How to pronounce 'paella'

bambam

I always pronounced it as 'Pie-ell-ah', but recently I've heard it spoken as 'Pie-yay-ahh'. There seems to be some dispute over the pronunciation.

One thing I dug up is that in Spanish 'll' is an english 'ly' sound, so would that point to the 'paella' version. URL : http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A737723

But this page states both and says actual pronunciation is varied by region: http://www.studyspanish.com/pronunciation/letter_ll.htm

What's others' thoughts on the word?

copacetic

i think most people in ireland go with the pie-ell-ah, but
in spain then do seem to mostly go with pie - eh - ah or your second one.

davej

From Merriam-Webster, 2 alternative pronunciations

http://cougar.eb.com/soundc11/p/paella01.wav
http://cougar.eb.com/soundc11/p/paella02.wav

Neither of these sound like pie-ell-ah..

davej

Hagar

In Barcelona it's pronounce pie A yah

light123

I would say: "pie - eh - ah" -> Spanish connections.

eamon234

Hagar wrote: »

In Barcelona it's pronounce pie A yah

You mean in Barthelona

is_that_so

I would go for pie - ey -yah(ll sound) or pie -ey -zha (southern Spain / South american)

Faith

Depends really. The correct Spanish pronunciation is pie-ay-ah (they'll laugh if you order pie-ella in Spain). If you're in a decent Spanish style restaurant, go with the Spanish way. If you're in the back arse of nowhere in Ireland, you'd probably be better understood if you said pie-ella.

The ll sound in Spanish is pronounced "ay". It's also bot-ey-oh, not bot-ello, if you're trying to order a bottle of something (I learnt that the hard way!).

bambam

'pie-ay-ah' works for me, thanks folks.

-Bam

Faith

bambam wrote: »

'pie-ay-ah' works for me, thanks folks.

-Bam

And if anyone laughs at your pronunciation, you can just sneer at their inferior intelligence .

Toto Wolfcastle

I'd say pie-ey-ah because I learned Spanish in school. It's a Spanish word, right? So surely it should be pronounced the way the Spanish do. (Except I wouldn't say Balenthia, so maybe not!)

It's like when people call tor-tee-ya tor-till-a. It annoys me so much! A woman at work tried to convince everyone that a tor-tee-ya was the wrap and that a tor-till-a was the thing you have with dip!

But of course there are people who have never learned Spanish, and so don't know how 'll' is pronounced. For some reason, I had myself convinced that everyone knew! I know better now.

To be honest, it was drilled into me by the scariest teacher alive. But if you said pie-ella in Ireland you'd probably be understood!

SarahSassy

Hagar wrote: »

In Barcelona it's pronounce pie A yah

This is correct.

LL in spanish is pronounced Y e. Lladró is pronounced Y-adro.

Zaph

eamon234 wrote: »

You mean in Barthelona

Actually in Catalan they pronounce the "c" in the same way as we do, the "th" thing is Spanish or Castillian.