pronunciation of Eschalon?

[Unclever title]

we weren't talking about the ß sound, and second . . . haven't they gotten rid of that letter? I suppose they've replaced it with a double s.

It's still used. At least I'm learning to use it in German class, anyway I was under the impression that is was used to the replace double s in a many words and not the other way around. Then again it's not like I nor my German teacher are are authorities on this.

As relating to the original topic: I've always pronounced it Eh-sha-lon as well. Very interesting on the etymology aspect though. Even if the Greek derived form makes it nigh impossible to pronounce without screwing up.

[CSR]

Unclever title is right. ß is still used, but not in all countries. Switzerland has completely replaced the ß with ss which makes it sometimes hard to read words like Masse (dimensions - "mahse") and Masse (mass - "masse") and thus pronounce them correctly.
We are not talking about ß, so what about Röschen (small rose)? It is not spelled with "sh". rös - chen
The "ch" sound is sometimes very hard to pronounce, like in chuchichäschtli which is a Swiss word for kitchen cabinet.
ch is once again pronounced with the asprirated palatal sound. So your suggestion "k" is wrong here.
Choo - chy - chäsh - dly (the i is short, so ee would be wrong)
Sometimes when I am talking with German speaking friends about tongue-twister, I have fun to let them pronounce chuchichäschtli. Most of them never seem to get it right.

- EDIT: corrected typo

[renkin]

CSR:
My grandfather was Swedish and for some reason that my father has never explained to me he decided to immigrate to rural Vermont. Now... I love Vermont, it's a beautiful state . . . in the summer. In the winter, well, I would not want to be dealing with -40°F weather (what does that translate to in celsius . . . -32° or -33°, I think?) and snowdrifts up to the second floor.

I grew up in Connecticut, which rarely sees temperatures below 10°F (-10°C?). Now I live in Boston which has generally the same climate.

I know very little German, only enough to be able to pronounce the words with very rough accuracy, plus just a few words. Swedish I've actually studied, but only a little bit. I can understand a certain amount of it when it's written (and therefore decipher Norwegian & Danish to a point); when spoken I've no clue, though, except for a few spare words & phrases.

Interesting! I know there's a branch of my family that moved to America as well, a few generations back. I don't have any contact with them, though. But holy shit, -40 degrees? Isn't that what it's like on Antarctica?

By the way, if you're interested in learning Swedish pronunciation, maybe this guide can help. Chapter 9 especially treats pronunciation. I also recommend getting a Pimsleur Swedish course.

[Unclever title]

The "ch" sound is sometimes very hard to pronounce, like in chuchichäschtli which is a Swiss word for kitchen cabinet.

Particularly when you have the "ch" sound directly following an s. It's not difficult when the ch is pronounced as it is in the word chip or as an sh or even as a k. But when it the softer back of the throat "hiss"-like noise immediately following the very front of the mouth at the teeth even hiss-like noise run right next to each other. Well that's just hard.

When trying it myself I almost always underdo it making it an h or over do it making it sound like I'm mildly hocking up a loogie. It's fun but difficult. Kinda like the game initially.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

In the winter, well, I would not want to be dealing with -40°F weather (what does that translate to in celsius . . . -32° or -33°, I think?) and snowdrifts up to the second floor.

Totally off the topic, but -40 F = -40 C. That's where the two scales meet.

And when I was a kid in central Ohio, we would get snow drifts to the second floor sometimes. That's why there was a door on the staircase landing with no balcony outside.

[CSR]

Particularly when you have the "ch" sound directly following an s. It's not difficult when the ch is pronounced as it is in the word chip or as an sh or even as a k. But when it the softer back of the throat "hiss"-like noise immediately following the very front of the mouth at the teeth even hiss-like noise run right next to each other. Well that's just hard.

When trying it myself I almost always underdo it making it an h or over do it making it sound like I'm mildly hocking up a loogie. It's fun but difficult. Kinda like the game initially.

I think that you are doing your very best and your pronunciation will surely sound very appealing to European ears.

I've got some problems to express myself properly: I have got a gap between my incisors and I can't even pronounce the letter S right. It always comes out as an sf.
You could imagine how my fellow men react when I am saying "He sat on the chair." and it sounds like "He's fat on the chair".

@renkin: Thanks for the link to the Swedish website. It was very enlightning for me.

[Unclever title]

I think that you are doing your very best and your pronunciation will surely sound very appealing to European ears.

Thanks! As one who sings in choirs on a regular basis pronunciation becomes more important so It's kind of ingrained in to me to try and be accurate particularly when learning foreign words. I imagine as I get more used to the language I'll slacken a bit on the pronunciation but learning it right the first time will make a huge difference.

Of course that last statement applies to a lot of things.

[Evnissyen]

Renkin:
-40°f is actually not extremely common in New England, I don't think, but it can get pretty cold and snowy up there in the mountains. (And they aren't even extraordinarily high, mountain-wise.) Those temperatures are actually much more common in, say, Minnesota.

An interesting story: I wanted to know what -40° felt like (since I saw that temperature on a weather map recently, located at, I think, someplace in Minnesota) . . . so I asked my father if he had an idea (since he grew up in Vermont), and he told me about one night when he was a kid and it was, yes, -40°, and he said he went outside . . . I don't remember how he described the feeling of the actual cold, but he said that it was totally silent except for this weird popping sound . . . he said somebody told him later that that was the sound of the tree sap exploding in the woods. He never verified that that was what the sound was, but I like thinking about it.

I've read about the really horrific cold they see in winters in Russia and, of course, especially Siberia -- don't remember the actual numbers but they were hard to believe -- and yet, somehow people endure it. (Maybe I should actually look it up . . . is it Wiki time?) I can barely even stand the winters here in Boston. "Freezing temperature" is still way too cold for me.

Anyhow... now perhaps we should discuss English-language sounds that the Germans have trouble pronouncing . . . and why some French people seem to insist on ignoring our accenting standards?

But as far as rolling R's go . . . I'll be the first to suggest that Americans should start ornamenting their language that way, just as the Swedes and the Russians do, among others obviously. CSR: Do the Germans roll their R's very often? I don't seem to recall them doing so very commonly. Were I a singer I'd be rolling my American R's left & right. The beauty of the English language deserves it, I think.