Pronouncing Typefaces

[cosmorphis]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

I did a search for 'pronunciation' and found a couple forums with dead links. Does anyone know where that forum is which talks about the correct pronunciation of typefaces, or know where on the web I can find more information. Not any typeface in general, but more of a guide on all or a lot of typefaces. Thanks.

[Thomas Phinney]

Sounds like something we should turn into a Wiki entry! I found a list here, which I borrowed from mostly for entries rather than pronunciation: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/fonts-faq/part5/

Here's my take on pronunciation:

Benguiat: BEN-gat

Univers: oo'-nih-VAIR

Arnold Boecklin: AR-nolled BOKE-lin (the BOKE part is actually a German o with umlaut, but that's as close as most English speakers will get)

Fette Fraktur: FET-uh FROK-tour

Peignot: pay-NYOH

Sabon: sah-BON (second syllable should have a nasal element, like bonjour)

Veljovic: VELL-yoh-vitch'

Zapf: tzopf

[William Berkson]

Another way to 'phoneticize':

Fraktur: Frahk-tour
Zapf: Tzahpf

The correct pronunciation for the 'a' in these is the sound of 'a' in 'father'. (The sound of the English 'a' in 'cat' is not a part of German.)

[dave bailey]

I had a conversation with one of my professors about how to pronouce Kabel. I said it's KAH-BUL. What's correct? I'm glad OONIVAIR was on the list because I heard people at TypeCon pronounce it so many different ways.

[Nick Shinn]

This is cool.

[William Berkson]

>pronounce it so many different ways.

I think there is always a choice of trying to pronounce it as in the language or origin, or Anglicise (or Americanize) it. If you have studied the language or are good at foreign phonemes, then my view is go for it. But it is perfectly acceptable to do an Anglicized version. So Univers is also 'universe', etc.

In the case where the phoneme exists in English, then I think it preferable to use it.

For example, we have the 'ts' or 'tz' sound, as in 'nuts', though in English it never starts a word. And we have the 'a' in 'father', as well as 'cat'. So I think 'tzahpf' (correct German) or 'zahpf' (z as in zoo, a bit Anglicized) is preferable to 'zapf', with the z as in zoo and the a as in cat.

[Nick Shinn]

Univers and Kabel also have very similar sounding English translations, so I think it is acceptable to pronounce them in an English manner. But would "Cavo" be OK for Kabel in Italian?

[dezcom]

That Paul Hunt is johnny-on-the-spot with Wiki entries! Thanks Paul!

ChrisL

[paul d hunt]

by all means, if the pronunciations in the wiki can be improved, please correct them. i just copy/pasted from one of the other pronunciation threads i found.

[Nick Shinn]

A musical troop from Bitstream performed a G&S style number at TypeCon, rhyming off a great long list of typeface names. Where can that be downloaded?

[marcox]

Funny, I was just wondering how to pronounce Herb Lubalin's last name. (There's a huge billboard near my house that uses Lubalin Graph.)

Loob-ALLEN?
LOO-ball-in?

[Norbert Florendo]

> Loob-ALLEN?
> LOO-ball-in?

Funny you should ask.
I had to ask Ilene Strizver just to be sure, right before I gave the "Type & Design Education" presentation at TypeCon.

I always knew the pronunciation as LOO-BAAL-in ("BAAL" rhymes with the name "AL").

But once I heard Ed Benguiat pronounce Herb's last name as LOOB-AH-lin (as in lube-ah-lyn), which made me question since I never met Herb myself.

Ilene had worked with Herb Lubalin, and she said Benguiat was pulling my leg (again).

[Ralf H.]

I said it’s KAH-BUL. What’s correct?

No, it's rather BEL insteat of BUL. Just say the last part as in "cable" and you are fine.

Ralf

[dezcom]

Thanks Ralf!
So then does it sound like the name of the Iraq city?

ChrisL

[eliason]

> So then does it sound like the name of the Iraq city?

I would think the font's name has the stress more decidedly on the first syllable.

[Ralf H.]

I would think the font’s name has the stress more decidedly on the first syllable.

Exactly.
It's really pretty much like "cable" but with a tough German "KAH" syllable at the beginning.

Ralf

http://www.fonts.info

[jonsel]

> So then does it sound like the name of the Iraq city?

Actually, Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan. Kabel is the typeface.

[dezcom]

Sorry, my mistake.

ChrisL

[Sebastian Nagel]

another try:

The "bel" is pronounced very similar to the "ell" in the english "bell" (but not as short).

Combined with emphasis on the first syllable, it says:
Kaabel(l)

[Jonathan Clede]

Thomas Phinney wrote:
Univers: oo’-nih-VAIR

I thought this myself until Typecon. Now I'm not so sure. Everyone, including Bruno Steinert (and, I think, Mike Parker) who worked directly with Frutiger for many years pronounce it like the English word "universe".

Now I'm just completely confused.

-Jon-

[Miss Tiffany]

Perhaps we need a "pedantic" version of the pronunciation guide too. ;^)

[dezcom]

or a "when in Rome" version?

ChrisL

[Mark Simonson]

I think most American designers pronounce "Univers" the same as "universe" (including me), but I do feel self-conscious sometimes about saying it that way around other type designers since I realize that Mr. Frutiger would not pronounce it that way. No one ever corrected me, though, so I assumed it was okay (and I still do).

[Mark Simonson]

A musical troop from Bitstream performed a G&S style number at TypeCon, rhyming off a great long list of typeface names. Where can that be downloaded?

As a matter of fact...

http://www.marksimonson.com/bitstream-song.mp3

(I have video, too, but it's not worth the bandwidth.)

[dave bailey]

Priceless, thanks Mark! (BTW, I'm waiting for photos of the Restaurant Identity project I used Mostra on. I'll send copies your way when I get them.)