How do you pronounce Djokovic?

cys19

Semi-Pro
How do you pronounce Djokovic? I like his forehands and serves. What are other special qualities of him that I should watch for?

Thanks.
 
Jyoke-o-vitch?

Jock-a-vitch?

Dyoko-veetch?

'jokavici?

Djokowicz? kind of a Polish feel to that one.

I'm guessing it is Diokovitch, with a softened D at the front and a combination ch and ts sound at the end. But that is only after knowing a couple of Yugoslavian friends and a Kosovar.

They call him Nole (which is really personal and familiar like Guga, sort of) or Djoko (which sounds more like Shaq, Becks or Glav).
 

pound cat

G.O.A.T.
If your Slavic speaking or a whizz at languages pronounces the D, Elide it with the j which is pronounced yi It will sound like


D ' YOKE o vich


his first name is NO vahk (o as the o in Orange.

NO vahk D'YOKE o vich
 

pj80

Legend
its JOKE-OH-WiTCH....PEROID, END OF THREAD, now everybody move on from this topic theres like 1000 answers already.
 

nBladed

Rookie
If your Slavic speaking or a whizz at languages pronounces the D, Elide it with the j which is pronounced yi It will sound like


D ' YOKE o vich


his first name is NO vahk (o as the o in Orange.

NO vahk D'YOKE o vich


This guy is right. It is D-yoke-o-vitch. But the d-y is pronounced quickly like one letter.

Many of the slavic players used to ***** how their names were mutilated by the american media.

Hantuchova being one. Her name is actually Han-TO-kava instead of Han-to-kOva.

Navratilova is Nav-ra-TEEL-ava instead of the Nav-ra-ti-lOva

It goes on....
 

BobFL

Hall of Fame
That dj is pronounced like 'j' in just, jump, justice... so its like jokovitch

No, not really. I am Serbian and my last name is Djuric which is very similar just shorter version :)
The best way to pronounce last part is to add "H" after "C".
First part is tricky one. It is very similar to first sound that you hear when you pronounce the name of the world famous fashion designer Giorgio Armani. First sound in 'Ginobili' (San Antonio Spurs) is another good example. BTW, people in NBA studio have almost perfect pronunciation. Charles Barkley is very very good. If you watch NBA maybe is a good idea to compare other last names from Serbia: Vladimir Radmanovic (Lakers), Peja Stojakovic, Vlade Divac, Sasha Pavlovic (Cav`s), Darko Milicic (Magic), Nenad Krstic (NJ Nets) and even SA Spurs coach Greg Popovich.
First two letters in 'Djokovic' are actually one letter. Keep that in mind.

BTW, Serbian orthography is very consistent: approximation of the principle "one letter per sound". This principle is represented by Adelung's saying, "Write as you speak and read as it is written", the principle used by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić when reforming the Cyrillic orthography of Serbian in the 19th century.
 
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Andres

G.O.A.T.
The thing, pound cat, is that Djokovic's last name isn't DJOKOVIC, with a DJ, but it's Đoković, being the Đ sounding... somehow like a J, or an italian GI

So it would be somehow Jock-oh-veech.
 

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
The problem for us in America is that announcers can never agree, and even the same announcer will change their pronunciation. It always smacks of ignorance.

Within one Slam at the beggining of Justine's career, I'd hear, from the same announcing team:

1. Hen-in
2. Hen-ah
3. En-in
4. En-ah

Just ask a reporter or analyst from the player's native country and stick to it.
 

origmarm

Hall of Fame
Many of the slavic players used to ***** how their names were mutilated by the american media.

Yeah I remember a while back Ivanisevic actually stopped play and made the guy in the chair repeat his name back a few times (I seem to remember it being in Australia but I could be wrong there)..I think you can still find it on youtube
 
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