# Georgian: Is this pronunciation found in Forvo accurate?



## Rainbowlight

Hello everyone,

I am enclosing a link to the pronunciation of the name of Georgian fashion designer Demna Gvasalia by a Forvo user. 

I would like to know if the pronunciation is actually correct.

You can find the link just beneath my signature.

Thanks for your time and help.

Rainbow Light

Pronunciations for Demna Gvasalia in German


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## winenous

Sounds OK, but it is spoken by someone in Germany.

Last time you were asking about this here I posted a Forvo link to Demna Gvasalia written in Georgian script, and there you have a pronunciation by someone from Georgia
დემნა გვასალია pronunciation: How to pronounce დემნა გვასალია in Georgian
Personally I can hear no significant difference between any of the pronunciations on Forvo. Maybe there are slight differences in stress, but any stress in Georgian is slight and can vary slightly depending on the speaker and the context.

Why do you ask? And why are you so keen to be correct?

Sometimes natives of country A do not pronounce names from country B as natives of country B would, and in some cases that "incorrect" pronunciation may be better to use if it is more commonly recognised in country A. It is very common with geographical names. If I pronounced Paris in the French way when speaking English in to Brits, it would sound rather prententious. If I pronounced Oslo as Norwegians do, I probably would not be understood.

What I am trying to say is that if you are, for example, making a documentary about Demna Gvasalia that is aimed at Spanish fashion designers, you might do better to ask Spanish fashion designers how they would pronounce the name. Just a suggestion.


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## Rainbowlight

Hello, 

I was actually referring to the other pronunciation, which was supposed to be pronounced by a Georgian speaker. Strangely, the content seems to have been removed. Even more strangely, the pronunciation that I was looking for *is* in the very link that you sent me.

I agree with your ideas on the pronunciation of geographical terms. However, I think that a fairly educated person living in this day and age likes to learn about the "original" pronunciation of some names and surnames. they may be actors, athletes, singers, music bands... It is fun, you learn that your mother tongue is not the only one on Earth and you can learn a valuable lesson about the relative character of voicing letters.

I am currently living in France, but I can assure you that the Spanish people do pronounce, say, Tom Cruise, Sigmund Freud, Donatella Versace or Damon Albarn with a high degree of similitude. It has very little to do with
overcorrection. I actually see it is a signal of respect towards the person you are talking to.

I have to say the I love the link that you sent me because of the pleasant, soothing nature of the voice and because it is a pronunciation that is actually clearly comprehensible for me. I can hear and understand where the accent is placed and the first two sounds seem to be a consonant followed by a vowel, which is a pattern found everywhere in Spanish. 

Thanks for your time and help.


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## winenous

Rainbowlight said:


> I agree with your ideas on the pronunciation of geographical terms. However, I think that a fairly educated person living in this day and age likes to learn about the "original" pronunciation of some names and surnames. they may be actors, athletes, singers, music bands... It is fun, you learn that your mother tongue is not the only one on Earth and you can learn a valuable lesson about the relative character of voicing letters.
> 
> I am currently living in France, but I can assure you that the Spanish people do pronounce, say, Tom Cruise, Sigmund Freud, Donatella Versace or Damon Albarn with a high degree of similitude. It has very little to do with
> overcorrection. I actually see it is a signal of respect towards the person you are talking to.


Understood. I appreciate that need for correctness.

Sadly, in the UK most people don't seem to care about how foreigners pronounce names in their own language, and to an extent foreigners are complicit by anglicising their names.


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## Rainbowlight

winenous said:


> Understood. I appreciate that need for correctness.
> 
> Sadly, in the UK most people don't seem to care about how foreigners pronounce names in their own language, and to an extent foreigners are complicit by anglicising their names.


Thanks for your answer.


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