Hello from Slovakia guys. Can you please explain how to pronounce his name in English ? Just so i dont mess his name up every time i say it. Thanks 🙂

38 comments

  2. It’s not really explainable in English, as the Finnish y sound isn’t used in English.

    The Finnish ä sounds like the a in “hat”. In the diphthong the y is like the German ü as in Führer (but the proper sound and not “few-rer” like commonly said by native English speakers).

    It’s a hell of thing to try to say for English speakers probably.

  6. Simo Häyhä… The Häy is like “hay” but the vocal Ä is (like someone said) more like the a in “hat.”

    See-mo Ha(t)yh(at)ha(t)?

    I’m not helping, am I? :’D

  10. Take it with a grain of salt, not an expert.

    Si – Close to spanish Sí.. I think. Or Si in six.

    Mo – Like More, Or the ‘Mo’ in mo money, mo problems. Think more or less Simon or maybe Timo/Timothy/Timotej but just with an S.

    Häy – Like the Ha in happy, followed with the difficult y which I think is close to german or hungarian ü. Google how to pronounce Münich. It should just flow all together naturally like saying hey.

    Hä – Like the Ha in happy. Strong H.

  12. English How + hä

    PS your language is a doozy too. I used to visit my friends in Slovakia and even all of your accents on letters 🤯

  13. I wanna try also! 😁Simo is like “Saymo” and Häyhä is like “Heyha”. Ä is like when You say “@” without The t.

    U can Make “ä sound” by saying “L” but put your tongue bottom of your mouth 😂

  17. Seems like you got your answer already so all I have to say is:

    Are you looking for this guy incase Slovakia is next on the list after Ukraine? Not gonna happen but smart move.

  18. Off topic!

    I cant be the only one who does not expect people of differenr dialect to be able to pronounce my name correctly?

    When I was a kid playing ice hockey alone at the rink, pretending to be in the NHL. I was imagining my name pronounced with a North American accent.

    Just… Rambling thoughts.

  19. I mean…nobody expected us fins can pronounce it right. Every time I hear a English speaker that is not from Finland say it, it definitely doesn’t sound bad but not fully correct either

  21. Why would you try to pronounce a Finnish name in English? I think it’s better to learn how to pronounce it the right way which would be the Finnish way, for a Slovakian whose mother language is not English.

  24. H = H
    ä = ‘a’ in ‘hat’
    y = ‘oo’ but at the very front of your mouth, English doesnt really have an equivilant, but if you know German, the letter ‘ü’ is what you’re looking for
    h = h
    ä = ‘a’ in ‘hat’

    The ‘äy’ dipthong (2 vowels together) I think is particarly difficult for non native finnish speakers, as they are both supposed to be made at the front of the mouth, but native English speakers (and other languages I assume) tend to make the ‘ä’ sound at the back of their mouth

  36. Ä is like (Finnish) A, but tongue and the lower jaw protruded more forward, Y is like (Finnish) U but also tongue and the lower jaw protruded more forward (also, Ö is like (Finnish) O but tongue and the lower jaw protruded more forward). You can hear the Finnish pronouncation of these letters when you put them separately on google translate with “Finnish to English” settings. So, you keep the same shape of the lips, the tongue and the same level of the jaw, but just tongue and jaw protruded forward.

    You can play around by sliding between A-Ä-A-Ä…, U-Y-U-Y…, O-Ö-O-Ö… All you need is this movement of the jaw and the tongue in the direction of forward-backward.

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