How to pronounce the players' names correctly
Friday, July 14, 2017
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UEFA.com is embracing the spirit of UEFA Women's EURO 2017 and aspiring to pronounce all of the players' names correctly during the final tournament in the Netherlands. Join us!
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Basic German-language rules apply – note that an umlauted 'ä', 'ö' or 'ü' sound something similar to 'ae', 'oe', 'ue' in English.
Verena Aschauer – Ash-our
Laura Feiersinger – Fire-zinger
Sophie Maierhofer – My-er-hoff-er
Katharina Naschenweng – Nash-n-veng
Viktoria Pinther – Pin-tare
Katharina Schiechtl – Sheek-tul
Viktoria Schnaderbeck – Sh-nah-der-beck
Doubled vowels ('oo' 'ee') do not sound the same as their English counterparts.
Maud Coutereels – Coo-ter-ails
Tine De Caigny – De Kai-nyee
Laura Deloose – De-loh-suh
Heleen Jaques – Hel-ayn Jock
Diede Lemey – Dee-duh
Nicky Van Den Abbeele – Van Den A-bay-le
Tessa Wullaert – Whirl-art
Sara Yuceil – You-sell
The 'ø' presents perhaps the biggest challenge to English speakers.
Maja Kildemoes – Kil-de-mos
Cecilie Sandvej – Sand-vai
Simone Boye Sørensen – Surn-zen
Frederikke Thøgersen – Tho-er-zen
Sanne Troelsgaard – Trools-gor
Katrine Veje – Vai-uh
Should all be simple enough for native English speakers, but make sure you get these three right.
Fran Kirby – Cur-bee
Fara Williams – Fa-ra, not Far-a
Steph Houghton – Steff Horr-ton (rather than How-ton)
Traumatic French lessons have terrified many English speakers, but be calm and you can do it.
Élise Bussaglia – Boo-sag-lee-ah
Marie-Laure Delie – De-lee
Jessica Houara-D'Hommeaux – Wa-ra-dom-oh
Sakina Karchaoui – Karsh-ow-ee
Claire Lavogez – Lav-oh-jay
Griedge M'Bock Bathy – Greej
Gaëtane Thiney – Gay-tan Tin-eh
Umlauts still throw English speakers - an umlauted 'ä', 'ö' or 'ü' sound something similar to 'ae', 'oe', 'ue' in English. A German 'th' is also usually a harder sound than in English.
Anna Blässe – Blesser
Sara Däbritz – Deh-brits
Sara Doorsoun-Khajeh – Door-soon-Car-jay
Svenja Huth – Sven-ya Hoot
Hasret Kayikci – Hass-ret Koi-ik-chuh
Tabea Kemme – Ta-bey-a
Isabel Kerschowski – Cur-shoff-ski
Dzsenifer Marozsán – Jennifer Marrow-zhan
Accents on vowels add stress, but names are doable to English speakers (though a little practice may be useful for those tricky umlauts).
Katrin Ásbjörnsdóttir – Ars-byorns-dot-ir
Rakel Hönnudóttir – Hon-nu-dot-ir
The commonly made mistake is to pronounce a 'ch' like an English 'ch' – it is more like a 'k'.
Barbara Bonansea – Bon-an-seh-ah
Valentina Cernoia – Cher-noi-ah
Linda Tucceri Cimini – Chee-mee-nee
Alia Guagni – Gwan-yee
Chiara Marchitelli – Kee-ara Mark-it-elly
Manuela Giugliano – Joo-lee-ah-no
England and the Netherlands are close together, but their vowel sounds can differ – especially those doubled vowels: aa, ee, oo.
Lineth Beerensteyn – Bay-ren-stine
Angela Christ – Krist
Loes Geurts – Loose Kurts
Jackie Groenen – Grew-nen
Vanity Lewerissa – Lay-ver-issa
Lieke Martens – Leek-uh
Vivianne Miedema – Me-di-mah
Jill Roord – Roared
Stephanie van der Gragt – Grakt
Kika van Es – Van-ess
Sari van Veenendaal – Vain-en-dal
Kelly Zeeman – Zay-man
Some tricky vowels, but be brave.
Emilie Haavi – Haw-vee
Ingrid Hjelmseth – Yelm-set
Frida Maanum – Maw-num
Stine Pettersen Reinås – Rain-oss
Anja Sønstevold – Sawnst-u-vold
Elise Thorsnes – Tors-nees
Contrary to what most English speakers imagine, Portuguese sounds very different to Spanish.
Jamila Marreiros – Ma-ray-roos
Suzane Pires – Pee-riss
Sílvia Rebelo – Re-be-loo
Vowel sounds and the way they are stressed present the biggest challenges for English speakers.
Margarita Chernomyrdina – Cherno-meer-dee-na
Anna Cholovyaga – Chol-ov-yar-ga
Nothing too challenging for speakers from the British Isles, but some common surnames do not sound how they look.
Vaila Barsley – Vay-lah
Leanne Crichton – Cry-tun
Ifeoma Dieke – Iffy-oma Dee-a-kay
Rachel McLauchlan – Ma-clock-len
Getting it exactly right is tough for the uninitiated, but the following pronunciations may get you a bit closer.
Celia Jiménez – Hee-meh-neth
Silvia Meseguer – Meh-seh-gair
Leila Ouahabi – Wa-ha-bee
Alexia Putellas – Poo-tay-as
Virginia Torrecilla – Torray-see-yah
Marta Torrejón – Torray-hon
The Swedish 'berg' sounds like the English 'berry' – a fact that generations of Swedish players in the British Isles have been too polite to point out.
Emelie Lundberg – Loond-berry
Fridolina Rolfö – Rol-fer
Olivia Schough – Skoog
Basic German should help, but remember that 'th' and 'w' are different sounds to their English equivalents.
Ana-Maria Crnogorčević – Cherno-horch-uh-vitch
Seraina Friedli – Freed-li
Rahel Kiwic – Ki-vitch
Gaëlle Thalmann – Tal-man
Lia Wälti – Vell-tee
Cinzia Zehnder – Chin-zee-a Zayn-der