How do you pronounce the words "Eoin" and "Tao"?

Tao

Eoin: In irish language, pronounced as a single syllable, so sounds like ‘own’ .

I went to school with a guy named Eoin, and his name was pronounced in the same way as Owen. I’m guessing it’s an anglicism, as @marinelife has indicated that it ought to be a single syllable.

As far as “tao” goes, I’ve heard it pronounced to rhyme with “now”, either with a T or D sound to start.

I’m with @Seelix on Tao – I pronounce it “Dow” like the chemicals.

I fourth the “Tao” answers!

Tao should be dao, as it’s the chinese word 道 (dao) meaning the way. We can probably blame Wade-Giles for this failure in spelling. Just start spelling it dao if you really want to be correct.

Thank you all very much for your informative answers!

Strictly speaking, the word “Tao” does not begin with either a T or a D sound. The correct sound is not found in the English language, however, which leaves the D sound as the closest available relative. So pronouncing the word “Tao” as “Dow” is fairly accurate.

@SavoirFaire It’s so close to a “D” sound it might as well be.

@chocolatechip In this case, yes. These “in between” sounds can be very important in other languages, however, since they might have a T sound, a D sound, and the in between sound.