How do you pronounce "Asperger's?"

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I've been wondering about that too. I always thought it were pronounced as ASperger, but after watching "Mozart and the Whale" and the "House"-episode with the autistic boy I saw that in both they pronounced it AsPERger in German. Doesn't make much sense to me though, for I'm sure no one would pronounce a German (or Austrian) last name like that.

The second; aspErger - at least that'd be my intuitive preference.

Between the US and the UK, we often pronouce the short "a" differently. I think that we pronounce the short "a" the same in the word "wasp". Is it like the "a" in "wasp?"

Hahns Ahsperger

The G is almost ALWAYS hard like "guten tag"(gooten tahg) (good day) The G in good day is the same as well. The e is almost always like the e in ten. The R is a soft R, almost like the R in air. In fact, hahns ahspairgair is close. OH YEAH, the p is a P! Like pear, pair,pal, or "Poltergeist" ANOTHER german word adopted into english. The r is the english variant is usually harder than german but, otherwise, the english is JUST like the german. German IS very phonetic. There are some dipthongs that are ignored in german (Like 'th' being a t like try). There are some like 'ie' and 'ei'(Look at geist above! It is the german word for ghost or spirit. The ei sounds like the i in ice. It is a long I. The ie as in the english word spiel(another german adoption) sounds like the ee in beet. ) that are pronounced different. Otherwise, the rules are pretty stable.

I never really need to say it. I only write it.


I would be pissed if a psychologist told someone that I had AS. Even though I do have it, it's absolutely no one's business but my own.

Maybe the correct pronunciation is similar to "asparagus."

Maybe we should make asparagus the official vegetable for the autistic spectrum.

If you put the accent on the second syllable, as in "asparagus", you get

" a spare grrr"

As in Heather (the Aspie on America's Next Top Model) puts the grrrr in Asper-grrrz

Does anyone have a spare grrr?

Weird. I always pronounced "Asperger's" more like "Osberger's". I think it sounds less offensive and more formal that way.

LostInSpace, you just made my day by throwing "antepenultimate" out there...

I've always pronounced it as "as-PER-jers" I think it's the standard NZ pronunciation, if anyone watches Shortland Street, that's how everyone on the show say it. (There's a surgeon on the show called Gabrielle, she has Asperger's)

RE-EDIT: I went on the site again and it pronounced it both ways. I think it can be hard g or soft g.

Last edited by NZaspiegirl016 on 11 Oct 2011, 10:23 pm, edited 4 times in total.

I pronounce it as..
asPERgurs, with a hard G.

the professionals I speak to about it usually pronounce it with a soft G, they say incorrectly on purpose I suspect because they don't like the way it sounds with a hard G. I've corrected them but they say it wrong anyway. Maybe they think I'll be offended if they say ass burgers.

I pronounce it as ASS-per-g(as in go)ers.

LOL

~Kate

It's pronounced Ass-Ham-Burgers.

If you say it quickly, it soulds like Assenbergers. I believe this to be the most correct, as the Germans love to add -en to their words.

(yes, I'm joking)

I prefer as-ber-jers.

Try listening to the pronunciation on Google Translate. If you type in 'Aspergers' and translated it from German to English it sounds like 'As-Per-Gers'. (G as in Germs.) However if you listen to the translation from English to German it sounds like 'Ahs-Pair-Gars'. I'm assuming the German pronunciation is more correct since it's a German name. ( I kind of like the German pronunciation better. I really hate how Americans always pronounce it as 'Ass-Burgers'. )

This thread reminds me of how smart my sister is. She was telling me about that South Park episode & talked about the ass burgers joke. Then she said something like "I assume that's the name of the person who discovered it" & I'm like "exactly". Of course she used to study German so she's used to those types of names.

Well, I just searched Dutch and it can be associated with German and I translated Asperger's into Dutch and listened, it sounded like "Os-pair-jers" Just saying.