Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge July 22, 2020

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wednesdaybloggingchallenge

The Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge is hosted by Long and Short Reviews.  This week’s topic is: character names in books I can’t pronounce.  

I’m just going to go out on a limb here and say oh… every fantasy novel I’ve ever read.  Or most of them anyway.  And let’s not even get started on the manga, okay?

Some aren’t so bad.  For example, in Tad Williams’ Shadowmarch series, the hero and heroine are Barrick and Briony.  Relatively normal, which was nice.

Then you get to R. A. Salvatore and you get things like Drizzt, Bruenor, and Zaknafein.  But then he also tosses in such crazy names like Nanfoodle and Pasha Pook.

Also, I have to admit that I was one of those who had no idea how to pronounce Hermione the first time I saw it in print.  It also wasn’t a name I’d ever encountered before either.

Manga has also thrown a lot of interesting names at me over the years.  If it weren’t for the subsequent animes, I might not have ever figured out how to say Kou (Ao Haru Ride), Shuichi (Gravitation), or Ichigo (Bleach).  There are a ton more, but I’ll spare you.

What annoys me more than names you can’t even begin to figure out are the ones that you think you know how to say but aren’t positive you’re right.  Geralt (The Witcher).  Kahlan (Sword of Truth series).  Raistlin (Dragonlance Chronicles series).  My husband and I argued a lot over how to pronounce Raistlin. Not sure who was right in the end though.

What character names get your tongue in a knot?

shuichi heart eyes

Published by Aymee

Avid reader, writer, and blogger. I love to talk about books, but anything is fair game with me. Books, movies, television, gardening, pets, whatever. You might find a little of all that here.

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18 thoughts on “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge July 22, 2020”

    1. I’m so glad I could make you laugh! I remember laughing when JKR made a point of having Hermione teach Viktor Krum how to say her name in Goblet of Fire. She must have gotten a ton of questions!

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  3. Ha! I’d forgotten about Raistlin. (I’m pretty sure to pronounce it correctly, you have to be wheezing at least a little…)

    My answer is here.

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    1. Hahaha! No kidding! And their last name was Majere, I think (or something close to that). Living in an area with a lot of Spanish speaking people, do you pronounce that J with an h sound or what? I have so many questions! 🙂

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  6. I had heard the name Hermione before, so I was okay with that one. And I watched The Witcher show, so I heard all of the names pronounced–haven’t read the books yet, since my son isn’t done with them yet. Kind of funny how we readers soldier on, even when we have no idea how to pronounce the names.

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    1. I’d started reading the series before The Witcher hit Netflix. Had I paid more attention while my husband was playing the games, I might have been better off. LOL No kidding! The Tempe Brennan books when set in Quebec make me nuts because I don’t speak French! LOL

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. I still need to read The Witcher.
    Don’t feel so bad about the Japanese names in manga. You should hear some of the pronunciations of western names my students try. It is hilarious!:)

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    1. I’ve only read the first collection of short stories, but I did enjoy it!

      I can only imagine considering how weird English can be. The Hispanic guys I work with all pretty much call me Emmy instead of Amy, mostly due to their accents. 😀

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