How do you pronounce these 'dam ship names?

[Himself]

So the letter V in Dutch is the letter F in English?

 

I wish HAL has a pronunciation guide on its website. Better yet, why didn't they use American names since it is called Holland America Line?

 

Hey: Lets call the next build--after the Koeningsdam--the NORTHAMERDAM. (That would keep it Dutch-American!

[Boytjie]

Hey: Lets call the next build--after the Koeningsdam--the NORTHAMERDAM. (That would keep it Dutch-American!

 

 

That is a horrible name.

 

Nieuw Amsterdam is American. ;)

[CruisingSince2012]

That would be rather boring, no?

 

Not really. If it is a descriptive word like Norwegian Getaway or Disney Dream I would like it. What I don't like are names only people in one country know how to pronounce.

[sofietucker]

Didn't notice anybody mentioning that this one's pronounced Oo-roe-dahm, not Yurodam. That is, at least how the capain pronounced it.

 

During our first trip to Amsterdam, I was mortified to learn that the airport that we flew into was "Skipple," not "Sheep-hole" as I'd been saying...

[AmazedByCruising]

Not really. If it is a descriptive word like Norwegian Getaway or Disney Dream I would like it. What I don't like are names only people in one country know how to pronounce.

 

They could have chosen Dutch descriptive names, how about "MS Ertussenuit" :D. The UI in Zuiderdam and EU in Eurodam don't even exist in English. I agree naming a product in such a way that most consumers can't pronounce it even if they wanted to is less than brilliant. I guess they did their research though. Maybe it gives an "authentic Dutch" feeling to distinguish HAL Ships from ships that could be operated by any company. Anyway, they did stay away from naming them after Schiedam, Leidschendam and Monnikendam :)

[CruisingSince2012]

They could have chosen Dutch descriptive names, how about "MS Ertussenuit" :D. The UI in Zuiderdam and EU in Eurodam don't even exist in English.

 

I naturally assumed "Euro" is pronounced like the money used in EU countries - YER-oh. Who outside of Holland would not make that mistake? Holland is one of the countries that uses it IIRC.

[Copper10-8]

I naturally assumed "Euro" is pronounced like the money used in EU countries - YER-oh. Who outside of Holland would not make that mistake? Holland is one of the countries that uses it IIRC.

 

Nope; it's not pronounced that way in Dutch; like AmazedbyCruising stated, the Dutch pronunciation of "EU" does not exist in English; for starters the "Y" is silent in the Dutch way of saying Euro; the Dutch "Eu" sound, as the Dutch "Ui" sound, is completely different

[CruisingSince2012]

Nope; it's not pronounced that way in Dutch; like AmazedbyCruising stated, the Dutch pronunciation of "EU" does not exist in English; for starters the "Y" is silent in the Dutch way of saying Euro; the Dutch "Eu" sound, as the Dutch "Ui" sound, is completely different.

 

This is making me want to learn Dutch even though I never wanted to go to the only country that speaks the language.

[AmazedByCruising]

I naturally assumed "Euro" is pronounced like the money used in EU countries - YER-oh. Who outside of Holland would not make that mistake? Holland is one of the countries that uses it IIRC.

 

The French say "eu-roh" with the EU from "deux". The Germans say "oi-roh". I think most of the people submitted to using this ****ty currency don't say "YER-oh".

[Blue Mudshark]

Zuider rhymes with cider. No, it rhymes with chowder. No, it rhymes with trader.

 

In reality, it's a Dutch sound that doesn't exactly equate to any standard English-language sound, so those are all approximations. It would be difficult to call any of them wrong. Or completely correct. The sound just doesn't exist in most dialects of English. The closest English sound that I'm aware of is in a specific pronunciation style called "received pronunciation" or RP. It's taught in aristocratic English public schools and ancient universities (note that English "public school" = American "private school"). It's heard among the aristocracy and royalty in England.

 

There's common form in RP wherein "house" sounds almost like "hice". I think of the way the late princess Margaret Windsor spoke as an exemplar of this sound. The "w" sound at the end of the vowel diphthong is moved forward and palatalized, to use technical phonetic terms. It's pronounced like "w" but with the tongue and lips formed more like "y", to use a less technical description. That sound, a sort of combination of the "ow" in chowder and the "i" in cider, is the closest English sound (that I can think of) to the Dutch "ui".

 

When not pretending that I can pronounce Dutch, I say Zuiderdam to rhyme with ciderdam. If someone else calls it Zowderdam or Zeyderdam, I'm not calling them wrong. But if anyone says that any of these three versions is the correct and only correct pronunciation, I'm not buying it. In Dutch, they'd all be considered mispronunciations with a thick English accent.

[Boytjie]

They could have chosen Dutch descriptive names, how about "MS Ertussenuit" :D. The UI in Zuiderdam and EU in Eurodam don't even exist in English. I agree naming a product in such a way that most consumers can't pronounce it even if they wanted to is less than brilliant. I guess they did their research though. Maybe it gives an "authentic Dutch" feeling to distinguish HAL Ships from ships that could be operated by any company. Anyway, they did stay away from naming them after Schiedam, Leidschendam and Monnikendam :)

 

Hey, "weird" worked for Häagen-Dazs (a made up name) and the Volkswagen ad slogan Fahrvergnügen. ;)

Edited May 11, 2015 by Boytjie

[HALOnlyCruiser]

This is the best thread ever! I am going to print out the entire thread. Great information! Someday I want to meet all of you folks and just sit there and listen to you talk about this topic. I am enthralled.

[CruisingSince2012]

Zuider rhymes with cider. No, it rhymes with chowder. No, it rhymes with trader.

 

In reality, it's a Dutch sound that doesn't exactly equate to any standard English-language sound, so those are all approximations. It would be difficult to call any of them wrong. Or completely correct. The sound just doesn't exist in most dialects of English. The closest English sound that I'm aware of is in a specific pronunciation style called "received pronunciation" or RP. It's taught in aristocratic English public schools and ancient universities (note that English "public school" = American "private school"). It's heard among the aristocracy and royalty in England.

 

There's common form in RP wherein "house" sounds almost like "hice". I think of the way the late princess Margaret Windsor spoke as an exemplar of this sound. The "w" sound at the end of the vowel diphthong is moved forward and palatalized, to use technical phonetic terms. It's pronounced like "w" but with the tongue and lips formed more like "y", to use a less technical description. That sound, a sort of combination of the "ow" in chowder and the "i" in cider, is the closest English sound (that I can think of) to the Dutch "ui".

 

When not pretending that I can pronounce Dutch, I say Zuiderdam to rhyme with ciderdam. If someone else calls it Zowderdam or Zeyderdam, I'm not calling them wrong. But if anyone says that any of these three versions is the correct and only correct pronunciation, I'm not buying it. In Dutch, they'd all be considered mispronunciations with a thick English accent.

 

Did you get a degree in foreign languages? I highly doubt most people would learn this stuff during high school language classes. It is so technical I can't wrap my head around it.

 

You have to wonder why HAL decided to give one of its ships a name that cannot be pronounced in English. Did HAL really think English speakers would be able to say the "ui" correctly?

[crusinpsychRN]

With a last name of Scholtens, I heard my Dutch grandfather say it Skole tens.

 

I also said dom for dam!

[AmazedByCruising]

Then again, pronouncing Zuiderdam is a piece of cake compared to English. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Chaos

[crusinpsychRN]

Then again, pronouncing Zuiderdam is a piece of cake compared to English. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Chaos

 

That's great! Thanks.:D