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Comment by ericyd | Hacker News Reader

The most fascinating part of this post to me is that even after reading the pronunciation key [1] I still don't feel confident that I'm saying the product name correctly. It makes me reflect on how English-centric the web still is even in 2024, and it makes me wonder if non-native English speakers have similar hang ups with other popular apps/companies.

[1] https://forgejo.org/2022-12-15-hello-forgejo/

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> makes me wonder if non-native English speakers have similar hang ups with other popular apps/companies

As a non-native English speaker, I can confirm that you are right. This happens all the time. I used to pronounce "Cache" as "kay-sh" for a decade or so (sometimes I still do)

But the product name isn't English, it's Esperanto. Most native English speakers won't have a clue how to pronounce it correctly, since /j/ in English is always produced like the "dg" in "edge", while in many European languages (including Esperanto) /j/ sounds like "y".

I only know how to pronounce it because I speak Esperanto. forĝejo is pronounced "forge" like the English word) + "ayo" (like the "ai" in "aim", plus the "yo" in "yo what's up".)

Having a name from a made up language isn't a good sign, I would even prefer a Chinese name even if was difficult to pronounce but easy to type.

Look at Ubuntu for a foreign name that is easy to spell. Forgejo reads like a typo.

Even sr.ht managed to get a better name

WhatsApp is notoriously bad at this, the pronunciation is not very obvious if you don't speak English. I've definitely heard non-English speakers pronouncing it with more of an a sound, like in farm.

I think the mispronunciation may stem from the intended pun/wordplay: What's up? -> WhatsApp

side note, but why is the audio example an mp4 of all things? there's no video so surely mp3 or something similar would be better fitting

That's hilarious, I didn't even realize it was a clickable link! Well, file formats aside, props to the team for including an audio recording of how to pronounce it.

MP4 is just a container, and the audio is likely something that can go in said container, like AAC. As to the why, probably better compression

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