How do you pronounce.....

[B.J.]

Von Braun? As in Wernher von Braun? You'd think that since I live in Huntsville, where there are several references to him around here, not the least of which is the Von Braun Center (arena complex), I'd know the correct way to pronounce it by now. But it seems that every time I hear it, it's 50/50 whether it's pronounced like "brawn" or like "brown". So can anyone tell me, especially you Germans out there, how it's supposed to be pronounced?

As an aside, it wasn't until the new Dr. Who series came on that I didn't realize I was saying "Dalek" wrong. It's supposed to be DAH-lek, but I was saying DAY-lek! I still have to think twice every time I say (or think) that now.

 

[DiSiLLUSiON]

I'm not a German (thank god! Or I'd be ugly, fat and eat sausages all day), but, as far as I know, it's pronounced the same way English speaking people pronounce "brown".

 

[Me-Ike]

^ Don't you diss my sausages!

Braun is pretty much like brown, there's definitly a diphthong in there. The r sounds different than Americans pronounce it; but since it's a sound non-existent in the English language, there's hardly a way short of IPA to describe it.

The von is also always pronounce incorrectly, at least in all the movies I've seen. In English the v is voiced, meaning you use your vocal cords to pronounce it. In German it's voiceless, without making use of the vocal cords. It therefore sounds more like fon.

 

[Mr. B]

Correctly, of course

 

[Daedalus12]

Von Braun? As in Wernher von Braun? You'd think that since I live in Huntsville, where there are several references to him around here, not the least of which is the Von Braun Center (arena complex),

I call him like "Brown" as the way it's called in Germany.

 

[TGTheodore]

I've always pronounced it "VERE-nurr fawn BRAWN"

--Ted

 

[Roshi]

Braun means brown in German. There, you have your answer!

 

[B.J.]

So Doc Brown was pronouncing his ancestors' name wrong, huh? Thanks for the replies!

 

[Franklin]

Some Germans named Braun have given in to the common American-English way of pronouncing it, and go by "Brawn." A fair number of Germans named Braun changed their names to Brown after coming to America.
-- "fon Brown" would be the most correct way to say it English (soft on the "f" sound).
-- But, "von Brawn" is not butchering it, and probably wouldn't offend anyone.

There are probably von Braun families in the U.S. who pronounce it either way.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I would say "fon Brah-oon". But, I'm Italian, so I suppose that means very little.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I'd probably pronounce it as von (voiced v) brawn. I realize that's probably not the original pronunciation (as others have pointed out, the v shouldn't be voiced at the very least), but that's the way it's been ingrained in this country.

 

[Roger Wilco]

The way I'd say it, is sort of in between "brown" and "brawn" (does that make sense?), but that may be because of my accent - "brown" is probably closer to the standard. It's definately pronounced somewhat shorter than these english words and the "r" is pronounced differently too.

edit: if you click on the speaker icon next to the word "braun" in this german-english dictionary you can listen to german pronounciation of the word.

 

[B.J.]

Some Germans named Braun have given in to the common American-English way of pronouncing it, and go by "Brawn."

Not surprising. My own last name has been Americanized after several generations in the US, and is pronounced very different than the original Slovak way, even though it's still spelled the same. But as for Wernher von Braun, I doubt he'd change the way he'd pronounce it, but I can't speak for his descendants.

 

[Franklin]

Some Germans named Braun have given in to the common American-English way of pronouncing it, and go by "Brawn."

Not surprising. My own last name has been Americanized after several generations in the US, and is pronounced very different than the original Slovak way, even though it's still spelled the same. But as for Wernher von Braun, I doubt he'd change the way he'd pronounce it, but I can't speak for his descendants.

He might have Americanized it, who knows? My own surname is an unusual German name, and is difficult to pronounce until people realize it's four syllables and not three. Our relation never Americanized the name, but we do pronounce it in about three slightly different ways depending on the family. Oddly enough, none of those are how it would be said in German.

 

[Omnius]

When I introduce myself in English I usually pronounce my surname as how you'd would pronounce it with an English accent. Im not sure why, because it sounds a bit veird..
I also do this with my first name; Daniel, in Dutch we'd say Da-ni-el. The da sounds like the Russian da. In English it becomes Den-jel.

 

[Da'an]

I'd pronounce it like "vonn brawhn" I suppose.