How to say: Francis Poulenc
15:52 UK time, Monday, 13 November 2006
A weekly guide to words and names in the news from Lena Olausson of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Pronunciation Unit.
"The pronunciation unit often receives complaints about perceived mispronunciations of two French composers' names - Francis Poulenc and Paul Dukas - when they haven't been mispronounced at all. Poulenc is pronounced poo-LA(NG)K, the -a(ng) sound as in French "vin". This is the pronunciation listed in all our published sources (French and English), and there is no justification for the poo-LAA(NG)K (-aa(ng) as in French "blanc") pronunciation claimed to be correct in the many complaints
The other name that causes much frustration among our Radio 3 listeners, Dukas, is in fact pronounced due-KASS, and not due-KAA. This pronunciation was passed on to the pronunciation unit in 1955 by a friend of the Dukas family, who assured us that this was the composer's own pronunciation."
(For a guide to our phonetic pronunciations, click here.)
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