Pronunciations

#1 The Writer

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 03:15 AM

I don't know about any of you, but I can't get a pronunciation I'm happy with for Tiste Andii. I just can't call them the "Tist Andy". It just sounds wrong in my head. So does my alternate pronunciation: "TIST-eh an-DYE-ee". Is there an official pronunciation? I've yet to come across one.

#2 Defiance

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 03:25 AM

It's "Tist". Not sure about Andii, though. I'm sure I could comb through Erikson interviews to find it.

I wouldn't worry too much about pronunciation, though. What really matters is it sounding good to you. Half the people I know (and probably half the people on this forum) pronounce Malazan wrong (first a is soft, second hard).

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#3 The Writer

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 03:27 AM

mah-LA-zuhn? If that's the case I have been pronouncing it wrong. I thought it was MAL-uh-ZAN.

#4 worry

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 03:51 AM

It makes more sense when you think of it as an extension of Malaz, but I still pronounce it wrong anyway.

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#5 Tehol the Only

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 09:29 AM

Just look for a video/audio interview of SE and you'll hear plenty. IIRC he pronounces it Mal-AY-zuhn (and it was a terrible, terrible shock to hear it).

For the other names, i go with a completely random mix of latin and english pronounciations, whatever seems to fit better, and the results are often kinda weird but who cares

For example, i use latin for Anomander (Uh-know-muhn-der , with "der" like the german article) and english for Rake.
For the tiste andii i go full latin (Tea-stay Uhn-dee).

Edit: couple corrections

This post has been edited by Tehol the Only: 27 May 2013 - 09:48 AM

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#6 The Writer

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 04:13 PM

Tehol the Only, on 27 May 2013 - 09:29 AM, said:

For example, i use latin for Anomander (Uh-know-muhn-der , with "der" like the german article) and english for Rake.
For the tiste andii i go full latin (Tea-stay Uhn-dee).

Edit: couple corrections

I've only had a little bit of time today to watch youtube videos, but already he's rocked my world a bit. He talked about "dah-ROO-jist-AN". I always said it in my head "DAH-roo-HEES-tan". Hearing him pronounce it that way, I'm now 90% certain that at least the southern cities of Genebackis are meant to look Arabic.

#7 Spoilsport Stonny

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Posted 28 May 2013 - 01:27 PM

I've always considered Southern Genebackis as more Byzantine/Ottoman. Malaz is a take on the height of the Roman Empire. RAFO quite soon for a more Arabic setting. Either way, I don't think there are many geographic-cultural similarities to our earth, but more of a cherry-picked kind of thing.

The real pronunciation is and always will be strange to me, but now that I know the correct way, when I introduce the books to new readers I pronounce it properly, but when I read it myself I say it the old and comfy way that I first used.

Also, I've never said Tiste-ay. Just "Teest". And then ahn-DEE. And it's BASS-in-jur. Kim BASS-in-jur.

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Posted 29 May 2013 - 05:05 AM

IIRC, SE says "Tiste" as rhyming with "Tight". I could be wrong. He has also said he doesn't really care how folks want to pronounce names in the series and that he and ICE actually differ on many pronunciations. I generally pronounce "Andii" as "AHN-dee", more or less.