How does one pronounce "Nijenhuis"?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the pronunciation of the name "Nijenhuis," which is relevant to the study of almost-complex structures on manifolds and the Nijenhuis tensor. Participants share insights on pronunciation challenges and resources, while also touching on related mathematical concepts and literature.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express difficulty in explaining the pronunciation of "Nijenhuis" in English sounds, suggesting resources with audio clips for clarity.
  • One participant notes a potential confusion regarding the final "s" sound in "Nijenhuis," questioning if it sounds like "sh" and whether this is a common pronunciation rule in Dutch.
  • Another participant counters that the final "s" is pronounced normally, suggesting that Dutch speakers may have a different articulation of the "s" sound when speaking English.
  • One participant shares their research interests in Finslerian extensions of general relativity, mentioning various books and concepts related to Finsler geometry and the Nijenhuis tensor.
  • There is a mention of a course on Symplectic Geometry and a reference to a standard book by Dusa Mcduff, indicating a connection to the broader topic of geometry.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the pronunciation of "Nijenhuis," with differing opinions on the final "s" sound. The discussion also reflects varying levels of familiarity and comfort with the mathematical concepts being explored.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express uncertainty about the pronunciation rules in Dutch and the complexities of working with advanced mathematical concepts such as Finsler geometry and the Nijenhuis tensor.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in the pronunciation of Dutch names, as well as those studying advanced topics in geometry and mathematical physics, may find this discussion relevant.

strangerep
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(The title says it all.)

BTW, this question arose because I'm studying almost-complex structures on manifolds, and the "Nijenhuis tensor" figures prominently therein. :smile:
 
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Which book are you using?

I took once a course on Symplectic Geometry and we discussed on this a little, there's the book by Dusa Mcduff which seems to be a standard on this topic.
 
Last edited:
Monique said:
That's a hard question to explain in words, I can't think of the same sounds in English. But I found a website with sound fragments, so here it is.

You pronounce the name as Nei un huis:

Nei, how to pronounce the ei: http://www.heardutchhere.net/dufoodwords/ei.MP3
un, remove the "d" from this word: http://www.heardutchhere.net/quiz2/dun.MP3
huis: http://www.heardutchhere.net/everydaywords/huis.MP3

This is even better: http://www.forvo.com/word/nijenhuis/

Hi Monique. When I clicked on the link for the pronunciation of the name, I thought I heard the final "s" sound like a "sh" (e.g. as in the English word "shout" or "short"). Is this how Dutch people usually pronounce the letter "s"? Or are there specific rules on how and when the letter "s" sounds like "sh"?

In German, if I'm not mistaken, the "sh" sound is usually formed with the spelling "sch".
 
No, it ends with a normal "s". It might be more pronounced or elongated than you are used to? When Dutch speak English they use too much the S sound. Like the word "think" a Dutch would likely say "sink", because too much air is used.
 
Monique said:
Like the word "think" a Dutch would likely say "sink", because too much air is used.

There is a wonderful Berlitz ad that makes much the same point about German.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmOTpIVxji8
 
Vanadium 50 said:
There is a wonderful Berlitz ad that makes much the same point about German.
hahaha, brilliant :smile:
 
Thanks, Monique. I had a feeling the pronunciation would be something unintuitive. :smile:

MathematicalPhysicist said:
Which book are you using?
Hah! Well,... er,...

I'm actually trying to research possible Finslerian extensions of GR (i.e., generalization of Riemannian geometry where the fundamental metric tensor depends also on direction in the tangent bundle, not just position on the base manifold). So I'm really studying Finsler geometry, and also the associated concept of "Spray Spaces". There's a couple of books by Shen (and colleagues), also Xiaohuan & Mo. Then there's Finsler & Lagrange spaces by Bucatari & Miron. Also Sprays and Finsler material by Antonelli et al.

I must say that I'm not doing very well. Working with quantities on ##T(TM)## can be rather confusing. I haven't yet tried to ask questions over in the DG forum, since past (rare) Finsler questions over there tend not to get much response. :frown:

But the Nijenhuis stuff came up because of some (unpublished?) notes: "A Brief Introduction to Finsler Geometry" by Dahl (found via Google Scholar). He works through the usual horizontal--vertical decomposition of ##T(TM)##, and then uses this decomposition to define an almost--complex structure on ##T(TM)##. But I guess this will be gobbledegook to most people. :frown:

I took once a course on Symplectic Geometry and we discussed on this a little, there's the book by Dusa Mcduff which seems to be a standard on this topic.
So far I haven't approached my interest via symplectic spaces, since they seemed to be an afterthought here. But now I'm thinking I should try coming at it from that direction as well. I haven't looked at Mcduff before, but I'll take a look soon.

Cheers.
 

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