MODS -- PLEASE LOCK. I now know how to pronounce "Nguyen!"

[SaltBoy]

It's a Vietnamese last name, I believe. Unfortunately, I'm just a white male with no knowledge of how to prounce Asian names.

Anybody wanna help me out? Thanks.

/edit Ask a simple question -- get 50 simple answers. Good grief.

 

[BigSmooth]

I think it's something like "Nwen".

 

[Electric Amish]

newen

amish

 

[AzAbyss]

Noo-yen, I'm pretty sure.

-Az

 

[fastz28]

I thought it's like "win"?

 

[kpxgq]

i have quite a few vietnamese friends (actually my last gf was viet).. its pronounced nwen..

can you say.. "pho - Q"?

 

[SSP]

Tommy.

 

[trmiv]

I think it depends on the person. A guy a used to know with that last name always told me to say "win" but a girl I know with that last name tells me to say "newen."

 

[tasslex]

I had a friend in HS who's last name was Nguyen, when asked he always said pronounce it like "WIN", but that might have been just to make it easy on us.

 

[vash]

This name is the most difficult for any non-Vietnamese person to pronounce. I pronouce it somewhat like "winning". The "ng" sound starts the name and "win" finishes it. Its a pretty easy name to pronounce, once you hear it from someone who translates Vietnamese. Others may disagree with me, but I've found that none of my friends are appauled or upset when I say their name.

vash

 

[Noriaki]

I new a few people in high school with that name, and it was either "Win" or "Nwen" depending on which one you asked.

 

[kt]

<< I thought it's like "win"? >>



yeah, Nguyen and Huynh are the same last name. Just different spelling.

 

[weezergirl]

well my last name is nguyen. there is no "right" way to pronounce it in english. i prefer win or nwen tho.

it's really annoying when people ask me how to pronounce it tho. i always feel like i don't know which to say! and it really doesn't matter to me how u pronounce my last name cuz it's always going to be wrong anyways. just say whichever way you like

 

[HardcoreRobot]

my nguyen friends respond to "win", although i mostly just call them "na goo yen" or dirty viets!!!!! i love em

 

[TheFirm]

First the "ng" is somewhat like "thing". pronounce "thing" w/o the "thi" then add it to "WIN". So it would sound like "Ngwin" not "nuh-gwin", "Ngwin"

 

[CanOWorms]

I have a friend with that last name. I call him Nuh-goo-yen Mainly b/c I didn't know how to pronounce it correctly at first (I knew it was wrong) and b/c his first name is Mike and I know too many Mikes

 

[trmiv]

Isn't that last name a really common Vietnamese name? Kind of like the Vietnamese Smith?

 

[SaltBoy]

<< Isn't that last name a really common Vietnamese name? Kind of like the Vietnamese Smith? >>



I sure hope you're being sarcastic...

 

[kpxgq]

<< Isn't that last name a really common Vietnamese name? Kind of like the Vietnamese Smith? >>




yup but moreso..

brown/smith is like less than 30% of American population

nguyen/tran/vo is like 80% of vietnamese population

and kim/lee/park is like 99% of korean population


i like to tease my viet friends and call em "awesome dude when"



but seriously how do u pronounce "pho-q"?

 

[ItsStillUS]

I've seen it pronounced two different ways

Nwen - This is related to the Win or Wen that people hear, because people are lazy and don't pronounce the "N" sometimes.

New-Yen I here this one less often, but i here it often enough

 

[AkumaX]

new-guy-en

ni-jew-yen

 

[Egrimm]

I pronounce it like TheFirm, that's because that's the way my vietnamese classmate (who's called that) said it should be said.
trmiv, I think it's even more common. My friend said that nearly a fourth of the vietnamese is called Nguyen, don't know if it's true, but there sure is many having that last name.

 

[Deeko]

There's a girl in my school with that name, she pronounces it Win.

 

[mpitts]

We just hired a girl with that last name, and she pronounces it "win".

 

[randomlinh]

if i said i don't know, would you believe me

i can't even say it "correctly" as my dad tells me.. heh. i don't get asked anymore how to pronounce it... it's just whatever the person has interpreted before by whomever.. i don't really care unless it's completely jumbled up... or if it somehow effects any paychecks i might want

btw, asking for a pronunciation (sp?) of a word on the internet... not a good idea