How do you pronounce "Asperger"?

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I always thought it was pronounced "as-pur-ger", with a hard "guh" sound, but everybody I've ever talked to it about in real life, including professionals, say "as-pur-jer" with a soft "juh" sound. It's pronounced with a "juh" on British TV, too. If I use the hard "guh" sound I get funny looks, like I'm deliberately saying it wrong.
I'm wondering if it's because I picked up "as-pur-ger" from American television programmes and because I heard it pronounced that way first the British way just seems weird to me.

I'm really confused and I don't know how I should pronounce it now.

That's what I thought too, and I thought it would be pronounced with the emphasis on the PER instead of the AS, as in "as-PURR-guhrs"

But I hear people on videos saying "ASS-burgers" and some even sound like they are saying "ASH-burgers".

I am notorious for mispronouncing words but I don't see any reason why it should be called ASSburgers.

I was thinking about starting a thread on this very topic, you beat me to it.

I think it is Ahs-PAIR-Gehr, as if said with Arnold Schwarzenegger's accent.

There seems to be a similar debate on how to pronounce Van gogh. If you are English it is van goff, if you are posh it is van go, and if you are swedish (i think) it is van gock.

Seems to depend on the regional dialect so all versions may be correct depending on where you live or who you are speaking to. I say Asperjers myself.

I think it should depend on the dialect used in the region the word came from. That is why I believe Asperger should be pronounced with an Austrian accent.

For example, here in Brazil, most people call Sub Zero (from Mortal Kombat) "Soob Zair-O". I used to pronounce it like that, but after I heard his name on the video games, I began to train myself to say his name in the original American form. It took me a few years, but I think it seems right to do this.

I try to pronounce it "Osperjer", as I heard that's closest to the true German pronounciation, but I often slip and say "Ass-per-gers".

Why, Asperger of course. Sorry, being facetious here as German's my first language.

ahs-pair-ger

well, don't know how to put it into IPA. That's the closest to the German pronounciation more or less. I insist on using that in English all the time (being supposedly in need of rigid routines and all that, but I lack a clinically sound confirmation yet)- or just to use the stereotypical German smart arse stereotype in order to mess with people a bit, all in good humour of course. Cheers

I used to pronounce it "ass burgers". Although I think it's supposed to be pronounced as "Ahs-pair-GER" (with a hard G sound), I like to say "Ahs-pair-jher" (with a soft J sound). I don't care how people pronounce it as long as they don't make fun of it.

I win. Thank you.

That's about how some of the people who knew Hans Asperger said his name too.

Down here, the only way I have ever heard it pronounced was "ass-burger". This was both from someone who has it, and from the professional who diagnosed me. I think it's the Southern accent that causes that though. Nobody was trying to make fun of it, that's simply how we speak. We tend to make it sound like the last place prize in a BBQ contest.

Amazing how this topic runs and runs. A new thread about the pronunciation of Aspergers will return next week. Or sooner. Mark my words

p.s. If you really haven't seen one of these threads before, sorry I'm only joking you know.

If X-SAMPA is allowed, vaguely like /"AspeRg6/.

Don't know - I've never said it before. The shame is too overwhelming to happily say this dreaded word out loud, since it's responsible for all the stupid things I do and say (well, not all, but most).

When I read it I pronounce it as ''Asperger's'' in my head, the ''G'' sounding like a ''guh'', not a ''juh''.

And I pronounce ''Autism'' as ''Au'ism''. LOL

I have a friend from England who studied under Dr. Michael Anthony Epstein, of Epstein-Barr fame (co-discoverer). She corrected my pronunciation of his last name, and I've tried to stick to it ever since. My father's last name is spelled with "ei" and really is pronounced with an "ee" sound. But Dr. Epstein's name is pronounced with an "I" sound.

Oh, well. These things happen.

Edit: My girlfriend just came home and said we're Americans, we Americanize everything. Then she suggested we could try pronouncing it with a Klingon accent. Anyone have any ideas what that would sound like?

I prounounce it AspAErjer enunciating the P. and having the E sound like a swedish Ä.
Because seriously. Assburger(euw) or Ass-purger(ouch) sounds silly.