How do you pronounce the word....
John Smith
TIA
JR Richley
"John Smith" <bytemehard@*mts.net> wrote in message
news:%Hkjb.31869$uz1....@news1.mts.net...
> djembe
>
>
> TIA
>
>
JR Richley
leaving you with Jem-Bay
"JR Richley" <drumf...@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:FLkjb.1735$P%1.14...@newssvr28.news.prodigy.com...
John Smith
"JR Richley" <drumf...@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:sQljb.1742$P%1.14...@newssvr28.news.prodigy.com...
bja...@iwaynet.net
> i guess the better way to explain it would be that the "d" is silent,
> leaving you with Jem-Bay
That's not quite it. The reason for the spelling is that
the word is actually French. And the French in Africa
describing the drums used the spelling "djembe".
In French the hard "J" sound of English is spelled "dj"
and the "e" on the end actually has an accent on it
(the kind that slopes up to the right) and e with
that accent (I can't do accents on this comuputer)
is pronounced "ay" as in Bay.
Hence the name Jem-Bay. OK?
Benj
--
Due to SPAM innundation above address is turned off!
Kevin Buffardi
for many African words with double consonants at the beginning, you
pronounce the word as so:
place your mouth/tongue as if you were going to say the first letter ('d' in
this case)
then, pronounce the rest of the word, starting at the second letter ('j')
So, in other words, start with your tongue on the roof of your mouth like
you're going to say 'd', but then say "-jembe."
Hope that helps and isn't too confusing.
--
Kevin Buffardi
"Rockstars -- is there
anything they don't know?"
-Homer Simpson
bja...@iwaynet.net
I've been assured by some "real" Africans that djembe
isn't one of those words! (see the French thing in my
previous post) They assure me that it's prounounced
plain old everyday "Jem-Bay". In fact, there is a movement
among the PC crowd to remove the "dj" from the spelling
so as to not leave any reminders of French colonialism.
Needless to say, I do NOT support such nonsense. One
does not raise one's self up by tearing another down.
The French spelling is well established and traditional
and I think tradition is important in drumming. Even
French tradition!
Benj
-------------------------------
--
elliot
call the djembe "tam-tam" in French.
Elliot
bja...@iwaynet.net wrote in news:bmm8rg$sfr$1...@tribune.oar.net:
John P.
elliot
news:SFGjb.798250$uu5.140207@sccrnsc04:
> "John Smith" <bytemehard@*mts.net> wrote in a message
>
>> djembe
>
> Lincoln.
>
>
Lincoln? I don't get it
John P.
> Lincoln? I don't get it
Some times people pronounce things very wrong. Some times people have
absolutely no idea how to pronounce something. This bit of attempted humor
was to address those two possibilities.
elliot
Ohhh, I C.
elliot
JahCedmon
heard them pronounce it 'jem-beh'.
A talking drum is also called 'tam tam' or 'tama' in the Western African
countries.
Ced,
"If dog and puss can get together, why can't we love oneanother"
- Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley.
creux
John Smith <bytemehard@*mts.net> kirjoitti
viestissä:%Hkjb.31869$uz1....@news1.mts.net...
> djembe
>
>
> TIA
>
>
bja...@iwaynet.net
Yes. English tends to borrow a lot of foreign words but
tends to keep the original spelling. This causes many
(especially Americans) to prounce the word according to the
rules used for American pronounciation. That way is of course
nothing like the original. This is one reason Americans are
looked on as ignorant clods worldwide. I've often thought
that what we need is a new alphabet where the given letters
always have the same sound to pronounce them and spell
ALL words with it. Of course it doesn't even have to
be invented. It's already in the dictionary as the prounciation
guide!
Benj