How Do You Pronounce "Wuensch?"

From: Gabrielle Decuir

Hi! How do you pronounce your last name? I'm recording an audio book and there's a fictional character with that name and I'd like some help?!?! Thanks!

Gabrielle, pupsweet@earthlink.net, Books on Tape, Los Angeles

To hear how "Wuensch" should be pronounced, just click on this Audio Link. It is commonly mispronounced, on this side of the Atlantic, in unflattering ways, such as "Winch," "Wrench," or "Wench."  Properly pronounced the "W" makes a "V" sound and the "ue," (or, for short,  umlaut u, that is, ü, as in my signature, below),  well, you will have to listen to the audio file for that.  One of the forms to which "Wuensch" or "Wuenschel" has been anglicized is "Winchel" -- for example, Walter Winchel.  In German, "Wuensch" means "wish" or "desire," sometimes leading to some teasing, as in "was wuenschen Sie, Frau Wuensch," that is, "what do you desire, Ms. Desire?"

I'd like to hear a little bit about your fictional character named Wuensch.

Gabrielle's Reply: You are an angel! Oh, if only everyone I appealed to responded with such alacrity and precision. It's a silly little book with a German character in Chicago that owns a small shop at the turn of the century. He only has a small part and is mentioned once, but I try to do my research thoroughly, and hate mispronouncing people's names in my audio productions.

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This page most recently revised on 13. November 2003.