The butchering of foreign words

Daroxtar · 10-02-2012 11:42PM

I'll pronounce foreign words properly when foreigners pronounce English words properly

phasers · 10-02-2012 11:45PM

what a pathetic thing to care about.

Also nobody proniunces the j in fajitas. Nobody.

El Weirdo · 10-02-2012 11:49PM

What utter fucking bollocks this thread is.

Although, I suppose it might take the heat off of us regular Grammar Nazis for a while.

TheZohanS · 10-02-2012 11:49PM

Morricone wrote: »

It really grinds my gears when I hear words from different languages being mispronounced and butchered by speakers of the English language. Its annoying to hear words being pronounced completely incorrectly especially after being corrected.

Bruschetta is one, it should be pronounced brus-ketta as the ch in Italian is pronounced as a k.

Fajitas is another with the hard J being pronounced when it should be soft. Tortilla with the double l pronounced as it is in English when as a Spanish word it should be pronounced Tort-iya.

Jalapeño is another one, I've heard it pronounced wrongly with a hard J and with the ñ mispronounced. It should be pronounced as if there is a y behind the n, i.e Jalapenyo.

I've seen Habanero written with an ñ for whatever unfathomable reason I don't know.

Have the good folk of After Hours got any more to add to the list?

Does it annoy you as much as it annoys me?

Your post has it's head stuck up it's ass.

dark crystal · 10-02-2012 11:50PM

Not so much foreign words, but when Americans mispronounce English words like Basil (baysil) or herb (erb) or route (raute).

Namlub · 10-02-2012 11:53PM

firefly08 wrote: »

OP, how do you pronounce words such as baguette, deja vu, entrepreneur etc.?

Spolier: if you pronounce them "correctly" you sound like an idiot.

Is there more than one way of pronouncing deja vu?

FTGFOP · 10-02-2012 11:53PM

Morricone wrote: »

I do infact as Moet is a Dutch name hence the t is pronounced.

You displayed impeccable knowledge of champagne at my monocle party, it was such a shame you forgot to wear pants.

Naomi00 · 11-02-2012 12:16AM

Not annoying

SafeSurfer wrote: »

Paddy: Can I have a gateaux please. ( Paddy doesn't realise the x is silent)

Snooty shopkeeper: Actually its Gateaux (silent x)

Paddy: In that case give us a gateaux (silent x) you bollix (silent x).

* It's a gateau... :pac:

please don't kill me

Stinicker · 11-02-2012 12:21AM

American: Sausage ham bologna = baloney does not compute.

lefthooker · 11-02-2012 12:41AM

peugoet - pyoojho/perjho ???

audi - awdi/owdi ???

Jammy Donut · 11-02-2012 12:49AM

lefthooker wrote: »

peugoet - pyoojho/perjho ???

audi - awdi/owdi ???

It's actually perjho, French lad didn't have a clue what I was saying when I said peujoe.

****ing irritates my tits though, when people actually pronounce it the right way for some reason.

The King of Moo · 11-02-2012 12:49AM

Atari Jaguar, etc.

It's taken a few threads on pronunciation, but I can finally officially declare that every possible pronunciation of every single word used by English-speakers has now been declared incorrect at least once on AH!

WELL DONE EVERYONE!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GwjfUFyY6M

Now we can finally get on with not giving a sh*t about the way other people speak.

44leto · 11-02-2012 12:51AM

They are taking our words, Yeah Op send those foreigner word back to the foreigners.

firefly08 · 11-02-2012 12:52AM

Is there more than one way of pronouncing deja vu?

Indeed there is. The French don't pronounce the letter "d" the same way we do in English. It's closer to how we would pronounce "th" but in there is no precise phonetic equivalent I can use to explain it.

But, for some strange reason, most English speakers pronounce the "j" exactly the way it's pronounced in French, even though this contrasts with the way it's pronounced in English (as in "jam").

Why do we pronounce some letters our way and some their way? At end end of the day, we're not pronouncing it correctly anyway, so why care as long as we're understood?

Also nobody proniunces the j in fajitas. Nobody.

It is pronounced in Spanish but in a totally different way - the irony in the OP is that the pronunciation of "j" is not consistent within the Spanish speaking world. In Mexico, where fajitas come from, "j" is pronounced exactly like the English "h". But in Spain, it's pronounced with a harsh, throaty sound that is not used in English for anything. It has a sort of Arabic sound in fact, which is probably not a coincidence.

newmug · 11-02-2012 12:55AM

Atari Jaguar, etc.

The vast majority of words I use everyday, both in speech and text, are foreign. Even these ones. And I'm sure that I'm mispronouncing them just by my accent.

Barna77 · 11-02-2012 12:56AM

Coño!

garancafan · 11-02-2012 01:01AM

phoenix833 wrote: »

Like Geansaí. I'm sure you'd get a few "Jeans-eye":D

Agreed. I'm sure the people of Guernsey are already fed up with the way the Irish have already butchered the word.

Barna77 · 11-02-2012 01:04AM

garancafan wrote: »

Agreed. I'm sure the people of Guernsey are already fed up with the way the Irish have already butchered the word.

They butcher our bank accounts/credit cards via Amazon in return though...

mikemac1 · 11-02-2012 01:08AM

Atari Jaguar, etc.

ren auld/ ren o

Expresso/ Espresso

Here's one OP though I don't know how I'd type it

Valencia or Barcelona

Some commentators realy emphasize the C.
Ah you've heard but I don't know how to put it across from my keyboard

val en theee a that's my best attempt

So what am I supposed to do?

uncleoswald · 11-02-2012 01:13AM

Atari Jaguar, etc.

Morricone wrote: »

Thus I elect to conform to social convention and pronounce the word as per how society pronounces it in order to make myself properly understood.

Morricone wrote: »

I do infact as Moet is a Dutch name hence the t is pronounced.

But surely you should not pronounce the t in Moet because of your rule about social convention?

firefly08 · 11-02-2012 01:16AM

val en theee a that's my best attempt

That's more of it. Why use the Spanish pronunciation for "c" but the English for "v" (which is pronounced like our "b")?

Hammer Archer · 11-02-2012 01:21AM

phasers wrote: »

Also nobody proniunces the j in fajitas. Nobody.

Oh I beg to differ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyWFHOOfs20

dominiquecruz · 11-02-2012 01:22AM

Atari Jaguar, etc.

firefly08 wrote: »

Indeed there is. The French don't pronounce the letter "d" the same way we do in English. It's closer to how we would pronounce "th" but in there is no precise phonetic equivalent I can use to explain it.

That's quite the load of crap. I speak French and I rarely hear anyone mispronouncing deja-vu, or baguette, for that matter. Unless you're referring to really subtle differences in accent, but it would be a bit ridiculous to expect every joe soap to have a wonderful french/hungarian/zulu accent.

Liam Byrne · 11-02-2012 01:27AM

Not annoying

Given the way we (and indeed the English themselves) butcher the English language, are you surprised ?

firefly08 · 11-02-2012 01:27AM

That's quite the load of crap. I speak French and I rarely hear anyone mispronouncing deja-vu, or baguette, for that matter. Unless you're referring to really subtle differences in accent, but it would be a bit ridiculous to expect every joe soap to have a wonderful french/hungarian/zulu accent.

Yes I am, and yes it would.

dominiquecruz · 11-02-2012 01:29AM

Atari Jaguar, etc.

OK. I do think your examples are a bit different from the OP though, where theres blatant mispronunciation going on.

Frank Black · 11-02-2012 01:34AM

Once in a restaurant, the waitress corrected my pronunciation of 'Pinot grigio'.

She didn't get a massive tip.

Killer Wench · 11-02-2012 01:37AM

RonMexico wrote: »

I remember one time over in the states I mispronounced something on the menu at Taco Bell and the Mexican guy working there asked me where I was from. When I said Ireland he replied - "You speak good American."

Then he gave me free fries with my order :pac:

You got fries at a Taco Bell?

Morricone · 11-02-2012 01:39AM

Not annoying

mikemac1 wrote: »

Here's one OP though I don't know how I'd type it

Valencia or Barcelona

Some commentators realy emphasize the C.
Ah you've heard but I don't know how to put it across from my keyboard

val en theee a that's my best attempt

So what am I supposed to do?

Mike, the C in Castillian Spanish is pronounced almost like th when followed by an E or I as far as I know. The Z is also pronounced like a th in mainland Spain. So it cecomes bar-the(soft e)-lona and bal-en-thi-a.

You'll notice that in Atletico Madrid the c is pronounced as English speakers would be familiar with.

In Latin America the C and Z are pronounced without the th effects.

So cerveza, the Spanish for beer, is pronounced like ther-be-tha in Spain whereas in Argentina it would be pronounced ser-be-za.

Hope that helps.

LordSutch · 11-02-2012 01:41AM

Not annoying

I have actually heard Pizza pronounced as Pizz-a (in Dublin)

A very common mispronunciation in Ireland is Thailand which usually comes out as 'Thigh-land' for some obscure reason, the land of Thighs? Thai food also ends up as THigh food, THigh people, THigh holidays, its always Thailand with a hard TH in Ireland, and yet somehow, the rest of the world know that the H is silent.

RenaulT :cool:

The butchering of foreign words

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