Talk:Van

Pronunciation

As a native English speaker, I would not pronounce "vahn" like "one". To me "one" is pronounced like "wuhn". I think we should clarify how this city's name is pronounced to give readers less contradictory guidance. (If both pronunciations are equally valid, then we should rephrase the parenthetical so it doesn't sound like we think they're identical.) —Granger (talk · contribs) 13:21, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

I think the point is, locally the name of the city is not pronounced /væn/ (as is the identical English word), as might be supposed by English speakers, but instead with a "short u" (not really sure if this is the correct terminology?), and, regardless of the difference in the initial sound, rhymes with "one" (more or less), and not with, say, "Japan". Vidimian (talk) 19:26, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

@Vidimian: Thanks, that makes sense. Do you know if the initial consonant is pronounced more like [v] or [w], or if those two sounds are equally valid in this word (free variation)? If the latter, maybe the parenthetical should say something like "pronounced vahn or like the English word one". —Granger (talk · contribs) 19:48, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

"Uh" and "ah" are not the same sound. Is it really "vuhn"? Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:28, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

@Granger: The initial consonant is pronounced more like [v]. Actually, Turkish completely lacks the [w] sound. However, Kurdish, the native language for most of the locals of Van, does not, and indeed the name of the city is spelled Wan in Kurdish.

@Ikan: It should be an "ah", I suppose. Wikibooks say the phonetic alphabet letter for the sound is /ɑ/, as in "father".Vidimian (talk) 21:06, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

So not like "one". Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:58, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

@Vidimian: Hmm, interesting. How about this for the parenthetical then: "pronounced vahn in Turkish, wahn in Kurdish"? —Granger (talk · contribs) 06:54, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

That sounds good. Vidimian (talk) 16:05, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

Could someone add the official castle entrance to Openstreetmap please

This article says it is right by the museum but the locked big metal gates almost opposite the museum have no opening hours written on them Chidgk1 (talk) 17:14, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

Source of Iran train info?

@Grahamsands Hello - As we were very close to Van train station today I thought I would try to check the info you added a few years ago had not changed. But the station door was locked with no timetable or people visible. I cannot check further in person as we are leaving Van today. Where did you get the info from please and is it possible to check it is still current? Chidgk1 (talk) 07:40, 21 October 2023 (UTC)

That train briefly resumed in 2019 when I added the info but hasn't run since. TCDD website no longer even lists Van as a station. I therefore unmarked it and added a marker for the Otogar. Have a nice trip, güle güle. Grahamsands (talk) 08:53, 21 October 2023 (UTC)