How do you pronounce the "theater" in "Dream Theater"?

[darkshade]

In the US, cinema is usually used to describe the film industry, whereas theater is both used to describe the movie theater, or a theater for plays.

[BlobVanDam]

Quick Q for the Americans on the board.

When do you say cinema and when do say Theater ? How do you differentiate ?

In the UK - Cinema is the cinema and Theater is where you see a play but in the US - Theater can be either apparently.

I just say I'm going to see a talkie. Then everybody knows what I mean, and they're jealous too.

[IdoSC]

When I try to pronounce it as I think I should, which I usually do, it's "thee-uh-terr". When the Israeli accent takes over me, I say "thee-ter".

[slycordinator]

I think cinema is only for movies, isn't it? I actually don't know for sure..

I was making a joke, but yes cinemas are for movies.

And btw, the theater that DT is named after showed movies as far as I know... hence the joke.

[Lowdz]

For me, boring old Thee-ah-ter. The right way in other words.

And I go to the pictures to see a film. Weird isn't it?

[Ħ]

In French, cinéma refers to the place you go to watch movies, and théâtre refers to the place you see plays.

[Daso]

I guess the correct pronunciation is Thee-uh-derr or Thee-uh-terr, but I'm used to pronouncing it Thee-derr, most likely because English is not my first language (Spanish is) and whenever I'm talking about DT (in Spanish, of course, I rarely speak in English) it is much easier to say Thee-derr.

[black_biff_stadler]

Quick Q for the Americans on the board.

When do you say cinema and when do say Theater ? How do you differentiate ?

In the UK - Cinema is the cinema and Theater is where you see a play but in the US - Theater can be either apparently.

I just say I'm going to see a talkie. Then everybody knows what I mean, and they're jealous too.

 

[Dellers]

If I had to choose between those in the poll, I guess Thee-uh-derr is the closest. What it actually sounds like to me is Thee-aæ-r(e)r. The a is based on the typical European pronunciation of the letter and the æ is Norwegian. The first r is a Norwegian/Spanish/whatever r without the rolling, and the last one is the potato sounding American one. The e isn't really there.
That sounded complex. Well, I guess it had to be since English is a "non phonetic" language. For the record, what I described is what I'd say is the American way of pronouncing it.

[DebraKadabra]

I love how this thread turned into a comparison of theater vs. cinema.

Quick Q for the Americans on the board.

When do you say cinema and when do say Theater ? How do you differentiate ?

In the UK - Cinema is the cinema and Theater is where you see a play but in the US - Theater can be either apparently.

I just say I'm going to see a talkie. Then everybody knows what I mean, and they're jealous too.

 

[borzo]

I go with thee-uh-terr

[XB0BX]

I'm shocked at the results.

[Podaar]

The way I pronounce it is not really thee-der, more like theer-der, as in the first syllable rhymes with fear. But that's because the Australian accent doesn't actually pronounce R's at all. We're a very lazy accent. It doesn't really work with the US accent!
So I guess thee-uh-der is the closest equivalent? That is basically how we pronounce the R sound. Basically as "ah".

That reminds me of being on vacation in Cairns. From where I come from in the U.S. we pronounce that word like a Scot would but with a lazy "r" by not rolling it. For the first few days I just went along with the locals (or so I thought) and called the town Cans because that's what my U.S. ears heard. I got polite but sideways looks from the Queenslanders I met. After that, I began to hear the implied "r" and realized the elongated "a" was nearly stretched into a "y" at the end and that was the place holder for the "r". It was very enlightening and I had a much easier time understanding our Aussie hosts from then on. Until, I'd drank too much beer, of course.

As to the OP, I do pronounce it Thee-uh-terr but it's a little more smashed together. Definitely 3 syllables but they are in rapid succession.