Pronunciation

[liz]

So... I guess I'm probably the only person who has been wondering about this forever (to be exact, four years, since I became a fan) but...

How do you correctly pronounce Hans' name?

Is it 'Hans' with the 'a' pronounced as the 'a' in 'all' or is it 'Hans' with the 'a' pronounced as the 'a' in 'and'?

Since I think it's quite a Germanic name, and in Germany/The Netherlands it's pronounced with the 'all' a. But the 'and' version would probably be more Anglo, right?

Enlighten me!
Love,
Liz

[Virgil Reality]

You say tomato and I say tomahto...

You're right - short 'a' in both Hans and Matheson.

If you have the "Doctor Zhivago" DVD, you can hear it from the man himself. In the interviews on the second disk he says something like "I'm not Omar Shariff and Keira's not Julie Christie. I'm Hans Matheson playing Yury Zhivago and she's Keira Knightley playing Lara Antipova."

But you're not the only one to have wondered. And anyway, in the "Deathwatch" DVD commentaries and interviews it gets all sorts of pronunciations - Jamie Bell says it as Harns. And in the DZ interviews, Sam Neill uses the long 'a'. I guess it depends how you say your 'a' s in words like France, dance. After all, there are many English accents both in England, and in other English speaking countries, and vowel sounds are one of the main differentiators

[liz]

True!

I do have the Doctor Zhivago dvd, but there's no extras on it I'd love to hear him talk though, since I've only heard him talk in films - not as Hans.

[Nepenthe]

Oh ... I say it like "Hahns" (like the way some British people pronouce dance with a very long A - which I actually don't, ironically) ... then Matheson like "mathematics". A drawn out A then a short one. I'd been wondering if it was supposed to be pronounced more like "Maytherson," though.

That's probably because it seems a Germainic sort of name to me, but yeah, everyone says these things differently. But if Hans himself says it with a short A, I guess I'll have to unlearn the way I've been saying it.

So it 'Hans' more like "hands," then? (Or at least the way we Australians usually pronouce "hands," I mean.)

[JenoWhatIMean]

yes, Hans like "hands" and Matheson like "mathematics"

[liz]

I still find this puzzling. I mean, it's a Germanic name, right? Shouldn't it officially be pronounced in the German way? Fascinating, though ;D but how come Heidi IS pronounced the German way, and then Hans is not? Okay this is pointless *lol* Never mind.

[Virgil Reality]

I guess you can say your own name however you like

[liz]

Now that's comforting to know