General Question

squirbel's avatar

How to pronounce the Polish "sz"?

Asked by squirbel (4297points) December 24th, 2010 from iPhone

Using any of the following syllabaries to explain:

- Spanish
– English
– Japanese

Thank you!

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

11 Answers

pathfinder's avatar

Like a sh I think

gailcalled's avatar

Sz is sh. The novelist Alan Furst has a Polish character named Szara in his “Dark Star.” The reader ( in books on tape) says, “Shara.”

Cz is z. ( it is in Hungarian, at least). I had an office mate named Szabo. He said, “Zahbo.”

gailcalled's avatar

Edit: My answer confused even me.Sz is z in Hungarian.

Spaiz's avatar

I speak polish, so be sure in the correctness of my answer ;)

sz is like sh in english *(shoe)
cz is like ch in english *(chair)

morphail's avatar

My understanding is that it’s not exactly like English sh, but it’s close. It’s actually /ʂ/

Spaiz's avatar

/ʂ/ is a letter ś

JLeslie's avatar

I trust that @Spaiz is correct. Cz is used in Russian to, or at least we write it in English Czar is prnounced Zar, also wriiten as Tsar.

JLeslie's avatar

@Spaiz By the way, welcome to fluther!

morphail's avatar

@Spaiz I guess there’s some disagreement. Some sources say ś is /ɕ/ and sz is /ʂ/

squirbel's avatar

Thank you all :)

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