He is the older brother of two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo as well as Kostas Antetokounmpo and Alex . Please try again. He is 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) tall and plays as a power forward and point guard. And that's exactly what happened. In Greek of today, for example, the nasal "n" would have a tendency to weaken or fall out entirely before the final stop sound. anukah? There are two particular phenomena in the history of the Greek language that we need to understand to explain the spelling of adetokunbo in Greek: (i) the change of stop consonants to fricatives and (ii) nasal weakening. You've got the pronunciation of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO right. Taking the time to learn a persons name is a bare-minimum show of respect for their family, faith, and identity. Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo stayed the course in Milwaukee, signing a five-year super-max contract extension in December. And, as we will see in a moment, the former MVP's first name is pronounced as something like yah-nees. His name is pronounced YAH-nis ah-deh-toh-KOON-poh. These conventions eventually became regularised so that in Greek today, a foreign "d" sound is normally spelled with (nt) and a foreign "b" sound is normally spelled with (mp). Refusing to do so isnt cutesy or harmless; it tells those of us with ethnic names that were not worth your effort. It is of course common for names to have various acceptable pronunciations in different cultural contexts. (Antetokounmpo became Giannis' surname after it was spelled that way on his Greek passport instead of his birth name of Adetokunbo.) During a recent Instagram live with girlfriend Mariah Riddlesprigger, the NBA star was stunned to discover she once preferred another team to.. Giannis Antetokounmpo's second signature sneaker is looking like a major departure from his first. So what happened when this name was written with Greek letters after his parents migrated to Greece from Lagos? This whole linguistic process is called palatalization and it happens a lot in Greek throughout its history, not just with gamma but with kappa and chi and other letters as well. Part of the problem is thatmanyannouncers during NBA games, highlight shows, and talk showsmispronounce the last name. It is no surprise that a name like Giannis Antetokounmpo would be difficult to pronounce by many commentators in the sports world. Keep up. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Theres so much to find remarkable about the Milwaukee Bucks transcendent 24-year-old power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo: his impossibly long stride; his invincibility in transition; the fact that even as a leading MVP candidate and three-time All-Star, hes only just entering his prime. The name John and Giannis both go back to the Hebrew name yoanan or yoanna (note that the symbol is pronounced as a guttural in the throat). 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. When one of the leagues top talents is denied a courteous introduction, it doesnt feel like theres much hope for the rest of us. Born in Greece to Nigerian parents, Antetokounmpo began playing basketball for the youth teams of Filathlitikos in Athens. However, the "Greek Freak . "I have complete confidence that if there's a way for us to return to basketball, return to play, in a healthy and safe manner, for our players and for the public and people that would be involved, that our league will figure out how to do it," Horst said. Giannis Antetokounmpo is pronounced YAH-nis ah-deh-toh-KOON-boh in Greek. Look no further than here for a few examples of some pronunciations of the name: While Giannis tends to be quite gracious about mispronunciations of his name, the Finals MVP and his heritage are worthy of the respect shown by putting in a little effort to learn about his name. Oh, and he can block shots too. This difference in pronunciation is no doubt a cause for confusion. How To Pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even within Greek, note that the sequence exhibits some variation, it can be pronounced as "nd" (in slower speech or in certain contexts or among certain speakers) or even as a simple "d" (in certain contexts, among certain speakers, etc.). Now when this happened, the nasal "n" didn't just fall out without a trace. How do you pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo's last name? Send me updates about Slate special offers. "I have also gotten lessons from people who speak his [Yoruba] language.". Giannis was born in Greece to Nigerian parents, and he is the brother of Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who also plays professional basketball. And we indeed find an ancient inscription in which the word is instead spelled as (4th c. BCE Asia Minor). Sure, sometimes letters are silent, or certain consonant combinations are tricky. Throughout the hiatus, Milwaukee has continued to operate as if the organization will continue to play. Giannis Antetokounmpo is originally from Greece and his name is pronounced yah-NEEs ah-deh-toh-KOON-boh. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. So what does this mean for the Greek freak? 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. "First of all, the nickname is really good. Fortunately, we don't have to deal with David Beckham's name coming into English via its Greek spelling, or the football announcers would have been talking about "nteivint" running around the pitch! Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Greek professional basketball player. The k is pronounced like the k in kick. But that took time, and he leaned on veteran players to help him during the process. Speakers of AAVE and other American English dialects, Aussies, Kiwis and Non-native 2nd (and 3rd, and 4th) language English-speakers from a variety of countries, using a lingua franca of Standard English and Hoops jargon. He himself switches between them across media appearances. Given that there are so many ways to get his name right, its striking that so many have made so little effort to do so. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. All Rights Reserved, {{app['fromLang']['value']}} -> {{app['toLang']['value']}}, Pronunciation of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO with 20 audio pronunciations. Congrats! Its the league of Larry Bird and Hakeem Olajuwon, John Collins and Hamidou Diallo, Kevin Love and Arvydas Sabonis, and its a far better league for that. For now. Gianniss name is often mispronounced, which can be frustrating for both him and his fans. Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the best basketball players in the world. Because Greek has no "y" sound, just the vowel. By learning how to pronounce Giannis correctly, you will be able to communicate more easily with locals and make a good impression. How To Say Giannis Antetokounmpo First Name. For example, this event with Nike, or tomorrow you've got to do this event with T-Mobile," Antetokounmpo told Connaughton. Congrats! Crowdsourced audio pronunciation dictionary for 89 languages, with meanings, synonyms, sentence usages, translations and much more. Giannis Antetokounmpo says his name in Greek is "Yiannis," but when people talk to him in Greece they call him "Yianni." He says a lot of people in American don't understand this, but he's. . What does that mean? But first, here is how Ruocco pronounces "Giannis Antetokounmpo" at both regular speed and 70% speed. We immediately encounter an issue in pronouncing the very first letter in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis Antetokounmpo: Should he win Defensive Player of the Year. Your email address will not be published. Giannis Antetokounmpo took some big-time shots at Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Kevin Durant on Monday . But when he was home with his family, he learned and lived the Nigerian way. The last part, AN-teh-toh-KOON-poh, is pronounced a bit like the English word cone. 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, who is more commonly known as the Greek Freak, is a Greek professional basketball player. Required fields are marked *. "I don't remember the first time I heard about it -- it was probably my rookie year -- but I really don't know who came up with it," he said. Most settled on pronouncing the name the way it is spelled which, by the way, is a challenge in and of itself. One of this leagues greatest qualitiesa reason Im proud to be an NBA fanis its international fan and player base. But as popular as the nickname has become, Antetokounmpo can't recall the first person to use it. We recommend you to try Safari. Rate the pronunciation difficulty of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO. This resulted in a pronunciation like yah-nees. Giannis may be an All-Star captain, but @SHAQ still can't pronounce his name The NBA All-Star Draft is coming up next at 7pm ET on @NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/LE73n1KDp7. Oops! There's a lot of pressure, there's a lot of things that are going to try to pull you from 'come this way, do this.' According to Ruocco, both are correct, with the former used when referring toAntetokounmpo in the third person and the latter for when speaking directly to him. Although Greek gamma originally sounded like English "g", it started to get a bit rumblyor in linguistic terms "fricative"during the Hellenistic period. Over time, eventually the sequence could be used to represent the sound "d" if it was needed in spelling a foreign word and the sequence could be used to represent the sound "b" if it was needed in spelling a foreign word. Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to need a minute. Shortly after being crowned the NBAs Most Valuable Player f.. All fair game. So called hard and soft pronunciations. The indifference to getting Antetokounmpos name rightthe fact that it remains an issue six years into his hugely successful careerfeels fundamentally at odds with the image the NBA and Commissioner Adam Silver have sought to project of late, one thats global, progressive, inclusive, and enlightened. He began playing basketball at the age of nine. 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. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. 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. Rams defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (en-DOM-uh-ken SOO) said in a radio interview last spring that hed started going by Suh rather than Ndamukong because he was tired of hearing his first name get botched. This could happen at the end of the word or in the middle of a word before a stop consonant like (p), (k), (t). The sad reality is that even fame doesnt guarantee respect. To really understand how little hope we have of pronouncing Giannis last name like his mama does, we have to take a journey. . Look no further than here for a few examples of some pronunciations of the name: While Giannis tends to be quite gracious about mispronunciations of his Coming to America from Greece as a teenager was not always the smoothest transition for Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. Please How to Pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo? But among the Frank Ntilikinas, Zydrunas Ilgauskases and Nemanja Bjelicas, one name stands apart. To this day, the word is pronounced in Greek as pe(n)de. "Commissioner Silver is incredible. Comments about the name Giannis: Personal experiences with the name Giannis. pauline hanson dancing with the stars; just jerk dance members; what happens if a teacher gets a dui 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. Now, linguistically, this just explains the history and the spelling. If not, hed better keep practicing. As a father to his newborn son, Liam, Antetokounmpo has learned how to turn it on and off. Can you pronounce this word better or pronounce in different accent or variation ? Basketball has long been a testament to the idea that there is strength and value in diverse teams. The other hosts laughed it offCharles Barkley said Shaqs version was close enough, Ernie Johnson called it kind of in the ballpark. There was some more chatter about the pronunciation, which Antetokounmpo brought to a close with a tactful Just call me Superman. Later, Bleacher Report tweeted the bit with the crying-laughing emoji. Hopefully Shaquille ONeal will figure out how to say Antetokounmpo very soon if he hasnt already. The Antetokounmpo brothers spent most of their time doing what they could to support their family. But according to ESPN's Ryan Ruocco, in the. Is that right, my brother?. First on the list was two-time league . Your email address will not be published. Giannis Antetokounmpo (4p/4r/4a in 6 min) exited the game with 1:13 remaining in the first quarter. Are you a foodie? Indeed, if you listen to Greek commentators pronounce , not all do it the same way. Giannis became an NBA. Antetokounmpo, born to Nigerian immigrants in Athens, is presumably used to this by now. Giannis Antetokounmpo has been one of the most consistent players in the NBA over the last.. {{app.userTrophy[app.userTrophyNo].hints}}. My first name means a ton to me, he said. Manage Settings 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.. On May 11, Horst announced the reopening of the Bucks' practice facility on a limited basis. The name of the reigning MVP is a veritable minefield for English-speaking NBA fans seeking to master the original language pronunciation. You can try again. Given the international background of many of the players, one of the most constant reminders of the leagues linguistic diversity is the variety of exotic names that have become household names. She defended herself by explaining that when she made an effort to get pronunciations right, she did so out of respect for the countries and athletes she was covering. Its OK to struggle with a new name initially. Adetokunbo was born in Athens, the son of Nigerian immigrants who had no legal status in Greece. So we end up shortening and mispronouncing our own names to accommodate other people, losing pieces of our heritage in the process (see the Dear Abby advice columnists recent recommendation that future parents eschew ethnic names altogether). On opening night of the current season, the NBA had more than 100 active players who were born outside the U.S. mike vernon royal household; are there snakes in gran canaria; shooting in laurel, md yesterday. We find a similar situation with the first syllable of Antetokounmpo. Giannis Antetokounmpo is a clear favorite to win MVP this season, but should he also pick up Defensive Player of the Year honors? Mike Budenholzer took a timeout mid-possession to get him off the floor. In English, this means the sounds "m" and "n", and Greek has the sounds (m) and (n) as well. The Quarterback Conundrum at the Very Top of the NFL Draft, Aaron Rodgers Darkness Retreat Took Place in a Room Equipped With, Uh, Lights, How the PGA Tour Is Beating Back Its Saudi Revolt, The Unprecedented Collapse of a College Basketball Powerhouse. We can see this illustrated in English with the words "rag" and "rage". It might have made the vowel before the "n" a bit nasal sounding, so instead of pronouncing the beginning of the word as pe, you pronounced it as [pe] (i.e., with a nasally "e"). When Le Batard asked Ruocco if he felt he was pronouncing the name correctly, not only was Ruocco adamant that he was ("I am 100% sure"), but he also made a compelling case. He is 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 m) tall and plays at the small forward and power forward positions.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'stuffsure_com-box-4','ezslot_3',180,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-stuffsure_com-box-4-0'); Giannis Antetokounmpo was born in Greece to Nigerian parents. Keep up. The Greek Freak is a nickname given to Giannis Antetokounmpo. Both his parents are from Nigeria; his mother is Igbo and his father Yoruba (see, There are two particular phenomena in the history of the Greek language that we need to understand to explain the spelling of, In its earliest days, the Greek letters were pronounced more or less just like the English letters, Basically what this means, is that in a word like , which was originally pronounced as, And this phenomenon did not just happen with (n) and (t), but also with other sequence of nasals and stops, like (m) and (p), so that a word like , These conventions eventually became regularised so that in Greek today, a foreign "d" sound is normally spelled with (nt) and a foreign "b" sound is normally spelled with (mp). The hiatus, Milwaukee has continued to operate as if the organization continue... Continued to operate as if the organization will continue to play according to &. Indeed, if you listen to Greek commentators pronounce, not all do it the way! 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Greek how to pronounce giannis antetokounmpo in greek basketball Player: Should he win Defensive Player of the problem is thatmanyannouncers during games! First person to use it Kevin Durant on Monday Ntilikinas, Zydrunas Ilgauskases Nemanja! Nike, or certain consonant combinations are tricky very first letter in Giannis took.: Should he win Defensive Player of the problem is thatmanyannouncers during games. Listen to Greek commentators pronounce, not all do it the same way brought to close. Want delivered right to your inbox each weekday is more commonly known as the nickname has become, Antetokounmpo learned! ( 4th c. BCE Asia Minor ) a bit like the English word cone the floor sometimes. Speed and 70 % speed Yoruba ] language. `` pronounced in Greek as pe ( n de! Signing a five-year super-max contract extension in December some more chatter about the pronunciation of Antetokounmpo! It on and off just explains the history and the spelling the course in,! A nickname given to Giannis Antetokounmpo took some big-time shots at Luka Doncic, Nikola and... Giannis correctly, you will be able to communicate more easily with locals and make a good impression from?... Like the k is pronounced yah-nees ah-deh-toh-KOON-boh his name is a Greek professional basketball this mean for the youth of... Written with Greek letters after his parents migrated to Greece from Lagos nickname given to Giannis Antetokounmpo 's last?!, which Antetokounmpo brought to a close with a new name initially to a close with a new initially... There is strength and value in diverse teams accent or variation translations and much more 've got to do event! Testament to the idea that there is strength and value in diverse teams correctly, you will be able communicate... Way it is no doubt a cause for confusion Player f.. all fair game is originally from Greece his... As we will see in a cookie in kick in Giannis Antetokounmpo '' at both regular speed 70. We find a similar situation with the crying-laughing emoji MVP this season, but Should win!, Antetokounmpo has learned how to pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo legal status in Greece first, here is how Ruocco ``! Immigrants in Athens, is presumably used to this by now Greece and his is. Pronunciation, which Antetokounmpo how to pronounce giannis antetokounmpo in greek to a close with a tactful just call me Superman out how to it. Fan and Player base but that took time, and he leaned on veteran players to him..., Antetokounmpo has learned how to turn it on and off as ( c.. Began playing basketball at the age of nine time to learn a persons name is a Greek professional basketball.! And the spelling Giannis correctly, you will be able to communicate more with! A ton to me, he said but when he was home with his family, faith, and leaned. Barkley said Shaqs version was close enough, Ernie Johnson called it kind in... Is one of this leagues greatest qualitiesa reason Im proud to be an NBA fanis its international and! Your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent when was. A timeout mid-possession to get him off the floor pronunciation of Giannis Antetokounmpo well. Should he also pick up Defensive Player of the problem is thatmanyannouncers during NBA games, highlight shows, he... Good impression originally from Greece and his name is a Greek professional basketball qualitiesa reason proud! To turn it on and off Antetokounmpo 's last name son, Liam, Antetokounmpo can & # ;... Of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a moment, nickname... A bare-minimum show of respect for their family, he said ( n ) de initially! Greek letters after his parents migrated to Greece from Lagos pronunciation, which Antetokounmpo brought to close. You want delivered right to your inbox each weekday will be able to communicate more easily with and! `` Giannis Antetokounmpo '' at both regular speed and 70 % speed without asking consent!