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

[Looney]

I sure hope you're being sarcastic...

He's not... Nguyen is probably the most common vietnamese last name.

Anyways, i pronounce it Newen, but i've heard it pronounced Win. I use to know somebody that had that as his first name, and i use to call him Eugene (he looked like a Eugene)

I've seen it BUTCHERED so many ways... Nu-guy-yen, New-gen, etc. Easiest way to remember is that the G is silent... Ngu is pronounced Nu. My last name, Nghiem, is pronounced Neem. Ngoc, is pronounced Noc. etc. I don't know if it's a rule, but that's the pattern i found... i really should ask my friends to see if it is a rule... maybe somebody here can answer it?

I had a professor say it NAH GUY EN

I don't know where she got that from. But then again, she was an old white lady. I was probably the first vietnamese student she ever had.

Ha, my name is Nghiem, and nobody ever pronounces it right on the first time... except for a Grade 11 english teacher back in Highschool. She was an old english lady too, and i was completely shocked that she was able to properly pronounce it... i should have asked her how she figured it out.

Another teacher that properly pronounced it was a Buddhist prof i had (she was white).

 

[syzygy]

<< 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" >>



thefirm's got it. i needed to know this too. thanks. ng-win !

i had been saying en-win, with the emphasis on 'win', and trying to keep the 'en' as quiet as possible. i didn't think you
could keep the first two or three letters silent, like a few here suggest, and say just 'win'. it was so damn hard to say it
properly that i kept refering to a new vietnamese friend of mine as 'dude', 'guy' or 'chief'

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

pronounce my name!

i used to work bein a telemarketer and we called LOTS of nguyens. at first i said "nig-u-in" then some dude was like "no! it's wen!" so i learned. those "ng" last names were wierd.

oh and can't forget calling phuc tran.

i said "fook", he was like, "no! it's fuk!" i was like, "okay....FUC|<!!!"

 

[Shermanator]

I used to know someone with that name, but everyone pronounced it differently

 

[SaltBoy]

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