PolishForums LIVE  /  Archives [3]    
   
Archives - 2010-2019 / Language  % width 16

Pronunciation of Name 'Mieczyslaw'?


paesan  
27 Nov 2011 /  #1
Could anyone please tell me how to pronounce the first name Mieczyslaw? He was at Auschwitz and I wish to pay him tribute appropriately. Thank you!
Wroclaw  44 | 5359  
27 Nov 2011 /  #2
Mieczyslaw

me-etch-ee-suave ... say it at double speed
boletus  30 | 1356  
27 Nov 2011 /  #3
Myeh cheese suave - sounds almost acceptable
Myeh chise suave - this sounds even better

Tested using a synthetic voice of Google translate
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Nov 2011 /  #4
myeh-chis-suave
Natasa  1 | 572  
27 Nov 2011 /  #5
suave

Where did L go? It is not pronounced in Polish?
Isn't it from Slaw, like Slav in serbian names Svetislav,Rastislav...?
Wroclaw  44 | 5359  
27 Nov 2011 /  #6
Where did L go? It is not pronounced in Polish?

it's correct. after all three people agree so. there is an ł sound in there.
rozumiemnic  8 | 3875  
27 Nov 2011 /  #7
Dark L, like when Tony Blair used to say 'people' as 'peepaw' or something like that.
Wroclaw  44 | 5359  
27 Nov 2011 /  #8
it's not L. it's ł as in w ater
PennBoy  76 | 2429  
27 Nov 2011 /  #9
Mieczyslaw

Thank god I don't have a typical Slavic male name but a Latin one. No one here in the States would be able to pronounce it correctly. lol
OP paesan  
27 Nov 2011 /  #10
Thank you so much to everyone who answered. This has plagued me for several years and up until now, I was close. I wish to do research on this man, who through his photo, connected to me somehow while I was touring Auschwitz. I've even come upon a photo of him when he was healthier, in a PBS documentary! Perhaps he has more to say and perhaps, through a miracle of research, I'll find out what it is.

His full name is Mieczyslaw Nowak from the Lodz region. I think he just wants to be remembered. Please pray for peace for him. And thank you again!
rozumiemnic  8 | 3875  
27 Nov 2011 /  #11
it's not L. it's ł as in water

yeh, like I said, it's known as 'dark L' in linguistics.
For example you might hear it when someone from essex says 'MILK'
Wroclaw  44 | 5359  
27 Nov 2011 /  #12
eh, like I said, it's known as 'dark L' in linguistics.

ok. i have learnt something. thanks
OP paesan  
27 Nov 2011 /  #13
A little P.S. to my note. Mr. Nowak was from Random I believe, then transferred to Lodz and then to Auschwitz.
a.k.  
27 Nov 2011 /  #14
Dark L, like when Tony Blair used to say 'people' as 'peepaw' or something like that.

Dark L in Poland is not pronounced like dark L anymore. It's pronounce like English "w" now.
boletus  30 | 1356  
27 Nov 2011 /  #15
True, the old actors and the people from beyond the Bug river are all dead now. For them the dark L was the natural way of speech. Listen to this:

- A no podejdż do płota.
- A po co?
- Podejdź bo i ja podchodzę. A teraz rób co ja robię.
- Zdjąłem. Tylko nie wiem przed czym..
- Na okoliczność. że na nasze głupoty koniec nadchodzi.
- Ano, zdałoby się Kazik.
- Płacz Władek, nie wstydź si. Bo jak prawdziwy chłop płacze to musi być swięto.
- Oj musi, musi.
- Widzisz?

- Well walk up to the fence.
- And for what?
- Walk up because I walk up. Now do what I do.
- I took it off. Just I do not know what for ..
- For the occasion that our stupidity is coming to the end.
- That would do well, Kazik.
- Cry Wladek, do not be ashamed. For if a real man is crying there must be a holiday.
- Oh, it must, it must.
- You see?
steveegallo  
14 Dec 2015 /  #16
Really terrific thread ending in the video fragment....Many thanks! and Greetings from an old Jew in Puerto Aventuras, Mexico

Archives - 2010-2019 / Language / Pronunciation of Name 'Mieczyslaw'?Archived