Philip Eden wrote in message ...

:"Colin Youngs" wrote in message
...
: "Föhn" should be pronounced roughly like "fern".

:Well, for a non-rhotic speaker, yes. Brian Blair might disagree!

After looking up "rhotic" in the dictionary ... I have to admit that you are
right. I had in mind the way I pronounce "fern" myself.

Of course I am well aware of the danger of trying to describe the sounds of
one language by comparison with another - but my keyboard won't do the
phonetic alphabet either ...

As an aside, the word Fön - normally written without the H - is now the
modern German word for "hairdryer".

Colin Youngs
Brussels