How do you pronounce Nguyễn? I've heard it pronounced different ways. I'm sure that one of the ways I've heard is an americanized pronunciation. It's part of my MILs name and she and my FIL say it's pronounced Win. I downloaded a sound clip from some site that sounded like they were saying "gwin"???

Is there any meaning to this name, or is it simply a surname or clan name?

Thanks!

I usually tell my American friends to say "win." It's the closest to the pronouciation of "nguyen" in vietnamese. There's just not a phonetic for it in english. People have the tendency to say "nu-gen" because they try to angalize it. All Vietnamese words are one sylabals, however.

clan name....haha...funny

Yeah, we're a very big family. Anyway when I pronounce it correctly my friends say I seem to get choked with my tongue.

Look at the tonal mark. If you can pronounce and stretch it up and down like the tonal mark , it will sound very close . Ng , you will have to say it at the back of the throat and stretch the sound up and down like the tonal mark ~ .

hmm I would say.. ngu-ween ~.. hehe

wow i just learned something new about vietnamese..ahah



just say new and win together...newwin

That's even worst. Nguyen is one sylable.

I listened to a sound clip of the pronunciation over and over, now after reading all of the replies in this thread I think I can hear it a little clearer now - I know that sounds strange, but I couldn't really make out the sound well enough to know what I was listening for before.

Tell me if this sounds right... it sounds like it's pronounced
hmmm...there really isn't a phonetic in english for it - LOL... but if you sort of roll off a n sound made near the back of your tongue +gween - one sylable.
n sound being more of the end of the word sing???

I see why it's easiest to tell Americans to say "win"

Tiffany

I do not think that English has an "ng" sound which is produced during contacting the back of the tounge to the back upper part of the mouth. Similarly, Vietnamese does have the "th" which is produced during the tongue is between the upper and lower front incisors.

Another interesting example is the difference between the "j" and "ch" sounds.

the only place ng appears in English that shows similarity to the Vietnamese ng is in the word song. Now drop the so. kind of like 'nguh or the kind of sound you'd make if you'd been lying in bed with someone for about a week and that was about all you were able to say...in Vietnamese, it is considered a single letter, like ch or tr that appear under their own section in the dictionary. I wish Vietnamese people could understand me when I try to speak it. I try to observe the tones but then there are so many words that sound a lot like each other even without considereng the tones!