How do you pronounce "Huang"?

[KnickNut3]

I have a friend (of Chinese decent) whose last name is Huang.

I always thought it rhymed with "sang," not "song." However, I heard another friend refer to him and said it the other way (rhyming with "song"). I'd prefer not to ask someone I've known for a number of years how he pronounces his last name.

Is it usually one or the other?

EDIT: "sang" and "song" were the closest things I could think of, I guess rhyming with "wang" or "wong" (or that as the last syllable) seems to be more intuitive for people.

 

[LordMorpheus]

It's not a rhyme with either. Closer to song, I guess, but you do pronounce the w.

huh-wong, except slur it into one syllable.

 

[BoomerD]

Huang like a mule?

 

[djheater]

"Wang" with an aspiration in front. so it's like (hu)Wang.

~edit

I'd go, rhymes with sang....

 

[KnickNut3]

Great, two serious replies and I've got dissension already...

 

[Phokus]

I knew a "Huang"... it should be pronounced "Who-Ong"

 

[CasioTech]

HUNG. /thread.

 

[Savij]

I think it's better to just ask the dude. People ask me about my name everyonce in a while and it never offends me.

 

[LS20]

h-wang (like LAN or WAN)

 

[DangerAardvark]

Originally posted by: LS20
h-wang (like LAN or WAN)

Umm, those two words are pronounced diferently...

I'd go with hu-wahng

 

[Leros]

hwang. said like wang, but with a h sound in the beginning.

 

[CasioTech]

are we talking about the guy from Soul Calibur. Man I never knew how to call him.

 

[amdhunter]

That chinese guy.

 

[Mday]

just you know...

Huang, Wong and Wang are all the same chinese last name...

 

[kedlav]

hwang or hwong

 

[deejayshakur]

Originally posted by: Mday
just you know...

Huang, Wong and Wang are all the same chinese last name...

and pronouncing it properly in english depends on which chinese dialect you are speaking.

 

[NoShangriLa]

Depends on where in Asia the name originated from.

China, Thailand, Laos, or Vietnam.

 

[LongCoolMother]

Originally posted by: Phokus
I knew a "Huang"... it should be pronounced "Who-Ong"

As far as mandarin is concerned, this is pretty much spot on. The ending sound is a bit like (not an exact rhyme, but close) with "song."

Who-Ong all slurred quickly into one syllable with no breaks in between and you've got the pronunciation pretty close.

It sounds just like the word "yellow" in chinese.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: LongCoolMother

Originally posted by: Phokus
I knew a "Huang"... it should be pronounced "Who-Ong"

As far as mandarin is concerned, this is pretty much spot on. The ending sound is a bit like (not an exact rhyme, but close) with "song."

Who-Ong all slurred quickly into one syllable with no breaks in between and you've got the pronunciation pretty close.

It sounds just like the word "yellow" in chinese.

Right on.

Even as someone with excellent Chinese, I say Who-Ang when speaking English. It's just like when we say Jay Chou we say Jay Chow even though we know it's really Zhou as in Zhow (ow as in row). Same with Liu. Do you really say lee-oh (slurred leo) or do you just say Loo.

English and Chinese are two different things to me and when I'm speaking English I say it the English. Otherwise it just sounds like I'm trying to speak Chinglish and I don't like that. Heh.. I'm weird.

 

[her209]

HUH?

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: LordMorpheus
It's not a rhyme with either. Closer to song, I guess, but you do pronounce the w.

huh-wong, except slur it into one syllable.

Whong... Pronounced like this...

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: LongCoolMother

It sounds just like the word "yellow" in chinese.

Yehrrow?

/ducks

 

[Mo0o]

Song version for more accurate chinese pronounciation

Sang if you use the americanized version. Honeslty, if you're speaking to him in english, just go with the "sang" version. I actually think its weird when people try to accurately pronounce my last name while speaking english

 

[TuxDave]

The correct way:
who-ahng or hoo-ahng but you get the idea.

But yeah I commonly here the more Americanized version of :
who-aeng

Names like Wang, Fang, Chang fall under the same boat where it 'should' be:

w-ahng
f-ahng
ch-ahng

But people in the USA usually use the A as a long A so it sounds like.

w-aeng
f-aeng
ch-aeng

So yeah, you can say it the right way to say it the American way.

 

[Born2bwire]

Just ask. Most of the time English is unable to express the correct tone or dialect. There's a girl in my group who's name is Jie (Gee-ah) and my friend has a male roommate named Jie (Jay). I was taught that it was the Zhou dynasty (Ch-o) but there is a Professor Zhang (Zang) in the department. At this point, I've just learned to ask.