places in occupied West Berlin - Andrews Barracks and Teufelsberg - in message 22 of the Umlaut thread. I am intimately acquainted with both of those places and his mention of them makes clear that we both belonged to the same esoteric Cold War Army unit, although I was a German linguist in the Berlin Brigade.

I was a Czech linguist on TDY to Berlin from a remote border site in Bavaria.

... No one that I can think of from Germany, although the men had a big who didn’t play much around 15 years ago. I vaguely recall that there may have been a European in the late 90s, a guard who didn’t play much

The big German from years ago was Marc Suhr. The German who had the most impact was Niels Giffey. UCONN also had Enosch Wolf and Leon Tolksdorf for short stays in Storrs.

 

[Chickenhawk]

Before the season starts, I believe appropriate to relieve my real Nom d'Ossuaire. I am Arminius von und zu Hühnerfalkenberg.