Marseille!--How is it Pronounced?

[AV82DV8]

Hi All,

To our German members, what is the correct pronounciation of Hans-Joachim Marseille's last name?

Always curious,

Fred

[Yves Marino]

As you pronounce the name of the french city (in French of course).

[ChrisMAg2]

I deleted my original message, as I have found out it would lead to wrong conclusions. I meant something else and that is not of importance for this thread.
I appologise deeply, if somebody felt insulted by what I had written.

[Graham Boak]

As in Gdansk/Danzig, you mean? Or a lot of other examples in Eastern Europe? I'm afraid that statement doesn't seem to stand up.

However, no matter how the city Marseilles is pronounced, this is not necessarily a guide to the pronounciation of the name Marseille. I understood it was pronounced Mar-sy-le, but cannot claim that as definitive.

[Primoz]

Originally Posted by Graham Boak

As in Gdansk/Danzig, you mean? Or a lot of other examples in Eastern Europe? I'm afraid that statement doesn't seem to stand up.

This and other examples in Eastern Europe are quite different as - unlike Marseille - one can't always tell which name is "original". There were many ethnic minorities especially in Eastern (and Central) Europe and they had their own toponyms (including German names). But it must be very annoying to non-German readers of English translations if such exonyms are not translated. Names like Steinamanger (Szombathely), Fünfkirchen (Pécs), Lüttich (Liège) etc. etc. are absolutely normal in German books but are out of place in English translations.

[Graham Boak]

Most of the examples you quote are actually completely different names, rather than merely variations. However, I don't think this is true of Danzig/Gdansk. Here is a case of one root name with two linguistic variants, like Cologne/Koln or London/Londres.

I assume that this kind of variation is rather uncommon in any language, as few foreign city/town names would go into common usage.

[Andy Mac]

Hey Fred - pronounced ' mar-say '.

Andy.