Reference: Hermes Pronunciation Guide

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#125
Greentea said:
I think we should start one, since some of the item names can be tricky! Here are some colors, bags and other things that may be hard to pronounce based on spelling. PLEASE, please continue to add to this post until we have a good guide and can walk into any Hermes and ask for what we want correctly. I think this is always a nice touch! :)

Hermes: Air-MES(z), (S sound is a combo of s and z.)

Colors:

Potiron - Poh-tee-RAW(n) (very subtle n sound as the final syllable)
Rouge Vif - Rooge Veeef
Thalassa - Ta-LAW-suh
Vert Anis - Vair aNEE
Marron Fonce - MA-rone FONsay
Ebene - E-Bain
Cyclamen - See-cla-mon(n)

Bag/Accessory names:

Picotin - Peek-oh-ta(n) - very subtle n
Haut au Courroies - Oa(t) Oh-Kuh-wah. (Courroies is said quickly, almost like KWAH) This, imo, is the trickiest of them all!
Bearn - Bairn
Jige - Jeege (soft g sound at the end)

Leather names:

Chevre - Shev"ruh" (VERY subtle ruh sound at the end)
Clemence - Cle-MAWNCE
Fjord - Feeyord (one syllable)
Vache Liagee - Vaash Liajay (Liagee is said very quickly)
Click to expand...

I was reading that and I was wondering if you were trying to say these in French... I am from France and am a French citizen. I just want to let you know that if you want to say these like French, most are wrong!
 
#127
I know this is an old thread but in case someone comes across it, I just wanted to make a note of the pronunciation of Hermes, as defined by WikiAnswers:

If you are talking about the Greek God it is Her-Meez.

If you are talking about the brand Hermès then the 'H' is silent in french, but so is the 'S' at the end of a word, with the exception of just a few words in the language. When the 'S' is at the end of a word it is not pronounced unless it is succeeded by a word that starts with a vowel or the 'H'. This is called a Liaison. For instance the word vous is pronounced "voo". When vous is followed by let's say the word avez it is now pronounced "vooz" and the combined pronunciation is "voo zah-vay" Another example, the word les is pronounced "lay", if it is followed by the word amis the words are now pronounced "lay zah-mee"

So to be exactly correct you would not pronounce the 'H' or 'S' in Hermès. The accent on top of the the second 'E' is called accent grave (pronounced grahv). It makes the second 'E' sound like a cross between 'eh' and 'ay'. So Hermès is correctly pronounced "Air-Mehy" not "Air-May or "Air-Meh but combined. I hope this makes sense and helps.

Now, at http://inogolo.com/pronunciation/Hermes where they actually give you the word via audio, it's pronounced "air"-MEHZ.

I think that brings us back to the beginning - How do you pronounce Hermes?
 
#128
Dyanna-Hunter said:
I know this is an old thread but in case someone comes across it, I just wanted to make a note of the pronunciation of Hermes, as defined by WikiAnswers:

If you are talking about the Greek God it is Her-Meez.

If you are talking about the brand Hermès then the 'H' is silent in french, but so is the 'S' at the end of a word, with the exception of just a few words in the language. When the 'S' is at the end of a word it is not pronounced unless it is succeeded by a word that starts with a vowel or the 'H'. This is called a Liaison. For instance the word vous is pronounced "voo". When vous is followed by let's say the word avez it is now pronounced "vooz" and the combined pronunciation is "voo zah-vay" Another example, the word les is pronounced "lay", if it is followed by the word amis the words are now pronounced "lay zah-mee"

So to be exactly correct you would not pronounce the 'H' or 'S' in Hermès. The accent on top of the the second 'E' is called accent grave (pronounced grahv). It makes the second 'E' sound like a cross between 'eh' and 'ay'. So Hermès is correctly pronounced "Air-Mehy" not "Air-May or "Air-Meh but combined. I hope this makes sense and helps.

Now, at http://inogolo.com/pronunciation/Hermes where they actually give you the word via audio, it's pronounced "air"-MEHZ.

I think that brings us back to the beginning - How do you pronounce Hermes?
Click to expand...

The audio in the link above has the emphasis on the last syllable... yet in other posts here it says the first syllable has the emphasis... Sooo confusing!!
 
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