Hi there APJ,
French, the word inspires terror in speakers everywhere. Not only is the language at least as convoluted as English but their words have SEX! Pronouncing French words is bound to make all except the most intrepid, dextrous and fearless quake in their boots. When I am in France I say my very poor schoolboy French in the most obvious and terrible Australian accent so that everyone can at least have a laugh, and then get on with speaking English to me.
Photo Stolen lovemeagan
When questioned why I speak so little French I always tell the asker that I went to Sydney University (our most prestigious halls of learning) to learn Hindi and if they’d like to switch to that I can also massacre that language with an Aussie accent. Usually they are so ridiculously impressed that I would try to learn something so outlandish as Hindi that they forget to ask me to say a few words, remaining unused for so long I have only a smattering of half formed sentences and a plethora of swear words.
So here is a helping hand. A word I hear massacred quite regularly and in fact pronounced disgracefully until my friendly SA at Hermès in Sydney put me right. I made sure to OK it on my travels just to be sure she wasn’t extracting the urine (taking the piss, as we so elegantly say in Australia).
So I used to say Her-Mees. How do YOU say it? Are there any other hard ones?
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 
I say Ermé (“e” as english “a”) with silent “s”, I guess that this is more “french” style 🙂
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Thanks Victoria,
Yes it’s interesting how many ways there are to say it.
Portia xx
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The trick with French is you have to note which way the accent mark over the e is facing. The Hermes accent is facing the left not the right, so not an “ay” sound. If you want to hear more “French style” check out the site I mentioned below. It’s ear-opening 😉
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I feel blessed, as having taken French in high school I can find my way through most French names, Can’t roll my r’s though.
As for pronunciation resources, I think Bela’s site, Frag Name of the Day is fabulous: http://fragnameoftheday.blogspot.ca/
She has 1147 sound files on it.
What I wonder, though, is how many poorly trained SA’s will understand a correctly pronounced name?
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Hi there Lindloo,
Yes, I spent an instructive few afternoons trying to get stuff right before we went for a perfume search in Paris. Forgot it all the instant I had to use it and fell back on my wretched Aussie version.
Portia xx
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I suspect you are more than charming enough to get away with the “wretched Aussie version.” Bela is quite insistent on true French as she does decry some youtube recording for using Celine Dion/Quebecois French.
Speaking of Aussie, the first two minutes of this clip of Carl Barron are classic re language misunderstanding. We, too, called them thongs when I was growing up.
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Ooops! Forgot to add the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri2g5NX7Ivk
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EXCELLENT!! Thank you. XX
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Oh hey, these and all other like mysteries can be solved for you by going here:
http://fragnameoftheday.blogspot.com.au/
And for Hermes specifically :
http://fragnameoftheday.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/hermes.html
With practice, you need never embarrass yourself in a perfume boutique again.
That said, once at Hermes in Melbourne I did my valiant best over L’Ambres des Merveilles, only to be met with a blank look from the SA. ‘Oh,’ she said eventually, you mean … ‘ and she crucified the name with the flatest Australian twang imaginable. I came away wondering if Hermes staff even ATTEMPT to train their staff.
Swearing in Hindi would be most impressive!
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Hey there AnnaMarieC,
Yes, love those sites but my memory is fricken APPALLING in situ.
When I’m driving in India and someone cuts me off or does something silly I can swear a blue streak. Then when the driver turns around to give me a gob full they notice I’m white and invariably have a laugh or give the thumbs up. It’s fun.
Portia x
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I always say something like – air-MESS with a soft French ‘r’ – how is it supposed to be pronounced? 🙂
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You can listen to the link I added MaryP. It has it
Portia xx
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Hi Portia,
I am a fellow Aussie and have given up trying to be a pronounciation queen. As long as it smells great, I dont care how I say it . Must admit I do cringe a little when I hear “S” “T” Louder ” though.
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HA HA HA!! S T Louder. Perfect!
You know I vacillate between Lorder and Louder. Sometimes one comes out and sometimes the other. I also chop and change for dance and dahrnce, never quit know what’s going to appear.
Portia xx
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I say a rather breathy air-mes. I massacre “Guerlain” compared to that girl who does the pronunciation videos. But I’m an American and I massacre it like an American, dammit!
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Well FeralJasmine, while thinking “You Go Girl” because I really don’t think how you say it will ever make a difference to how it smells (“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”) my mind is also led to your gun laws which make me sad even from this far away.
Sorry, politics on a frag blog. Naughty I know.
Portia xx
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Not that kind of massacre! Really! But after listening to a few of the frag-name sound files, I concluded that my chances of pronouncing a lot of the names correctly were zilch, and if I did, American SAs wouldn’t understand me much of the time. Besides, I usually buy by mail order, so the considerable effort of correct pronunciation would be wasted ;-).
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Yes, I know but that is where my head went.
Yes, it is easier to buy them online. Quite often though someone will ask me what I’m wearing and I won’t be able to say it for fear of mangling it.
The Annnick Goutal rose is a PRIME example.
Portia xx
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I would say “em ess’ but how about we try to find a strine pronunciation to really get everyone confised How about”her maze’ . Sorry had to do it as it is Australia Day weekend. OI OI OI Oh sorry that should be YES YES YES
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Camilla,
You are hilarious.
Portia xx
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LOL! You should try living in France and even though I think I’m pronouncing perfume names in French correctly, I often get blank stares. I do think I’m getting better but it can be funny / frustrating.
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No way MeganInStMaxime,
I would walk around making outrageous (Fox Paws: as we laughingly call them) and totally pissing off the locals. Jin is amazing at languages though so he’d be speaking fluently in about a month.
Portia xx
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Air Maze.
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Hey Val,
You cool? Life good? SKYPE soon?
Portia x
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I completely destroy the French language. There’s a handful of words I get almost right and the rest I say like I see them. Which means I read them like I would anything else in English. When I’m in NY with Daisy and she says some perfumes in rather perfect French I stare at her blankly wondering WTH she just said. In my defense, I never took French in school.
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Poodle, one of the perfumistas here in Sydney is Mauritian. Her French is (obviously) flawless and I often have to get her to Australianise the words so I have any idea of what she is talking about. So I hear you sister.
Portia xx
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Hmmm, I think language lessons for perfume lovers would be very useful for all of us. 🙂 I studied French just a bit but my pronunciation is crap… Should have paid more attention.By the way, here, if I pronounce any English name in English way, I get blank looks. I have to pronounce in Spanish way.
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Hey ThinkingMagpie,
I have had two English as a second language partners almost in a row. Sometimes, though their English is usually perfect, if they are tired or their minds are somewhere else all I get from them is gobbledygook. Everything becomes soft focus in their language skills and I REALLY have to concentrate to even grasp some kind of meaning.
Portia xx
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Hi,
Many thanks for the vote of confidence.
Hermès is easy to pronounce for English-speaking people: basically it’s pronounced ‘air-MESS’, as Mary P says (although there’s nothing soft about the ‘r’: it’s an ordinary French ‘r’ and it is definitely sounded). If only all French perfume names were as easy to transliterate and pronounce!
Best wishes to you all!
Bela
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I try pronouncing Hermès the way knowing people described above and even get it recognized sometimes. But for the most French names I say (in my English that is also not always understood by people with a less trained ear) something like: “I won’t even try to pronounce” – and then spell it. Sometimes it helps 😉
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Undina! I do that too. Especially here in Australia where I mangle the French and everyone is listening in OZZY.
Spelling can be the only way sometimes.
Portia xx
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Annemariec has it nailed! I once stayed with a French family when we were on a school trip to Europe and she took me window shopping at Hermes one day. She said it the exact same way and thankfully I’ve not forgotten 😉 But don’t get me to pronounce Serge Lutens, that’s another story entirely… 😉
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Ha Ha ha! Yes Melita, I can say it if I hear people say it right.
We do our best.
Portia xx
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Hi, Melita,
Serge Lutens is also on Frag Name of the Day. Here: http://fragnameoftheday.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/serge-lutens_03.html
It was one of the first names I recorded. 🙂
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Actually, it was the very first one – because I’m a Serge Lutens nut.
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