Please tell me which country you are in and how you would pronounce
Maya
Maia
Maja
What I have figured out so far:
Maja - mah-ya in Germany. mah-ya or my-ah in Sweden (I am watching a series with a main character called this and some people seem to say mah-ya and some my-ah so I got confused), Maja in Poland (I think). Please correct me if I am wrong on any of these.
Maia - mah-ya in Romania, Russia, Moldova, Georgia. In German my-ah might be more intuitive but I have also heard it as mah-ya. In French I heard it as my-ah. Ancient Roman mah-ee-ah (sounds more like mah-ya to me when said quickly).
Maya - mah-ya pretty much everywhere I can think of except English speaking where it could be my-ah or may-ah.
To me there is no huge difference between mah-ya and my-ah anyway because when you say them loud and especially quickly you can hardly hear it.
That is probably while I got confused while watching the series.
I pronounce them all MY-uh, as in the word “my” in that first syllable. I live in the US. [name_f]Maja[/name_f], though, looks like it could be pronounced as MAH-hah to me!
I commented on your other post, but I’d pronounce all of these as MY-uh instinctively, but I have heard [name_f]Maya[/name_f] pronounced as May-uh too occasionally.
I’m in the UK btw! The Maias/Mayas I have met or heard being called have had the first syllable quite heavily emphasised, so while I can see how mah-ya and my-uh can sound nearly the same when spoken fast, I guess here they sound quite different!!
This is such an interesting topic and I’ve enjoyed learning about the different pronunciations
I’m Polish, and I’d pronounce them all MIE-a/MA-ya, which sound almost indistinguishable to me. The a is slightly more similar to the one in father than to the one in cat in Polish, but not by a huge margin. And it’s definitely not a schwa, like I suppose it could be in some [name_f]English[/name_f] accents.
In the US how I pronounce it and how I’ve always heard everyone else around me say it is [name_f]Maia[/name_f] and [name_f]Maya[/name_f] both as (MY-uh).
And [name_f]Maja[/name_f] I intuitively say like (MAH-zah).
[name_f]Maya[/name_f] ~ my-ah, but I have seen may-ah
[name_f]Maia[/name_f] ~ my-ah
[name_f]Maja[/name_f] ~ should be my-ah, but its mispronounced a lot as mah-juh
I would pronounce maia/maya as MY-uh. [name_f]Maja[/name_f] I wouldnt have an intuitive pronunciation. I would assume either Mah-hah (like Baja) Mah-juh or MY-uh depending on the person and their native language or background.
For me MAH-ya and MY-uh are pretty destinct sounding. MAH would be almost an ‘o’ sound like in ball or all, very open. Where as MY is very sharp and clear. However I agree when said quickly the distinction lessens though I still hear a difference. I would say it almost sounds like [name_f]Maia[/name_f] being said with a strong new york accent.
Im talking about a short ‘o’ sound like the ‘o’ in coffee which when I see ‘ah’ thats what I would say.
Short-o
This is the normal Short-o sound, and it is actually the same sound as Short-a-2 (as in “mama”). Some common words that have Short-o are: not / gone / coffee / copy / hot / wrong / lot / long / off / on / stop / song.
To pronounce Short-o clearly, the lips should NOT be rounded and the mouth should be open with the tongue low and relaxed.
Which for me the german male is saying ‘mah-yuh’ where as the female is a little closer to my pronunciation of ‘my-uh’ but with a slightly longer ‘ah’ sound.
*I love these conversations! I find it so fascinating how everyone can love the same name yet pronounce it so differently!
Okay it must be an accent thing because the o in coffee sounds nothing like the a in mama to me coffee is aw and mama is ah if that makes sense. Yes, very interesting, thanks for the explanations!
I’m from Turkey. [name_f]Maya[/name_f] is pronounced my-ah here. [name_f]Maja[/name_f] and [name_f]Maia[/name_f] aren’t used at all so I can’t speak for everyone but I pronounce both of them as my-ah too.
I’ve been repeating this name all day and I think I’ve finally found what makes the difference in pronunciation (for me at least) mah-ee-uh vs. Mah-yah. The length and emphasis of the diphthong makes a huge difference
They would all get pronounced as my-uh where I live (US) (although I have seen the occasional may-uh for [name_f]Maya[/name_f] & Maia). I agree that there’s not a huge difference between mah-ya and my-uh when said aloud though
coffee is aw and mama is ah if that makes sense. Yes, very interesting, thanks for the explanations!
