Greek pronunciation

[João Soares]

Hello

Would by any chance a Greek member tell me how to pronounce the name of professor "Phocion Francescakis"?

Thank you in advance

 

[A. Papadimitriou]

Are you familiar with IPA?


Fo'cion Fraⁿd͡ze'skacis


Greek o and e are somewhat in between open-mid and close-mid ones. If someone can't get it right I personally would suggest using open-mid vowels.


Greek a is closer to the sound ɐ (near open) in RP English nut, often trascribed with ʌ.

 

[Yetos]

Phokion Francescakis,

does not follow the new ISO of names from Greek to Latin as aproved by EU for Id cards,

nc and especially c is not in new ISO but only as ch symbolizing Greek χ (chi)

modern Greek are very simple in aspirations and sounds.
so Phokion is simple, just replace Ph with F, Fokion Φωκιων,

Francescakis is out of name ISO,
so probably is import of Francesco, or from Francais-kos,
as Francais it is pronouncd as Φραγγος Φραγκισκος, using the sound nk it is ok
and sc is the sk
so by previous the Francais-cos it is Φραγκεσκακις and is pronounced as Frankeskakis were i at -kis is just like the i at kiss
BUT if we follow the imported sound, especially at Crete, and comes from Francesco,
then -c turns to -ts, so Francescakis it is pronounced as Frantseskakis,
-ts sound is like Spanish Chapo Chica Chile, or Slavic ending name -ic, or like tsunami.

so you can compare Spanish Franco and Italian Francesco on how -nc can be pronounced in Greek

most possible is Fokion Frantseskakis were e is sound of ε as in Petro Pedra Elizabeth, and i as in kiss
or alternative as Fokion Frankeskakis same with e and i.

 

[João Soares]

Thanks again! This will be useful
I've been battling a while to pronounce his name correctly in a sentence, following these explanations! It's not very intuitive for me, but I think I got it now. Regards!

 

[A. Papadimitriou]

Yetos writes bs.

Fokion Frandzeskakis or Fradzeskakis would be ok. The most accurate transcription is what I wrote: Fo'cion Fraⁿd͡ze'skacis (ⁿ means that d͡z is prenasalised, Frad͡ze'skacis is acceptable)
It is correct because φ is f, τζ is d͡z (and ντζ is ⁿd͡z), κ before ε and ı is c (palatal or post-palatalk̟ according to some like in Portugeuse qui)

What you can do is paste the name in Google Translate in Greek Φωκίων Φραντζεσκάκης and then hear the pronunciation. It is quite accurate.

This is how the name would be pronounced in Standard Modern Greek. His knowledge of French and the etymology of his name probably affected the way he chose to transcribe it.

 

[Yetos]

Just BS

it can be also

Φραγκισκακης,
Φραγκεσκακης
Φρατζεσκακης
Φραντσεσκακης

how can you determine it is Dz and not ΓΚ

all 4 above names, exist in Greek,
and you give only 1,

How certain you are?
that is this person

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phocion_Francescakis

http://www.zygos4art.com/phocion-francescakis.html

and not another?

 

[João Soares]

How certain you are?
that is this person

It's the Greek law author renown for his works in Private International Law.