Thread: French speakers-- How to pronounce my favorite poet's name?

Robe-Air Dess-Know-ss, as a French speaker I'm pretty sure that's how it's said.

Originally Posted by Wildman

Robe-Air Dess-Know-ss, as a French speaker I'm pretty sure that's how it's said.

Thanks! Now I can say his name like I know what I'm talking about.

You don't pronounce either 's' in the last name.

You sure? I know as separate words "des" and "nos" you wouldn't pronounce it, but I've always heard Desnos with S's pronounced, even by my French lit teachers. Not pronouncing the S's sounds weird, but I guess I can't be positive until we get an official source or something.

I suggest looking up the name on google video. you will find a documentary about him in French, which I'm sure mentions his name at some point. I'm not fluent in French though so I can't understand what he's saying and its too fast for me to hear it.

There are plenty of french names where you don't pronounce them (e.g. Desmarais is a fairly common name).

I`m pretty sure you don't pronounce the 'S'. It sounds more spanish than french if you say it that way.
Somthing like 'Dey-nough' but in a more french sounding way. It's hard to pronounce on the computer.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=0

===> 0:56

He pronounces the S's. It's weird, because usually you wouldn't, but that's how it's said.

Oh. Whoops. ^.^ Haha, it is a little weird. That was just a good guess, though. I`m only in my second year of extended french core, so I haven't got the pronounciation down completely yet.

Originally Posted by Wildman

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=0

===> 0:56

He pronounces the S's. It's weird, because usually you wouldn't, but that's how it's said.

Yes! I think it's been settled. I doubt that video would have mispronounced his name. It was a scholarly video made by French people and spoken in French. Surprisingly, they prounounce it almost the way an American would pronounce those words. I did some research on French pronunciation a while back, and I came to the conclusion that the S's would not be pronounced, but that video and one I found on Youtube both have the S's being pronounced. That's how I will pronounce his name. Thanks to everybody for your help on this.

I wanted to know the truth on that because most of my favorite painters are European, and the only way I know their names is from my art books. A few years ago, I was telling a lady who was an art history teacher and art museum and art council director about my favorite painters, and I learned that I was absolutely mutilating their names. I sounded like a retarded crackhead. I decided that I am going to at least try to avoid doing that in the future.

Hah! Yeah, you're right. I was a bit iffy about the first 's' but was pretty sure the second one wasn't meant to be pronounced, though I've never heard the name before (and I studied in french, in montreal, all the way through high school haha). You know, the only reason I can tolerate english is that I spent so much time learning french .