Justine Larbalestier

Comments

1. Didi Chanoch Says:

   Yup. That’s your name. Not quite how I’d transliterate it, but close enough.

   And speaking of names… is chanoch that hard a name? locus got it wrong a couple of weeks ago (omitting the first c) and now you omit the first h.

   oh, well. nitpicking aside, congratulations on your first published translation!

   November 9th, 2005 at 10:02 AM

2. 2. Justine Says:

   Sorry, Didi, but welcome to my world! Every time my surname is spelled right I pinch myself in shock. And recently there’s been a rash of “Justin” Larbalestiers. Sigh.

   Still it’s better than for poor Scott. Even friends of his still add an i to the last part of his surname. It’s amazing how many people who should know better are convinced it’s “westerfield” when it’s “westerfeld”. Names are hard.

   So how would you transliterate my name?

   And thank you for organising my first published translation!

   November 9th, 2005 at 11:25 AM

3. mely Says:

   Do you know, I think I’m not actually sure how to pronounce your last name. I’ve been saying it as if it were French (okay, French with an American accent), but I don’t know if your family English’d it or not.

   November 9th, 2005 at 11:42 AM

4. 4. Justine Says:

   I’m not fussed about pronunciation. I mean I say it with an Oz accent. I tend to say: Lar-bal-est-ee-er, but many people say Lar-bal-est-ee-ay, which I’m equally happy with.

   My favourite pronunciation is that of a friend in high school, who called me Justine Lavaworm. I’ve some naughty friends back home who always pronounce it Alabaster Thighs.

   November 9th, 2005 at 11:47 AM

5. Didi Chanoch Says:

   Well, they transliterated it as lar-bal-ist-er. If I did it in your preferred pronunciation it would look like this:
   לרבלסטייר

   And you’re quite welcome. I was happy to do it!

   November 9th, 2005 at 1:15 PM

6. da Says:

   Its real cool. didi’s is more you, but what about the first name that seems like, to my poor recollection, djosteen!

   November 9th, 2005 at 3:51 PM

7. Diana Peterfreund Says:

   The equivalent of djosteen sounds about right to me for transliteration.

   I’m lol about the larbalest-ee-ay, larbalest-ee-er conundrum. When I was in Oz, my boyfriend and I said “Cairns” like “care” with an “ns” at the end, which got a lot of eyebrows raised by fellow traveling americans who had capitulated to the Aussie “Cans”. Every time I tried to use the Aussie pronounciation I felt like Alec trebek affecting an accent.

   We picked up the terminology right quick though. Full on, chockers, she’ll be right… and add an -ie to anything.

   I’ve been saying larbalest-ee-ay in my head. But pronounciation is a losing battle. My own parents don’t prononce ours correctly.

   November 9th, 2005 at 4:12 PM

8. 8. Justine Says:

   Mate, everyone reads Hebrew but me. No fair! Djosteen is cooler looking than Justine. Maybe I’ll start spelling my name that way . . .

   So why were you in my homeland, Diana? And more importantly where?

   There are multiple pronunciations of Cairns and whichever one you pick a local will tell you you’re wrong. I try hard not to say it at all.

   Larbalest-ee-ay is probably the closest approximation of the French and thus the most correct pronunciation. Me, I’m a rebel. How should your name be pronounced?

   November 9th, 2005 at 4:38 PM

9. Diana Says:

   Oct-Dec 2003 and Feb-Apr 2004 (meantimes in NZ). And the wherefore of it, I’m still trying to figure out. Doing the traveling thing. Started in Sydney, overnighted to Brisbane, meandered up to the unpronounceable place (for a month, where we worked, wrote, and scuba-ed) and beyond until the road gave out, turned back and down, making trips to the endless dusty innards, sidetripped to NZ for two months via Brisbane International Airport and back, zigzagged all through NSW (Carnarvon, blue mountains, wine country, Byron Bay) landed in Sydney where the money gave out before we could get to Victoria, W.A., etc. So we sold the car and came home.

   I say it “froind” like “freud” with an “n” but I answer to plain old “friend” as well. “Frund” like “fund” is my folks’ choice, but they never had a teacher who was German who pounded it out of them.

   November 9th, 2005 at 8:15 PM

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