# Ukrainian: Czupak



## ashkrisisme01

My great-great grandparents came to America from the Ukraine, and their last name was "Czupak".  Does anyone know how to pronounce that in english?


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## dudasd

"Czupak" - you can read it as "Chupak", where *ch* is like *ch* in *ch*ick, *u* is like *u* in tr*u*th, *p* is *p*, and ak is like *uck* in d*uck*.


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## Zsanna

I could imagine a name like that with Hungarian origins as well (there are Hungarians living in Unkraine). 
The Hungarian pronunciation would differ from the one dudasd (another Hungarian name! ) gave above only in that of the "Cz" which is "tz" like in tzar.


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## kvvic

Both above variants ([chup'a:k] and [zup'a:k]) are possible and the first one is more widely spread. If you post here the name in cyrillic characters, I'll write you the exact pronounciation.


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## Glitz

*Šupak?  maybe?*http://www.eudict.com/?lang=croeng&word=šupak


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## Zsanna

kvvic said:


> Both above variants ([chup'a:k] and [zup'a:k]) are possible and the first one is more widely spread. If you post here the name in cyrillic characters, I'll write you the exact pronounciation.


 
Just a small reminder: in Hungarian (second transcription) the main accent is always on the first syllable so it would be rather like: ['tsupa:k] but this (for the language learners classical) transcription is mostly unknown for native speakers anyway so it may not change much...


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## kvvic

In Ukrainian I would pronounce both variants with the accent on the second syllable.
I don't know how "cz" should be understood because there're no strict rules of transliteration from Ukrainian into English.


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## Zsanna

Yes, I understand.  
The trouble is the sort of transcription that native speakers understand and use (_not_ the official phonetic transcription) we, foreigners, cannot reproduce easily - I prefer even not to try!


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## kvvic

You mean something like (choop'aak), *oo* like in sch*oo*l and *aa* like in f*a*ther?
I picked up the corresponding letters from the MSN Encarta Dictionary.
Perhaps native speakers rarely need a transcription. I'd be surprised to see a transcription in a Russian or Ukrainian dictionary.


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## Zsanna

Yes, that's the sort I mean. (But those examples were easy!  (Thanks for the clue.)

Well, they must need them from time to time otherwise the dictionary-makers wouldn't bother mentioning them after every word in every dictionary (and especially in one language, English dictionaries)...

It is normal not to have a transcription in languages where spelling follows fairly well the pronunciation but it is not the case in English. (Even in French it happens that dictionaries mention pronunciation when it differs significantly from the normal rules. But in our region I do not know of any language that would need that...)


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## ashkrisisme01

Zsanna said:


> Just a small reminder: in Hungarian (second transcription) the main accent is always on the first syllable so it would be rather like: ['tsupa:k] but this (for the language learners classical) transcription is mostly unknown for native speakers anyway so it may not change much...


 
someone else mentioned that sort of pronunciation to me [tsupak] but is that hungarian, or how the ukranians would say it? and is it pak like the "a" in "backp*a*ck" or pak like like the "a" in "f*a*ther"? and one other thing, how do you pronounce the "tsu"?


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## kvvic

In Ukrainian we would say [tsupAk], the accent on the last syllable, _*a*_ like in _f*a*ther_, _*ts*_ like in _*ts*ar_ (for its pronounciation see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ru-tsar.ogg)


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## ashkrisisme01

Thank you, that's been great help. So I listened to it and you do pronounce the *t* before the *s*, I think. At least that's what I heard.


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## kvvic

Yes, you're right, we do pronounce it.


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## ashkrisisme01

ok, great. thanks so much for your help. i really do appreciate it. :]


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## Vasyliok

It seems to me that the name should be rendered in English as *Ch*_upak_. The rendering like_* cz*_ originates from Polish, which was spread in the west of Ukraine in past.
Чупак - Chupak


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