Guild Wars 2

Ok, dont want to be “that” person, but this really really jars.

Quay, is pronounced “key” not “Qu-way” as the voice actors in this game do, its incredibly annoying.

Maybe its an american thing, butkitten the language is English. Maybe you could start doing English regional versions where you pronounce things correctly.

(-kittenipad keyboards, and cant edit subject…nm)

The voice acting, and by extension sound direction, is definitely one of the weaker aspects of the game. To add to your correct observation regarding “quay”, “Centaur” is pronounced “Cen-tore” not “cen-tar” and “Golem” is “Go-lehm” not “Gollum”.

Not a dealbreaker but cringe-worthy for sure.

Uh, I think this is just because you’re a Brit. In America we say “Kway” and “Sen-tar.” Since the game is American, it uses American correct pronunciations. In case you didn’t notice, it also drops the “u” in words like armor and color, and uses z’s instead of s’s.

In Canada we say Key. It really bugs me, just like when they pronounce jotun joeton instead of Yotun, as it should be. Just ignorance really.

Also, all the ravens in the game are crows.

@MolotovkittentailParty: Nope.
It’s not British vs. American pronunciation; click on the US flag:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/quay
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/centaur

(I was wrong about “golem” though).

pharazonic.8694:

@MolotovkittentailParty: Nope.
It’s not British vs. American pronunciation; click on the US flag:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/quay
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/centaur

(I was wrong about “golem” though).

You can see the second pronunciation on quay is “kay,” which over time developed a w sound in the middle of it. The common American pronunciation is kway; even my professors say it like that.

I notice Australians pronounce it “kay” as well

Give it a break okay? Isnt this so petty that its not even mention worthy? Pronouncing of words? Sersiously? Every person can say words that have an option of being British or American in a different way, Yes, there is a correct way of saying a word but its just darn petty and seriously disrespectful towards people that actually are not from an English speaking country, as these people most definetly can not pronounce most English words perfectly.

Get a hold of yourselves.

Each generation, Australians turn ever-more into Americans. The average Aussie does not even know what `gaol’ means any more. They pronounce and spell ever more things the American way, rather than the English/Commonwealth way.

That said, I also keep getting bugged by the weird pronunciation used in this game

Pronounced “kway” where I come from. Start spouting off the “key” pronunciation around here and people are not going to understand you. Language…any language is highly regional and subject to interpretation.

But yeah…down here in the south (USA) We think all of y’all talk funny

ErkiB.8375:

Give it a break okay? Isnt this so petty that its not even mention worthy? Pronouncing of words? Sersiously? Every person can say words that have an option of being British or American in a different way, Yes, there is a correct way of saying a word but its just darn petty and seriously disrespectful towards people that actually are not from an English speaking country, as these people most definetly can not pronounce most English words perfectly.

Get a hold of yourselves.

oh so serious……

Bit of fun really. Though it is pretty jarring, and worrying that “professional” voice actors cant pronounce normal words correctly.

This wound me up like you wouldn’t believe. It’s KEY. And I’m almost certain buoy is BOY, not boowee while we’re here.

Sorry Brits, around these parts Quay is pronounced “kway”
Centaur is usually said “Cen-Tar” as in CENtury and Tar as in the sticky black stuff.
Golem is pronounced pretty much as it looks. “Go-Lehm”
And I have never heard anyone pronounce buoy ans “boy”, its always been “Boo-ee” or on occasion “Boo-eh” or “Boo-ay” based on accent.

And while we are on the subject it is Toe-MAY-Toe, Al-oom-in-um, and Soc-cer

Maybe it’s because I’m from a landlocked area but I had not encountered the word “quay” before the human areas. And using basic grammar deductive skills the pronunciation of “kway” seemed pretty natural. Off the top of my head I can’t think of any other words that start with “qu” that aren’t pronounced with a “kw” sound.

It’s pronounced “key” here in America, too, unless someone is mispronouncing it.
It’s Cen like “century” and Taur like “Taurus”, as well. Centaur (sen-tore).

Quay is an unusual one only because it’s not a commonly used word and the written word looks nothing like it actually sounds, so it’s misused frequently.

Buoy is a regional dialect thing, and it’s pretty much accepted as “boo-ee” through most of the U.S., with only a few parts still using “boy” regularly. It has multiple potential ancestors, which contributes to its varied uses, where Quay is pretty much key anywhere anyone is pronouncing it correctly.

Cameirus.8407:

Maybe its an american thing, butkitten the language is English.

The language is actually American English, which is the most commonly spoken dialect of English. Though AE itself has many regional variations, which is why I can’t help but notice every time my asura says “golem”.

That all being said, “quay” is not an oft-used word here in the west coast. I’ve lived most of my life near the beach and I honestly had to look it up just now to make sure of what we were talking about. I’ve heard it actually spoken maybe once, and I’m pretty sure that was in a “other things you can call the wharf” discussion when I was young.

Cameirus.8407:

Maybe you could start doing English regional versions where you pronounce things correctly.

British English != correct English.

tclark.8956:

(sen-tore).

I’ve honestly never heard centaur pronounced like that. Very interesting.

It’s kway, sen-tar, and go-lem (as in goal-lemon) .

If you’re doing it differently, you’re doing it wrong (Or are British)

Sounds like the voice actors are correct!

Always remember, the pronunciation which is most phonetically accurate wins in a dispute.

I pronounce it Kay personally.

I’m conflicted with this because I pronounce all of those words BOTH ways. I used to live in the States, but now live in the UK, so I sometimes don’t even realise the words are being pronounced differently because they both process to me as the same thing.

Also, ignore my British spelling. It’s contagious.

Yes…it’s key…aand go’lem…GOLLUM!!!???..what, these metal things like fish do they?

:/

pharazonic.8694:

(I was wrong about “golem” though).

Not too wrong though. A lot closer to the yidish than most people I see on the internet explaining how to pronounce the word (and who of course completly ignore the fact that it is a hebrew word with respective pronounciation).
:)

Travleer.6301:

I notice Australians pronounce it “kay” as well

I’m Australian and it’s always been “key”.

Can’t we just accept that different people and regions pronounce some words differently? Whenever I play Magic the Gathering, there’s a GO-lem/GOLL-um discussion. I believe both can be correct.

“You say to-may-toe, I say to-mah-toe, let’s call the whole thing off…”

First world problems, much? The accents I hear aren’t mine, golem can be go-lem or gol-em and it’s really not important. I don’t see the beef with the voice acting, myself. Seems to do just fine from where I’m standing (listening)

Its pronounced Kway and if you dont like how I pronounce it, take it up with my English teacher, not me….

Vorpal.4683:

It’s kway, sen-tar, and go-lem (as in goal-lemon) .

That’s most likely right…in the US, other English speaking countries will have different pronunciations, honesty they are all right as long as it is accepted within their countries official language.

Vorpal.4683:

If you’re doing it differently, you’re doing it wrong (Or are British)

It’s not wrong just because It’s not how you say in the US and whats wrong with the British pronunciation or the British?

Vorpal.4683:

Always remember, the pronunciation which is most phonetically accurate wins in a dispute.

So wrong I can’t even believe you typed that. If for example i said “Knight” would pronouncing it “night” be wrong then?

To the OP, in all honesty this whole thread is unnecessary…you could be playing gw2 instead of making threads about pronunciation lol :P

By the way…at what point did anyone even say “Quay”?

Vorpal.4683:

If you’re doing it differently, you’re doing it wrong (Or are British)

You are SO right, the British are totally wrong on the language they speak natively and then transferred to America.
(you know you speak english right? that originated in britain)

Quay: “Key”

Centaur: “Sin-tar”

Golem: “Goe-lem”

Trahearne: “Gah-ree-stu”

When dealing with something as wide-reaching as acceptable pronunciation, it’s wise to get at least a second opinion. Here’s Merriam-Webster’s take:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quay – note that the third accepted pronunciation is indeed “Qu-way” as the OP writes it, and the rhyming words down the page support that pronunciation as well

Now I’ve no idea what country or region their golem pronunciation came from (its Hebrew roots?), but I just tell myself that’s how the Asura pronounce it and go on about my day.

Edit: Showed pronunciation properly in preview, but didn’t show the IPA coding properly on the board itself. Changed to reduce confusion.

DivineDragoonKain.7840:

Trahearne: “Gah-ree-stu”

lmao!

…Sen-tore? I have never once heard it pronounced like that.

Tar.

Tar-us.

Sen-tar.

Round here it is pronounced “Kay”, as in “j/k” or K-mart.

There is a street and neighbourhood in downtown Toronto called Queen’s Quay. Toronto, as it happens, is also the most multicultural city in the world, but everyone here knows that it’s pronounced Queen’s Key. If you were to say it any other way, it would sound wrong, because it is.

Obviously different regions and areas of the world will have variances in local dialect and speech patters. However, despite what you all might be accustomed to hearing, a professional voice actor really should know how to speak correct English.

I’d never ever heard the word “quay” until I spent a few months in Ireland. It’s definitely said like “key” there. Do other Americans even use that word?

For what it’s worth, all of the German- and Norse-sounding words in the Norn areas are also pronounced poorly. The most obvious example is “Knut”, which is most definitely not pronounced as “newt”. It’s cuh-newt. The “k” isn’t silent. So annoying…

This quote just seems to fit into this thread. I mean, of all the things to pick on, this is what bothers you the most.

“Sometimes the most remarkable things seem commonplace. I mean when you think about it jet travel is pretty freaking remarkable. You get in a plane it defies the gravity of a entire planet by exploiting a loophole with air pressure and it flies across distances that would take months or years to cross by any means of travel that has been significant for more than a century or three. You hurtle above the earth at enough speed to kill you instantly should you bump into something and you can only breathe because someone built you a really good tin can that seems tight enough to hold in a decent amount of air. Hundreds of millions of man-hours of work and struggle and research blood sweat tears and lives have gone into the history of air travel and it has totally revolutionized the face of our planet and societies.

But get on any flight in the country and I absolutely promise you that you will find someone who in the face of all that incredible achievement will be willing to complain about the drinks.”

? Jim Butcher, Summer Knight

Oh I’m French-Canadian, I probably pronounce many english words wrong, in fact it makes my English speaking friends laugh quite often But even in French quay is pronounced with a hard K not QW. Even our French words like qualité (quality) is pronounced ka-lee-tay not kwa-lee-tay
I bet the best way to deal with this, because I’m sure Anet won’t remake those voice files, is to say ok in Tyria they have that accent heehee.

Do the Brits pronounce “quick” as “kick”? “Quest” as “kest”? What qualifies the “kw” sound as opposed to the “k”, which is supposedly correct for the anomaly known as “quay”?

Travleer.6301:

I notice Australians pronounce it “kay” as well

no wtf. we pronounce it key like any self respecting english speaker.

What bothers me about the pronunciation involved with GW2 isn’t the way things are said in game (except Niamh as Nee-Am, it should be Neev as it is in Ireland), the thing that bothers me most is the way Ree Soesbee pronounced the word Legion in a dev talk video. She pronounced it lee-gun.

I mean c’mon… I can put up with kway and sen-tar, and just about put up with goll-em but if lee-gun had made it into the game I don’t know if I would be able to cope.

Also, with regards to centaur; I’m English so I say sen-tor. However, I have a question… How would any Americans out there pronounce Taurus, or Taurine?

We’d generally say “tore us” and “tore een”.

Being Welsh with several Irish friends, I find it very irritating how nearly every single Sylvari name that’s Welsh or Irish is mispronounced or has some sort of dodgy spelling. Caithe should just be “ka”, Trahearne should be “tra-hay-an”, Iowerth should be “yor-werth”, Niamh should be “neev”, Aife should be “ee-fuh”, etc.

If you’re going to use names from other languages then at least try to say them properly. Otherwise generic fantasy names should be used.

As for quay, the British (and etymologically correct) pronunciation probably comes from French unlike words such as quick and quest which are of Proto-Germanic and Latin origin respectively.

Kwami.4356:

We’d generally say “tore us” and “tore een”.

False.

I’m American. I say Tar-us and I’ve never needed to say taurine before, but I’d imagine I’d say it tar-in or something else. I also say My-no-tar.

And though pronouncing actual names wrong is more of a legitimate complaint, I rather like the pronunciations. I far prefer them to the usual fantasy affair.

Your non-normal pronunciation doesn’t change what I said. The word “generally” wasn’t there by accident.

Snowy.1469:

Being Welsh with several Irish friends, I find it very irritating how nearly every single Sylvari name that’s Welsh or Irish is mispronounced or has some sort of dodgy spelling. Caithe should just be “ka”, Trahearne should be “tra-hay-an”, Iowerth should be “yor-werth”, Niamh should be “neev”, Aife should be “ee-fuh”, etc.

“Vyacheslav” was mispronounced too, but it’s not really worth raging over.

Kwami.4356:

Your non-normal pronunciation doesn’t change what I said. The word “generally” wasn’t there by accident.

I’m also American, and your pronunciation is the non-normal one.

What on earth does any group of people on Earth have to do with this conversation? It doesn’t matter how I, as an American, pronounces these words because it may not be the same to an Asuran. Sylvari pronounce things differently too. Any character on Tyria could kick my butt so who am I to judge?

lol jk…. but really… These are all different and none are “right”. What can ever be the judge of what is “right” in this case anyways?

DivineDragoonKain.7840:

Kwami.4356:

Your non-normal pronunciation doesn’t change what I said. The word “generally” wasn’t there by accident.

I’m also American, and your pronunciation is the non-normal one.

Look, this is easy to show. Ford makes a car called the Taurus. In all of their advertising, they call it the “tore us”. In fact, I’d bet that you cannot find a single example of anyone saying “tar us” in American pop culture. For what it’s worth, the classical pronunciation of the Latin word “Taurus” is more like “tow roos” where the “ow” sounds like “ouch”.

None of this matters, though. It’s clear that the voice actors in this game made up their own dialect of English that kittenizes all foreign words and sounds rather silly.

Where [pronounced we-are] I [h-ai] come [ku-um] from [fhu-rim] we [whe-w-w-e] always [val-hewys] speak [espiken] things [dh-ingings] correctly [correctly].

Around here we dont really care how its said because bashing someone for how they pronounce something is ridiculousness to say the least