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French names Cannoli Send a noteboard - 03/05/2016 12:21:40 PM

In previews for the TV show "The Night Manager" which is based on a novel by John Le Carre, the voice-over pronounces the author's name as John Lay Caray. My understanding of French pronunciation, from two years of high school french 25 years ago, is that le Carre would be pronounced leh Car. According to English rules it should be leh Car or lee Car. Where does lay Caray come from? There is a similar thing with an NFL player named Matt Forte. In English or French, his name is pronounced Fort, but everyone says "fortay". Even in German, where the e on the end would be pronounced, it would be fort-eh, not fortay.

I get there is Anglicization of foreign names. I have to tell people that the s & h in my last name are part of separate syllables (ess-hime), not pronounced "sh" (eh-shime). I live in a country where St. Louis is pronounced Lewis, and Notre Dame is Noter Daim. But Lay Caray and Fortay don't even make sense by English rules. Is there something I don't get about French?

Cannoli
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
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French names - 03/05/2016 12:21:40 PM 700 Views
There is an accent aigu over the final "e" in his name: John le Carré - 03/05/2016 01:35:00 PM 380 Views

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