Twokinds Forums

So, I speak some French. And it’s a good skill to have, but it makes some things tricky. For example, Evals’ cousin Erilas. Is it pronounced Er-il-as? Or Er-i-ah? The French accent dictates the latter, given the rest of the character names in the comic the former seems more likely. How do you guys pronounce it?

Wasn't her one of Evals many sisters?

My first language is Spanish, not a surprise, one of its most interesting features is all written words match the spoken sounds, so if i have no good reason not to I always pronounce everything as it is written. In this case E-ri-las, that is how you would pronounce it in spanish. but that is just me. Cultural breviary aside the comic has serious influence for DnD so when in doubt I always apply the game logic/storytelling to the comic, unless explicitly told otherwise. Most phonemes that game are based on Archaic english, or more likely, how guys in the 70's imagined people spoke in the middle ages Britain and Europe. So the first pronunciation you proposed is the most likely. And again tom first language is English too.

It is my head canon that Humans in Mekkan speak some sort of archaic english, Wolves some sort of Germanic language and eastern Basitins speak something like Korean and western basitins speak along the lines of hawaiian.

As a side note: By experience I consider speaking English essential, other languages not so much. And not proper Queens English either, you need to be able to understand broken engrish, that is a true life skill. How else do you think a Malasyan system administrator is able to talk to a Mexican support guy? All the important, and not so important, conversations in the world are made in broken engrish.

I've always sounded it out in English, so Er-ih-Las.

This has made me realize that I don’t even know how Evals is supposed to be pronounced...

Interesting. Maybe I’m just too Canadian haha.

Hayate wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 2:54 am This has made me realize that I don’t even know how Evals is supposed to be pronounced...

I pronounced like a shortened version of Evaluations, but I am not even sure how is "Natani" properly pronounced, so what do i know?
However you make me wonder. Where did Tom got inspired for the names? Even for the more normal names, like Mike, was there any reason to name the fox Mike? And moreover did he used some inspiration for the names of the races: Keidran and Basitin or did they come to his mind in a dream?

Also I remember reading on this forum that there was a some discussion on the correct pronunciation of the word Keidran.

I seem to remember a stream several years ago when Tom mentioned he found inspiration for some of his names from other cultures. Native Americans was one, I think.

Technic[Bot] wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 7:09 pm

Hayate wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 2:54 am This has made me realize that I don’t even know how Evals is supposed to be pronounced...

I pronounced like a shortened version of Evaluations, but I am not even sure how is "Natani" properly pronounced, so what do i know?
However you make me wonder. Where did Tom got inspired for the names? Even for the more normal names, like Mike, was there any reason to name the fox Mike? And moreover did he used some inspiration for the names of the races: Keidran and Basitin or did they come to his mind in a dream?

Also I remember reading on this forum that there was a some discussion on the correct pronunciation of the word Keidran.

Mike got his name when some guy called Mike paid Tom to have his namesake appear in the comic. Yes, really.

As for pronounciations, I go the easy route and just use the pronounciation rules of my native tongue, unless the name is very obivously English like Mike or Trace. Euchre leaves me confused.

Yastreb wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 1:20 pm Euchre leaves me confused.

Pronounced, "Yoo-kurr", per Tom during stream years ago.

Bellhead wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 1:25 am

Yastreb wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 1:20 pm Euchre leaves me confused.

Pronounced, "Yoo-kurr", per Tom during stream years ago.

Does Tom actually talk on stream? I don’t watch so I don’t know.
Also, yeah, that’s the most logical pronunciation. Some of the names are actually really tricky (canadiana warning here)
Take Natani for example. Depending on where you are, you could get 4-5 different pronunciations. Nuh-tani, Nátani, NAtani, nuh-tAni, NAtani (really quickly), etc.
The Newfie’s would say it NAtAni.
It’d be great to get a long, long list of every name, surname, and spell and all the pronunciations thereof.

TheMasterOfOats wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:11 am

Bellhead wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 1:25 am

Yastreb wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 1:20 pm Euchre leaves me confused.

Pronounced, "Yoo-kurr", per Tom during stream years ago.

Does Tom actually talk on stream? I don’t watch so I don’t know.
Also, yeah, that’s the most logical pronunciation. Some of the names are actually really tricky (canadiana warning here)
Take Natani for example. Depending on where you are, you could get 4-5 different pronunciations. Nuh-tani, Nátani, NAtani, nuh-tAni, NAtani (really quickly), etc.
The Newfie’s would say it NAtAni.
It’d be great to get a long, long list of every name, surname, and spell and all the pronunciations thereof.

People who watch that says it is more interesting that is sounds, it is also like 4 hours and I do not have that much continuous spare time.

I pronounce Euchre as Ocher, the color, but in spanish. But sometimes I surprise myself pronouncing it U-che.
My problem with Natani, is that it is ridiculously easy to pronounce in Spanish with little ambiguity. Na-tA-ni, stressed on the second A. But that is definetely not a spanish Name, despite sounding similar to Nathanel and Daniel, again in Spanish.

Bellhead wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 2:07 am I seem to remember a stream several years ago when Tom mentioned he found inspiration for some of his names from other cultures. Native Americans was one, I think.

Makes sense. Still does not sound very Native American to me

Slightly off topic, but he doesn't really use his mic much anymore, usually just the chat. Last I knew, anyway.

Bellhead wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 1:25 am Pronounced, "Yoo-kurr", per Tom during stream years ago.

Technic[Bot] wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:18 am I pronounce Euchre as Ocher, the color, but in spanish. But sometimes I surprise myself pronouncing it U-che.
My problem with Natani, is that it is ridiculously easy to pronounce in Spanish with little ambiguity. Na-tA-ni, stressed on the second A. But that is definetely not a spanish Name, despite sounding similar to Nathanel and Daniel, again in Spanish.

Now I wonder how I'm supposed to pronounce "Yoo-kurr" or "U-che". Could you say that again in the International Phonetic Alphabet, please?

I pronounce Natani [nɑt̪ɑni], Evals is [eʋɑls] or [i:ʋɑls] and Erilas is [erilɑs]. Probably nothing like intended, but whatever.

I remember all my English text books had phonetic alphabet to explain the pronunciation. But it took me a couple years to actually find that out what those symbols meant.

For Ocher you can find the pronunciation with google these days . For Euchre it would be silent e and ending in cher, like the singer. U-Cher

Not to necro-post (as this thread is over a month old), but here are how I usually pronounce some of the names:

Natani: Nah-tah-knee

Evals: Eh-vals

Erilas: Er-eh-lass



Though that does beg the question on how several other words are pronounced, such as Basitin, or Keidran, or even Mekkan.