To be honest, this is just me being really finicky. I'm writing a short story where the Norwegian mythical creature Nøkken plays a central part. The English spelling of Nøkken is Neck... and I don't like it, basically. Mainly because it doesn't really sound like the original word, but it also feels odd because of the word’s other more common meaning. So I’m trying to work out a different way to spell it, because I also believe the Ø will confuse people. I believe English speaking people would pronounce it nʌkən, if anyone here knows phonetics. I was thinking something along the lines of Nacken or Nocken.
I don't know sound of the O being crossed so I am guessing this spelling nʌkən, this sounds like Neocken.
Expecting the reader to "hear" such subtleties of pronunciation is kind of micromanaging your reader. But if it's important to you that they get that subtlety, you may use a conversation with someone stuggling with your pronunciation. I'd be more inclined to just let it go. It is rarely nevessary to manipulate the reader's perception that finely.
In swedish this guy is called Näcken, maybe if you wrote it Nekken it would be a mix of the norwegian word and the english translation. I doubt it there is a real word for it in english, probably they've only adapted it to english, like... lingonberry!
