We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Historical Greek Phonology & the Greek Freak - YouTube In this video, we try to clear up some of the confusion regarding the. During the playoffs, Ruocco was a guest on ESPN's "The Dan Le Batard Show," where he explained why he knows his pronunciation is correct, how he learned the name and the keys to saying it right. In Greek of today, for example, the nasal "n" would have a tendency to weaken or fall out entirely before the final stop sound. - 8:16 PM Dave Early . So it stuck by me, I love it and it's a cool nickname.". If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. "The difference is that the T is actually pronounced as a D and the P in the end is actually a B," Ruocco told Le Batard. He is 6 feet 11 inches tall and his nationality is Greek. But as popular as the nickname has become, Antetokounmpo can't recall the first person to use it. (Haitian Creole Resource). We can either write it with an , which is the sound that we find to be the closest or we use , which is meant to represent the original sound. An ethnic name isnt a punchline, and a names origins in an unfamiliar culture arent a free pass to mispronounce it. Bucks keep good vibe going, minus Lopez bros. But now that he is an NBA superstar, more people are trying to say his real name, and many people are still getting it wrong. In any case, an interesting thing happened as a result of this change. How do you pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo's last name? We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. Pronunciation of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO with 1 audio pronunciations 0 rating Record the pronunciation of this word in your own voice and play it to listen to how you have pronounced it. So, we can relax. To pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo, start by saying the word goat with a hard g sound. Throughout the hiatus, Milwaukee has continued to operate as if the organization will continue to play. or post as a guest, GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO should be in sentence. Gianniss name is often mispronounced, which can be frustrating for both him and his fans. Your Language Services Liaison, Haitian Creole Interpreter and Blog writer. Especially if youre a sportscaster and a not insignificant portion of your job is saying athletes names out loud. Keep up. Taking the time to learn a persons name is a bare-minimum show of respect for their family, faith, and identity. So what does this mean for the Greek freak? Well, to answer that question, we need to turn to the second phenomenon, namely, the weakening of nasal consonants. Before "Giannis" became a household name, those who couldn't pronounce his last name often called the NBA's reigning MVP the "Greek Freak," because of his rare, freakish athletic ability and ballhandling skills for someone 6-foot-11. Sometimes when you're the MVP, you're the leader of the team, you've got to do a photo shoot and all that, you lose yourself, and whenever I'm with my family, I'm myself.". Giannis Antetokounmpo is pronounced as jee-AH-nis an-teh-toh-KOON-boh. You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Note: Symbols in [brackets] represent IPA characters. He began playing basketball at the age of nine. NOW WATCH: How basketball players get turned into video game avatars for NBA 2K. Because Greek has no "y" sound, just the vowel iota , which is pronounced like English "ee", the sequence gamma-iota , which would be transliterated in English as "gi", eventually came to be used to transcribe a "y" sound in other languages. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Foul. Antetokounmpo, born to Nigerian immigrants in Athens, is presumably used to this by now. Record the pronunciation of this word in your own voice and play it to listen to how you have pronounced it. Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Greek professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). (John Henson left out a syllable, which Ersan Ilyasova made up for about nine times over.). In a 2013 interview, Giannis revealed that he hadn't started playing basketball until 2008, five years prior. Then, add the word apple with a soft a sound. Lastly, say the word toupee with a soft p sound. Unfortunately, this browser does not support voice recording. Log in or Read about Giannis Antetokounmpo Pronunciation It is pronounced JAHN-iss ah-deh-toh-KOON-boh. . First on the list was two-time league . Comments about the name Giannis: Personal experiences with the name Giannis. Now remember what we said earlier about Greek not having any single letters to represent the sounds "b" "g" "d" after Greek shifted to the fricatives "v" "" ""? More on ESPN.com: http://www.espn.com All Rights Reserved, {{app['fromLang']['value']}} -> {{app['toLang']['value']}}, Pronunciation of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO with 20 audio pronunciations. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Register What does that mean? Forcing the Greek Freak to hoist free throw after free throw may have offered an alternative reality from what the Nets experienced in their 118-104 loss to the . Send me updates about Slate special offers. In Yoruba, the name comes from the root Ade to okun bo' (see here) and is pronounced like ah-de-toh-koon-boh (but note that the koon syllable can actually just be koo with a nasalized vowel). Greek also lacks a character that represents the [b] sound. In the middle of the stars breakout season a few years later, Fox Sports Wisconsin did a similar experiment with Bucks fans, who did only marginally better. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giannis_AntetokounmpoJuliens instructional and educational videos make pronunciation easier as I detail the correct pronunciation as native French speaker but also fluent speaker of French, English, Spanish and Italian.-If you found this video helpful please like the video to support my work.-If you would like help with any future pronunciations please be sure to subscribe!-Thanks for Watching How To Pronounce with Julien and happy pronouncing. The 2014 San Antonio Spurs had a championship-winning roster that included Manu Ginbili, Tiago Splitter, Boris Diaw, Kawhi Leonard, and Tim Duncan, who hail, respectively, from Argentina, Brazil, France, California, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. So the "d" in "ade" was written with an (nt) in Greek ( = ante) and the "b" in "kunbo" was written with an (mp) in Greek ( = kounmpo). You can see this quite clearly in the spelling of a name like "David Beckham", which is spelled in Greek as , the English-letter equivalent of which would be Nteivint Mpekam. The result was the following transformation: yoanan/yoanna became (in English letters: ioannes). You can see this quite clearly in the spelling of a name like "David Beckham", which is spelled in Greek as , the English-letter equivalent of which would be. So whenAntetokounmpo was featured on the big stage during the 2016-17 NBA playoffs, some were perplexed when they heard the correct pronunciation for the first time. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Giannis Yoruba father Charles passed on the name Adetokunbo, which according to one reputable source, means the crown has returned from overseas. Gianni, the Italian form of Johnny, has gotten popular in the US, and there's a good chance Giannis will be next, thanks to rising star basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is Greek. Fast forward to 2021 and Giannis has signed the most lucrative contract in NBA history - a five-year deal worth $228.2m (170.1m). Giannis Antetokounmpo took some big-time shots at Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Kevin Durant on Monday . Both his parents are from Nigeria; his mother is Igbo and his father Yoruba (see here). Rate the pronunciation difficulty of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO. 7 Steps to Pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo. He is 23 years old, a hair under seven feet tall and there are 13 letters in his last name, most of them consonants, so he is usually referred to as Giannis or 'The Greek Freak.' He's called. You can contribute this audio pronunciation of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO to HowToPronounce dictionary. Can you pronounce Giannis last name? Kenny Smith dared his Inside the NBA co-host Shaquille ONeal last week, during TNTs coverage of the 2019 All-Star Game draft. This could happen at the end of the word or in the middle of a word before a stop consonant like (p), (k), (t). A champion, activist and one of the most dominant players of his . How To Pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo. Now in ancient Greek, in certain contexts, the nasals (m) and (n) started to undergo weakening. Giannis Origin and Meaning The name Giannis is a boy's name. Giannis surname is pronounced AHN-teh-toh-KOON-boh. Its OK to struggle with a new name initially. Before "Giannis" became a household name, those who couldn't pronounce his last name often called the NBA's reigning MVP the "Greek Freak," because of his rare, freakish athletic ability and ballhandling skills for someone 6-foot-11. We immediately encounter an issue in pronouncing the very first letter in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Learning how to correctly pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpos name is a sign of respect for the player and his heritage. It also allows fans to more easily communicate with him and follow his career. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Listen and learn how to say Giannis Antetokounmpo correctly (NBA basketball players, Milwaukee Bucks) with Julien, \"how do you pronounce\" free pronunciation audio/video tutorials.Learn how to say wine words in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and many other languages with Julien Miquel and his pronunciation tutorials! For example, the Greek word for goodbye, adio, is spelled in Greek as (antio). He was the Adriatic League Most Valuable Player in 2015. Giannis Antetokounmpo, original name Giannis Adetokunbo, nickname Greek Freak, (born December 6, 1994, Athens, Greece), Greek professional basketball player who led the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA to a championship in 2021. "I just went on the court one day and I had like a crazy dunk or a crazy block and after that everyone started calling me the Greek Freak. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. After this change, which was more or less complete by the 4th c. CE, Greek had no single letter to represent the sounds "b", "g", or "d" any more. Unfortunately, this device does not support voice recording, Click the record button again to finish recording. Can you pronounce Antetokounmpo? as well as other partner offers and accept our. He began playing basketball at the age of nine. Giannis wouldn't reveal what the family talked about in private, but once he emerged to meet with the media, he spoke about his humble beginnings, saying that night, "At the end of the day, I . Many European languages feature multiple pronunciations for the letter . As a league full of players from all around the world and with varying backgrounds, the NBA is, among other things a rich linguistic petri dish. So in a word like (pente) [pente], the weakening of the nasal could lead to the dropping out of the "n" sound and/or the change of the "t" to a "d" sound: i.e., pe(n)de. Sure, sometimes letters are silent, or certain consonant combinations are tricky.