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PaperclipPerfector  20hr ago (text post)   783 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 28, 2026

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It's pronounced like "ngwin", but the leading ng- is hard for most English speakers (when not preceded by a vowel), and "win" is a totally acceptable Anglicized pronunciation.

I can say the leading ng- well enough ... but the real trick is that even "ngwin" is Anglicized. The Vietnamese name is Nguyễn, and those accents all affect pronunciation.

The ê is easy enough, already part of "ngwin". That "hat" is just one of the diacritics that better distinguish vowels. Vietnamese e sounds like the e in English "petty", ê generally like the e in English "pretty".

But adding the tilde ễ means you've got a tonal vowel. These are six completely different vowels in Vietnamese and you can get completely different words with each. Oh, and I think that particular tone comes in both a North-Vietnam-accent and a South-Vietnam-accent flavor. I cannot say either correctly.

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