Guus Bosman

So, as I noticed a week ago, one of the most frequently used search terms that brings new visitors to my site is "How do you pronounce Guus?"

The problem with my first name is that it has 2 sounds that are difficult to pronounce for most American speakers. First of all, the first letter G is the [x] in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). This is a velar continuant similar to the ch in Swiss German that doesn't exist in most languages, and American English doesn't have an equivalent for it.

My experience is that after some practice most Americans are able to pronounce this sound in a fairly authentic manner. A short-cut I usually recommend is to use the IPA [g], which is the first sound of the word goal.

It's surprising to most Dutch speakers, including myself, that the second sound (the uu) is usually harder than the g. The Dutch uu is the [y] in the IPA, and is similar to the French u as in vu or the German ü sound. There is nothing close in American English, nor in Spanish which many people speak here. Often, the sound [ʏ] or [u] is used instead, neither of which really comes close to the long [y] sound.

Want to hear an example? Here is a native Dutch speaker pronouncing the name Guus.