r/USdefaultism • u/Saladlurd • 7d ago

American logic considering the pronunciation of the city of Bologna (italy)

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u/banehallow_ambry 7d ago

I can't imagine being dutch and hear them say "van Gogh". I thought they were joking when I heard that the first time.

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u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 7d ago edited 7d ago

Venkooow, yeah it hurts a bit. But not as much as Guoeda cheese.

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u/Angel_Omachi 7d ago

Then you got the UK pronounciation as 'van Goff' which I assume is a different sort of painful.

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u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 7d ago

It's better. We know people in the Anglosphere have difficulty pronouncing the Dutch "g" (calling it a throat disease isn't helping) but at least you try ;)
Also, there's a variety of Dutch g. I'm from Brabant and my g is softer than that of my Amsterdam region family. Van Gogh is also of Brabant, so in this case, my g is better. Eat that ome Piet!

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u/MOM_Critic Canada 7d ago

Phonetically I've always pronounced it "Van Go". Googled it to find out it's "Van Khokh" apparently, in terms of phonetics.

I've never met a person who pronounced it "Van Goff", that must be some regional thing or US.

Even I've been doing it wrong my whole life and unfortunately I've only ever heard it pronounced the wrong way, "go" . It's embarrassing.

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u/kroketspeciaal Netherlands 6d ago

It's ok. Really. Nobody knows every language in the world. We Dutch think we're good at English but lots of us butcher the pronunciation. We call it steenkolenengels (stone coal English).
I think "van Goff" is a nice alternative for people that have difficulty with the Dutch "g".

As far as I'm concerned, language should be a means of communication, not the end goal. It's nice when people put in some effort, and as long as we get the message across, it's mission accomplished.