Lo'raen:

that's the way I'd tranlate it into "phonetics" hope it helps...

lɒr'eIn or lər'eIn

l, short "o" or schwa, r, stress mark (following syllable is stressed), diphthong eI = the vowel in train, brain, etc., n

I should have said, that is my IPA transcription (and it is annoying that the LEO default font makes cap I's look like lower case L's - 2nd last letter.)

I should have said that is my IPA transcription (and it is annoying that the LEO default font makes cap I's look like lower case L's - 2nd last letter.)

g, I guess the first letter is no "i" but a small "L"?

I don't quite agree with the "train/brain"-sound. Lorraine is French and the "ai" is pronounced rather like in "band" or "brand".

In English speaking countries the name is pronounced like train/brain.

neilo I don't doubt it is, still I thought that the 'correct' (in the sense of 'original') way of spelling was being searched for.
I don't mean to be offensive, it's just that speaking French I find it hard to cope with English (or German) pronunciation of French words.

but you're probably right. I mean, after all this is an English forum... no harm meant!

@vera

love your comment! complaining about wrong pronounciation of english terms but ignoring any other language at the same time seems strange. we say new york mostly correct but what's about paris? same rights for the wonderful french language!

@vera:

We are talking about the English pronunciation here, 'correct' is not equal to 'original'.
I don't think anyone cares how you 'cope' with various pronunciations of French words.

@LEON:
What? Your contribution is barely comprehensible.

@vera, why would debs ask for the French pronunciation on an English forum?

@vera, yes of course the first letter is a lower case L, is it really conceivable it could be an I or are you just being picky?

@vera, just out of interest, is the French pronunciation like the a in the English word "brand" or like the German ä?

Oder ganz einfach "Lothringen"?

merci mille fois, leon! :-)

t'as tout à fait raison, c'est une langue merveilleuse :-)

badger, I believe what you're saying is nothing but a rephrased repetition of my words. love you too

once again for badger and g, quote from my secondlast comment:

"but you're probably right. I mean, after all this is an English forum... no harm meant!"

have a nice evening

@vera,
So it's okay to make arrogant comments and then say "no harm meant".

To claim that only the 'original' pronunciation of a word is correct is misguided/daft/ignorant/arrogant.

Anyway, the name Lorraine appears to be German in origin ;-)

badger: Your choosen nome de guerre is correct, a badger is an agressive, bad tempered animal! Your last comment regarding Vera about beeing "arrogant" is not gentlemanlike and shows little respect for other people. Why is it arrogant tell s.o. in a friendly way were he or she could improve? I learned and still learn a lot from other people's advice. Which advice I take or which not is finally my decision!

@LEON:
I disagree. vera's comment goes along the lines of: "English/German-speakers can't pronounce French words properly, ha ha!" - I think that's an arrogant point of view. Nobody can pronounce every language properly and to expect this or to complain about it is simply arrogant.
She also claims that the only valid way (‘correct’) to pronounce a borrowed word is exactly as it is pronounced in its original language – this is also an arrogant, and laughable, propostion.

I don't think it is 'ungentlemanly' to point out such nonsense for what it is...

My tuppen'orth:
I can't see anything arrogant in vera's postings, the only thing is she mistook 'original' for 'correct'. She explained the reason for that slip-up, consented with the views of others, and finally brought forward an excusing statement.

badger, how do you spell 'tetchy'?

Dear badger,
you think so? Well, I understand it differently, just telling us how it is pronounced in France. I like this forum for learning and improving my english but often disagree with pranksters just cracking jokes and people having no clue about a term but giving translations nevertheless. In contrast any serious comment / contributions that helps with my education is highly appreciated. It won't hurt to know something about other languages and how their words are pronounced in the country of origin, Spain, Italy or France!
Well this is just my opinion and I grant everybody the right to disagree, but please, why can't we disagree in polity words as any educated person (and I think you are an educeated person!) would? The harsh comments of some poeple in this forum sometimes make me very sad.
Kind regards LEON

@LEON
Vera said: "it's just that speaking French I find it hard to cope with English (or German) pronunciation of French words"
I think my interpretation of this comment is quite accurate. She can't tolerate how English-speaking people mispronounce French words. And that is arrogant, finde ich :)

@badger,
that, of course, is a good point! We should of course be forgiving with people not speaking a language as well as we do. I interpreted Vera more in a way that it hurts her listening to badly pronounced French like it hurts a musician to listen to badly played music. I always want to see the positive part in other people first.

Shell I say "I rest my case"?

Thank you for the interesting discussion.

Blimey, I appear to have inadvertently triggered a linguistic punch-up! Thanks to those folk who gave me an answer. It was the English pronunciation of 'Lorraine' that the client was after. On the subject of French/English/German pronunciation: I speak all three (English being my mother tongue)and was once asked in Germany if I was French because I spoke German with more of a French accent! (Comes of spending my year abroad in Trier, near Luxembourg).

@LEON

Fair enough, but I still think that "it hurts her listening to badly pronounced French" is a sign of lingiustic arrogance that must be remarked upon.
The "Besserwisserei" of some contributors here is incredible.

An-y-wayyyyy, the correct English pronunciation of "Lorraine" (generally a woman's given name, but also the region, as in "quiche Lorraine") is luh-REYN. Unaccented syllables take a schwa, which is more central in English than the broad French O of "l'homme." Borrowed French words which end in "-aine," "-aign" or "-agne" (z.B. migraine, campaign, champagne) are generally pronounced -EYN (that is, long E, ypsilon, N). When Americans pronounce English words the French way, it sounds affected and "precieux."

Auf Deutsch wahrscheinlich "Le'rejn".

Just to add to Jeff's otherwise accurate post: in the UK, unstressed syllables are more likely to be given their full value. Which is why I posted above that both lo-rain and luh-rain are possible in BE (though the latter is probably more common).

Incidentally, in the UK, quiche Lorraine is pronounced as an approximation of the French (kish lorEn). Pronouncing the name of this foodstuff like the English girl's name would sound ignorant and unworldly.

Vive la différence.

Thanks, graeme. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only English speaker who would pronounce it "lor-rain".

Just wondering: does anybody expect people to pronounce the word "France" the French way? No. If there is an established way of pronouncing a foreign-language word (particularly place names, people's names is a different matter, but they don't have differing established pronunciations as often anyway), the there's no reason not to use it. Lorraine, Alsace, Aragon, Portugal, Hamburg, for instance, all have an established way of pronouncing in English. That's just language. In German it's the same with Göteborg (Gothenburg in Swedish), Portugal and many more.

Agree with neilo, graeme, amy.
The way English people pronounce it, it definitely rhymes with "brain/train".

It does not sound like the English words "band" or "brand" at all...