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Help[Opinions] Itzhak? Pronunciation woes.
Itzhak is a Hebrew form of Isaac. And I love it. But I think I'm pronouncing it wrong. Because of my love for Russian and Eastern European names, I've been pronouncing it EETZ-hahk. I listened to it being pronounced online and it seems to be more of a YITZ-hok. Do you think it's ok that I'm pronouncing it improperly? It's not as if it's a very common name or anything. But I just love how it looks and how it sounds when I say it, so I don't want to change it.
This message was edited 9/10/2008, 6:08 PM
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That particular h in Hebrew has a sort of kh sound - it is pronounced like ch in Scottish loch and is difficult for native English-speakers to say.
Yitzhak is pronounced sort of like yeetz-khahk.
The reason you might have heard the end like -ok is because the Eeastern European (Ashkenazi) pronunciation of Hebrew differs from the Sephardi. The Sephardi pronunciation is -ahk, the Ashkenazi is -ok.
The Sephardi pronunciation is used in Israel, as well as by adherents of the Lubavitcher movement and Reform Judaism.
The Ashkenazi pronunciation is the one still heard in most synagogues.
Outside Israel and Orthodox Jewish circles Isaac would be the name used in everyday life, and the Hebrew pronunciation used when the person called Isaac is involved in the ritual of the synagogue.
Yitzhak is pronounced sort of like yeetz-khahk.
The reason you might have heard the end like -ok is because the Eeastern European (Ashkenazi) pronunciation of Hebrew differs from the Sephardi. The Sephardi pronunciation is -ahk, the Ashkenazi is -ok.
The Sephardi pronunciation is used in Israel, as well as by adherents of the Lubavitcher movement and Reform Judaism.
The Ashkenazi pronunciation is the one still heard in most synagogues.
Outside Israel and Orthodox Jewish circles Isaac would be the name used in everyday life, and the Hebrew pronunciation used when the person called Isaac is involved in the ritual of the synagogue.
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I've always heard it as YEETZ-ACK which is pretty close to how you've been saying it. So unless a Jewish person comes up to you and says "that's not how you say his name", I wouldn't worry.
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I've always heard it pronounced EETZ-hahk in the context of people talking about Itzhak Perlman. EETZhahk and YITZhok I can see being very similar; you may have heard a slightly YITZhok heavy recording. It is a really cool name.
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