How do you say Wroclaw?

Hi! I'm going to Wroclaw next year on exchange, and I can't figure out how to pronounce it. I've looked on the internet, but I've been told two different things. One website said it was pronounce "Vroh-slav" and another said it was "vrott-suave". Which one is correct? Or are either of them?

The second one is pretty accurate. A little more O, like vrott-swov but the one above is ok

just to uphold the fine polish tradition of 3 different people 3 different opinions im going to say vrotswav for the shear hell of it

ivosoftware.com

try this website

The Billy Shears hell of it or the sheer hell of it? OK, vrotswov then

:-P

what are you saying the last vowel sound is?

Wow... how cool is that?? hours of fun :)

vrot-swov, we Wrocławiu would be like vrot-swav-eU, see the change?

It depends on what kind of English you speak.

An American 'o' is typically more like an English long 'a' (like in the word 'car')..
The American short 'a' (like in the word 'hat') is quite close to the English English short 'a', although tending slightly towards the English English short 'e'.

The Polish 'a' is roughly mid-way between both the English English and American English long and short 'a' sounds.

The accent in Potlatch, somewhere in the US - I really don't know, but that would be more relevent to the questioner here.

I imagine if you tell an American that the 'a' in 'Wrocław' is like an English 'a', they might interpret that as something that sounds more like a Polish 'e'.

Have I confused matters enough yet, or shall I go on?

no. Seanus's 'o' confused me more

Easily confused I c, LOL. Don't worry, I'll teach u vowel sounds if u like

im quite capable of reading phonetics if that would help

It's "Wrotzwaw" (but Breslau sounds much nicer) :)

Wrotzwaw, is this Hebrew?

please explain the change on the second vowel S, i havent noticed this before

I was wrong, there is more of an A in Wrocław. Maybe I lazily and errantly pronounce it with an O. vrot-swov just sounds easier.

thank you for clearing that up S... although i was looking forward to a lesson in vowel sounds ;-)

I am Scottish, we have clear vowel sounds so the offer still stands ;)

im a sahf lunduna so my vowel pronunciations are impacable... perhaps we should open a consultancy...

Yeah, show some people just how differently we use English. Britain, for such a small country, has HUGE variation in how we accent words.

We should ask Poles how we pronounce certain words, e.g doubt. All my students say DowPt. Receipt is another etc etc.

It'd be an educational thread and would keep the Admin on ur side. Luke made a case against u so let's up ur standing by doing this

did he? genuine suprise

does anyone take the blindest bit of notice to anything he says?

The blindest bit, yes, coz nobody sees it :)

good old luke and his behind-the-scene b!itching

The attention who*e!

thats the one!