February 20, 2010

I’ve gotten a few questions lately from readers about how to pronounce the names in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. The truth is, I don’t care how you pronounce them; it’s fiction, it’s not like any real people will be offended. But I know some people like to be precise, so I’ll share how I’ve been pronouncing them: Yeine: YAY-neh (Yes, two syllables. This seems to be the biggest point of confusion.) Viraine: vih-RAYN Nahadoth: NA-ha-doth Sieh: see-ay (no particular emphasis on either syllable) Kurue: KOO-roo-ay, rolled “r” Zhakkarn: jah-KARN (I prefer using the Mandarin pronunciation of the “zh”, though I […]