How to Pronounce Tour du Mont Blanc Place Names
The Tour du Mont Blanc travels through three countries: France, Italy and Switzerland. These days younger French, Swiss and Italian people often speak reasonable English but this is less common amongst older people. In the areas that the TMB passes through, however, English is spoken almost everywhere: on the trail itself, there are so many people from overseas that it is fair to say that English is now the lingua franca of the TMB.
You should therefore be able to make yourself understood in the majority of situations using English. However, place names are more problematic than everyday words: firstly, they do not translate to English so you need to be able to pronounce them properly or the locals will not have a clue what you are talking about. Secondly, if pronouncing words in a foreign language was not difficult enough, occasionally, the place names do not even follow the normal pronunciation rules in the relevant language. Consequently, it is fair to say that many of us English speakers ‘butcher’ the words, to the tacit amusement of many a Frenchman (or woman). And so, we are going to help you solve one of the key mysteries of the TMB: how the hell do I pronounce those place names?!
Which Language?
To pronounce a place name, you first need to know what is the relevant language. The borders between the three TMB countries are well defined and therefore it should be easy to work out what language to speak and how to pronounce the names of the places. Right? Well no. Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Nothing in Europe ever is. And we like it that way!
Let’s start with France, shall we? In France the first language is, of course, French and the French like to speak French. OK that’s that sorted, so we shall turn to Switzerland where language selection is a little more complicated: different parts of the country speak different languages: mostly French, German and Italian to be precise. However, those parts of Switzerland that you will enter on the TMB are in French speaking Switzerland so French is the most useful language.
Lastly, in Italy, the first language is Italian so all the place names are in Italian. Right? Well…not quite. For historical reasons (which are beyond the scope of this low-brow article of limited insight and intelligence), the Aosta Valley used to belong to France and when the borders moved, the place names stayed the same. So French is widely spoken in the Italian parts of the TMB and many of the place names are French. Yes, you understood correctly: some Italian place names are in Italian and some are in French. “What sort of chance does that give me?”, we hear you say! Well, that’s why we are here.
Ok then. Let’s start with the pronunciations themselves. The key names to learn are 'le Tour du Mont Blanc', 'Mont Blanc' and 'Chamonix'. After that, we will begin with ‘les Houches’ and work our way counter-clockwise around the TMB because that is the way that most people travel. ‘Les Houches’ is also a good place to start because it is amongst the most feared of TMB place names amongst English speaking trekkers!
Pronunciations Set 1
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Pronunciations Set 2
Spending a few extra days in Chamonix?
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Randonnée à Chamonix-Mont-Blanc
Pronunciations Set 3
Can't find TMB accommodation?
Consider hiking the neighbouring Tour des Combins instead. You will not regret it!
Trek du Tour des Combins : Guide bidirectionnel
Pronunciations Set 4
Can't find TMB accommodation?
Consider hiking the epic Walker's Haute Route instead.
Trek de la Haute Route des Marcheurs : de Chamonix à Zermatt
Pronunciations Set 5
Why are our guidebooks better?
What you really need to know is how to plan a trek: itineraries, accommodation, food, water, etc. However, for our competitors, trek planning is a mere afterthought and they fill their books with step by step directions for navigating the trail. Yet these days, most people navigate trails using GPX tracks and over-complicated directions are unnecessary. Accordingly, we focus in much greater detail on trek planning so that you can snag the best accommodation bookings. We still provide directions but they are more concise and user-friendly.
When planning a trek, the first step is to design an itinerary that matches your ability and experience. There is little point in booking trail accommodation until this is finalised. Our itinerary planners are far more comprehensive than anybody else's. We include up to 20 different itineraries and provide daily statitics for each of them. This enables you to quickly choose one that suits, saving you hours of work. You will not find these in any other books or on the web.
Unlike other books which contain useless sketch maps, ours contain real maps. In most cases, we produce our own mapping which is more up to date than many other traditional maps. Because we make our own, we can mark on them all accommodation, food and shops along the trail. This helps you to understand exactly where you can stay and where you will resupply. Other books do not provide this level of detail.
Our designs are more modern and exciting. Our professionally captured images help you visualise what you will see along the trail. There is nothing wrong with salivating over spectaular scenes even though your trek might be a year away!
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