We went to see the Robert Balzar Trio the other night - Robert was the bass player with the "for one night only" Havel/Clinton band all those years ago. (If you're interested in jazz and other music in Prague, have a look at the boyfriend's website www.praguejazz.blogspot.com) When Robert introduced himself to the audience, I thought he pronounced his name Balsar rather than Balzar. Did I mishear or is that just how he pronounces his name or is Z more like an S more generally? I know hezky is more like hesky but I thought that might be more because the z is followed by a k and an s sound is easier to pronounce.
Standard pronunciation is "z" here, not "s", as it stays at the beginning of a syllable and is followed by a vowel. In hezky, the standard pronunciation is "s" as it stands at the end of the syllable and is followed by a non voiced consonant.
Yes, the spelling is German, but then the German pronunciation would be Baltsar 8) not Balsar. I think there are two possibilities to pronounce it either Czech: Balzar or German: Baltsar. Btw, there exists spelling Balcar as a surname, too. The relative frequence: Balcar 1236 Balcár 3 Balzar 15 in 5 000 000 men surnames (not speaking about other derivations of the name).
German Z (and TZ) is usually pronounced like Czech C (affricate t+s like in cats). So the common Czech spelling is Balcar. Other (German) spellings: Baltzar, Baltsar, Balzer, Baltzer, etc. Obviously from Babylonian Belshazzar = Balthazar.
Yes, now you say it, I think he said Baltsar. Many thanks. He really is very good and for any of you in the UK, he's playing in London soon. I'll find out the dates and put them on here in case anyone's interested and can get along.