How to pronounce
“Aung San Suu Kyi”:
“Aung” is roughly pronounced “Oun” (rhymes with “sound,” without the ‘d’ and ’s’). Most Burmese people with the name ‘Aung’ spell it misleadingly with ‘ng’ because in Burmese, it is spelled with a silent ‘ng.’ “San” is pronounced close enough, but to be more exact, it has to be lengthened (so more “Saan” rather than “San”.) “Suu,” unlike the misleading lengthening of the vowel, is short and abrupt. So it’s more of a a snappy and quick “Su” rather than a long-voweled “Suu.” And “Kyi” is the one most people have trouble with. The pronunciation of “Kyi” does not even exist in English, so a “Chee” is the closest approximation. But for those who are familiar with Spanish or French, the ‘k’s in those languages are softened. But the “Kyi” is a combination of the soft ‘k’ and a ‘y’ sound, which is hard to explain.
Shortly put:
- “Aung” rhymes with “sound” (without the ’s’ and ‘d’);
- “San” rhymes with “sun,” except with a long vowel.
- “Su” ends abruptly, like French ‘zut,’ or less closely, to English “loot” (replace the ‘t’ with an abrupt stop)
- “Kyi” is a softened “Chee.” Like the French or Spanish ‘k.’
