Blame The French For Refusing To Pronounce All Their Letters

A friend of mine has invited me along with some other friends to play in a tabletop roleplaying game. The setting is fourteenth-century France. I speak French fluently; my friend has very limited French.

Friend: “Okay, so, the neighbourhood you guys are going to settle in is called Port du Rhin.”

He pronounces it as rhyming with “tin”.

Friend: “I chose this one because I think I can pronounce it.”

Me: “Could you spell that for me?”

Friend: “R-H-I-N.” *Pause* “What?”

Me: “Nothing.”

Friend: “I’m saying it wrong.”

Me: “Um… a little bit.”

Friend: “How should you say it?”

Me: “Rhin.”

For people who don’t speak French, the word consists of two sounds that don’t exist in English. It sounds vaguely like you coughed while saying the word “ran” and didn’t finish closing the “n”.

Friend: *Pauses* “I have chosen poorly. Moving on…”