Retuks;3309004; said:
am bee? why? lol
and just to cover correct pernunciation side:
watonai = wa-ton-eye
tosakin = toes-ah-keen (or toes-ah-kin if it pleases you)
ryukin = ree-you-keen (again "keen or kin")
i have never heard anyone say "bee cheer" before and if i did id probably laugh no offence to anyone who says that though.
i think some of the problems have to do with accent too. usually neutral accents will be more prone to correct pronunciation. while european/ north american southerners are more prone to pronouncing it within their accentual limitations. and also people with valley girl (coastal?) accents can get some things pretty twisted aswell. as most north Americans have trouble pronouncing anything foreign correctly.
spanish, greek, etc. latin forms of accents will also be more likely to correctly pronounce fish names (especially the latin part lol).
Interesting thread.
I come from a latin country (with a latin based language) and had to study latin and latin law in college (many years ago...forgot most of it) so the latin words and accent are a bit more natural and easy to say to me (even if, like everybody else, I have some accent - in my case, Portuguese - when saying them).
Sometimes, when speaking to someone from another country, I find easier to use and understand the English names than the latin ones, because the different accents make same words sound completely different.
I don´t know phonetics but I´ll give it a try as regards my understanding of some of the names mentioned:
"bichir" - would be something like "bee-keer" (ch is k)
"umbee" - "oom-bee" ("oom" like in doom)
"The latin names for the thinbar and the silver dats have always given me trouble."
Datnioides pulcher - "Dat-nee-oi*-dehs" "pool-ker"
*oi - like in moisture
D. polota (undecimradiatus) - d. "poh-loh-ta"/ "uhn-deh-seem-rah-dee-ah-tuhs"
Other:
"cae***" - read "keh"
cichlid - "see-kleed"
piranha (Portuguese - from Brasil - word) - pee-ra*-nha**
*ra, like in "random"
**nh - makes a single sound, like in "Espanha"
and out of curiosity,
The guy you call Magellan, was a Portuguese with a name that has typicall Portuguese phonetic and very difficult one to say by non-portuguese speakers:
Fernão de Magalhães - "fehr-naooom* deh ma-ga-lha**-hes
* I don´t have a clue how that sounds, lol; I could never have a non-portuguese speaker say correctly my own name - João
** that neither
Edit: I found a way !
go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan
and then here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_Portuguese
