# Wrzesniewski (pronunciation)



## Mozzerfan99

Hi, I have tried looking at pronunciation guides to no avail, so could anybody please give me a guide as to how to pronounce the name 'Wrzesniewski*'.
Thanks.*


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## jasio

I suppose that the original (Polish) form of this name is "Wrześniewski", with a diacritics above s. 
Using English transcription it would be more or less "V-zh-eh-sh-nye-f-s-k-ee". In IPA it would probably be [vʒɛɕɲ'ɛ̇̃fsʲci].


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## Ben Jamin

Go to IVONA text to voice, paste in the name as spelled by jasio, choose one of the Polish voices, and listen.


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## slideman

Or try FORVO pronunciation.


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## Ben Jamin

slideman said:


> Or try FORVO pronunciation.


You can't expect to find such a rare name on Forvo. IVONA gives you any word you can spell.


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## slideman

itlll
[QUOTE="Mozzerfan99 said:


> Hi, I have tried looking at pronunciation guides to no avail, so could anybody please give me a guide as to how to pronounce the name 'Wrzesniewski*'.
> Thanks.*



en Jamin, post: 16186024, member: 333877"]You can't expect to find such a rare name on Forvo. IVONA gives you any word you can spell.[/QUOTE]
I think iit's there, - slide


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## Michael de Posnania

I think, the explanation made by @jasio is not bad.
Additionally, I would suggest to divide this family name phonetically in 3 syllables: Wrześ-niew-ski (red means the stressed/ accented syllable).
And now, taking @jasio's explanation as a starting point:

1-rst syllable: Wrześ > Vzhesh
  (hints: V like in the English word "very"; zhe like in the French word "manger" [for "eat"]; and sh - well, it's difficult to explain, but to make it simple, let's pronounce it like e.g. in the English word "hush" );

2-nd syllable: niew > nyef
  (hint: nye sounds like in the Italian word "bo-lo-gne-se"; just add an "f" sound at the end); 

3-rd syllable: ski > skee
  (no hint, it seems self-explaining).

Was it helpful?


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## Karton Realista

Michael de Posnania said:


> sh - well, it's difficult to explain, but to make it simple, let's pronounce it like e.g. in the English word "hush" );


I would suggest German mi*ch, *it's closer to ś.
Although as a purist I propose *ɕ,* the IPA symbol.
Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Michael de Posnania

@ Karton Realista,

the idea for "ś" is not bad, I think! Better than mine above.

However, your German example would work REALLY good only in case you pronounced German language in the Polish manner (German "mich" like Polish "myś").


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## Karton Realista

Michael de Posnania said:


> @ Karton Realista,
> 
> the idea for "ś" is not bad, I think! Better than mine above.
> 
> However, your German example would work REALLY good only in case you pronounced German language in the Polish manner (German "mich" like Polish "myś").


I therefore gave a Wikipedia page about ś, which contains pronunciations, instructions what is going on when somebody says it, etc.


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## Michael de Posnania

Karton Realista said:


> I therefore gave a Wikipedia page about ś, which contains pronunciations, instructions what is going on when somebody says it, etc.


OK, I just don't know, whether Mozzerfan99, who has asked the question, is used to such linguistic instructions.

And Mozzerfan99 could finally tell us, whether he is glad with our instructions and examples!


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## Ben Jamin

The advice of pronouncing the "ś" as English "sh" is  not a good one. If you can't manage to pronounce the "ś" it is better to approximate it as a "s". Pronouncing a "sh" instead of a "ś" sounds terrible to Polish ears, just like pronouncing the English "the" as "zeh".


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## jasio

Ben Jamin said:


> The advice of pronouncing the "ś" as English "sh" is  not a good one. If you can't manage to pronounce the "ś" it is better to approximate it as a "s". Pronouncing a "sh" instead of a "ś" sounds terrible to Polish ears, just like pronouncing the English "the" as "zeh".


A matter of a personal preferences, perhaps, and a pronunciation of a particular speaker. 
A typical English 'sh' is typically somewhere in between "sz" and "ś", and personally, I would prefer if someone says "shlimak" rather than "slimak" - unless it's spoken with a German accent, of course. 

On the other hand, there are cases when it can be ambiguous indeed - like trying to differentiate between "Wiszniewski" and "Wiśniewski".


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## Piotr_WRF

Michael de Posnania said:


> @ Karton Realista,
> 
> [...]
> 
> However, your German example would work REALLY good only in case you pronounced German language in the Polish manner (German "mich" like Polish "myś").



I'm not sure what you mean exactly by pronouncing German the Polish manner but pronouncing German _mich_ like Polish _myś_ (/mɨɕ/) comes actually pretty close to standard German pronunciation (/mɪç/). See ich pronunciation: How to pronounce ich in German, Polish, Asturian, Swiss German, Bavarian, Yiddish, Slovak, Pennsylvania Dutch for some sound samples.


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## tewlwolow

Despite being sorta different articulatorily, [ç] and [ɕ] are pretty much the same auditorily, at least for Poles. Go for it!


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