>>>>>>Speaking English as a first language is such an impediment to the later ability to learn any other language that you can't even begin to understand (ok, preaching to the quire here - most of the participants here managed to get around that obstacle). I once had to wait in the hall for about half an hour at a community college, listening to a class sweating their vocal chords at their first Italian lesson. After 30 minutes, they still haven't learned to pronounce A, E, I, O and U. I wanted to close the door so I wouldn't listen to their suffering.
>>>>>
>>>>>We use Knorr brakes here, for trains - it's pronounced Kuhnorr, no way to get the 'uh' out of there.
>>>>
>>>>Ah, the gn-, kn-, pn- and psi- thingy :). I've watched fellow programmers break their tongues trying to pronounce Donald Knuth as Knuth, not K-(dramatic break)-Nuth, or GNU as gnu, not g-...-nu.
>>>
>>>Gnu IS pronounced guh-noo, unlike gnat (nat).
>>
>>But it should be pronounced like gnoo, not g...noo. Gn as two consecutive consonants without a dramatic smoke break between them. Gn as in "dignity" without di.
>
>It's hard to do, to pronounce a guh-noo
>
>It's easier to just say "Wilderbeeste" :-)

Over here it's spelled Wildebeest. I guess we felt we didn't need the 'r' and the final 'e'.