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April 7, 2012 10:42 AM   Subscribe

How should I correctly pronounce these Lithuanian names?

I'm presenting at my first academic conference next weekend (political ecology/ social science if you have any pro tips on that front) and am so used to only writing these names that I forgot I have no idea how to pronounce them!

Aušrinė Armaitienė
Ramūnas Povilanskas
Klaipeda University
posted by thewestinggame to Education (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Klaipeda, at least, is on Forvo.
posted by cairdeas at 11:17 AM on April 7, 2012


Based on my understanding from a Lithuanian friend of a friend, pronunciation is pretty consistent. This pronunciation guide may help. I'll see if I can track down his email and ask him for more details (particularly which syllables would be stressed).
posted by scody at 11:42 AM on April 7, 2012


Best answer: If you're presenting in English, the real question isn't "How would a Lithuanian pronounce these names?" You're not trying to pass as Lithuanian, after all! You're just trying to present yourself as a normal, basically well-informed English-speaking social scientist. So the question to ask is "How does your average English-speaking social scientist tend to pronounce these names?"

If these authors are widely discussed enough to be household names in your subfield, ask a colleague how they'd pronounce them. If they're not that widely discussed, then in the worst case you can just make a plausible guess at the pronunciation and nobody will think less of you for it.

This is still a good and valid question (and I'm sorry I don't know the answer) but you probably don't need to worry about it as much as you think.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:34 PM on April 7, 2012 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Native Lithuanian speaker here:

Ow-shree-neh Ahr-my-tien-nay

Ruh-moo-nuss Poh-vee-lan-skuhs

Kl-eye-pay-dos Universi-teh-tas (Klaipedos Univesitetas, which is Lithuanian for University of Klaipeda)
posted by seawallrunner at 9:49 PM on April 7, 2012 [2 favorites]


seawallrunner: Can you indicate which syllable is stressed in each of those words? Is it OW-shree-neh, ow-SHREE-neh, or ow-shree-NEH? (No need to do this for Universitetas, since the presentation will be in English.)
posted by languagehat at 1:50 PM on April 8, 2012


with pleasure:

Ow-SHREE-neh Ahr-my-TIEN-nay

Ruh-MOO-nuss Poh-vee-LANS-kuhs
posted by seawallrunner at 1:58 PM on April 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


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