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International Phonetic Alphabet

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I am in Chicago at the Architecture and Design World, and today I went to a session on API design. The talk was given by Elliotte Rusty Harold, who wrote more books than I would ever guess (see his home page). The talk covered the most important do’s and don’ts of API design and was very well-delivered.

At the end of the talk Elliotte recommended some API design related books, including the FDG book. He said something like: A great book written by Brad Abrams and somebody whose name I cannot pronounce. J

… which made me think that Elliotte might not be the only person who wonders whether it’s even possible to pronounce a name with 3+ times as many consonants as vowels. J

So, here you go. This is my name (slightly Americanized) written in the International Phonetic Alphabet:

krYstof swalina

The closest English spelling would probably be something like “kristof swahleenah.”

BTW, I wish there was a web page where I could type in a word written in the International Phonetic Alphabet and have it converted to a sound file and played. Anybody knows anything like that?

Comments

  • Anonymous
    July 19, 2006
    Thanks for the IPA. I was really butchering your last name :D

    As for IPA -> sound, the benefits would really depend on the type of IPA transcription used: broad vs. narrow. A system producing sound files based on a narrow transcription would more useful than one based on a broad transcription.
    Details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonetic_transcription
  • Anonymous
    July 19, 2006
    You are of Polish descent, right ??
  • Anonymous
    July 20, 2006
    Can I call you Cristian Sualina? or Cristóbal Sualina?
  • Anonymous
    July 20, 2006
    Yes, I am Polish.

    Diego, these seem fine, though don't blame me if I don't respond :-) And seriously, I think Cristobal is basically spanish version of my name. Cristian, I am not sure.
  • Anonymous
    July 20, 2006
    I anyway like to  address u as KC as in my mails...it is easy:)...i really dint know how to pronounce your name until i saw u pronounced it in the vedio in the FDG book.
  • Anonymous
    July 21, 2006
    Yeah, I use "kc" myself from time to time.
  • Anonymous
    August 17, 2006
    Err, you could just record yourself saying your name and put the wmv/mp3 up.  

    I'm sure people could manage to play that back.

    [)amien