The butchering of foreign words

Morricone

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?

Sunnyisland

It really gets on my tits ok.

summerskin

Not annoying

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?

Pyoo-fnucking-jo!


Aaaaarrggghhh!

John Doe1

I hate it when people are pedantic assholes:p

phoenix833

Atari Jaguar, etc.

You best not watch an episode of Only Fools & Horses



Pedantic haemorrhage

Morricone

Not annoying

John Doe1 wrote: »

I hate it when people are pedantic assholes:p

Pedantic it maybe but the words should be pronounced properly.

Its not a difficult thing.

I am pie

Atari Jaguar, etc.

I am glad it annoys you.

SafeSurfer

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).

Morricone

Not annoying

I am pie wrote: »

I am glad it annoys you.

Have you a problem?

Mr Benevolent

Morricone wrote: »

Pedantic it maybe but the words should be pronounced properly.

Its not a difficult thing.

Pronounce 'Eyjafjallajökull' flawlessly and come back to us when you're a little less idiotically arrogant.

Oh, and this is the English language. We butcher every word for fun. Your native language will not survive the onslaught.

Snowie

damm my dyslexia i read

butchering of foreign workers or maybe I'm watching to much dexter hmmm...

starbelgrade

Morricone wrote: »

Does it annoy you as much as it annoys me?

This thread is aññoyiñg me.

firefly08

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

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

phoenix833

Atari Jaguar, etc.

Oh come on OP have you even been to a foreign county and heard somebody there try to pronounce an English word?

Or better yet an Irish word? An Irish person trying to pronounce Fajita or Bruschetta could not possibly sound worse than somebody trying to saying an Irish word.


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

Doc Daneeka

Why should they be? How can you expect the general population of an English speaking country to intuitively know how to pronounce these foreign words? Think I might just order some bread and tomatoes next time I'm in the restaurant so as not to offend you.

Teyla Emmagan

Not annoying

I only agree with people who pronounce any word the same way I do.

Everyone else is just WRONG.

It's a simple philosopy but it works for me.

Snowie

starbelgrade wrote: »

This thread is aññoyiñg me.

will you ever put your rantie panties away Im hear talk to uncle snowie :pac:

*taps lap

Rumple Fugly

How are you pronouncing philosopy there?

Morricone

Not annoying

firefly08 wrote: »

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

I pronounce deja vu with an elongated u akin to the way view is pronounced in the English language.

Baguette I pronounce, slightly differently to the general pronounciation and I would pronounce entrepreneur as per social convention.

swimming in a sea

the girls name siobhan, what's wrong with shevon,,, very strange these ethnic names

Teyla Emmagan

Not annoying

Rumple Fugly wrote: »

How are you pronouncing philosopy there?

Oh yeah.

Not too good for a girl with a degree in the aforementioned subject .

I should start drinking.

My name is URL

Say la vee, OP

A chicken's on goot

firefly08

I pronounce deja vu with an elongated u akin to the way view is pronounced in the English language.

Incorrectly then yeah?

Baguette I pronounce, slightly differently to the general pronounciation and I would pronounce entrepreneur as per social convention.

Social convention in which country?

EGAR

You forgot the option "Hilarious" in your poll.

Morricone

Not annoying

firefly08 wrote: »

Incorrectly then yeah?



Social convention in which country?

I don't pronounce deja vu incorrectly. What do you think is the 'correct pronunciation.

Social convention in English speaking lands.

firefly08

I don't pronounce deja vu incorrectly. What do you think is the 'correct pronunciation.

The way French people pronounce it. I think I have a strong case here.

Social convention in English speaking lands

...despite none of these words being English?

This seems to be the very thing you were complaining about in the first place.

Teyla Emmagan

Not annoying

Morricone wrote: »

Baguette I pronounce, slightly differently to the general pronounciation

Ah c'mon, what does that sound like exactly? A silent 'tt' or something?!

"Howya Mary, can I've a chicken filleh bagueh with a soide of wedges pliz?"

Morricone

Not annoying

firefly08 wrote: »

The way French people pronounce it. I think I have a strong case here.



...despite none of these words being English?

This seems to be the very thing you were complaining about in the first place.

I understand these words are not English.

However from a very young age the English pronounciation of entrepreneur has been embeded into my mind and were I to pronounce it according to the French pronounciation I don't think I would be properly understood.

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.

RonMexico

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:

RichieC

Atari Jaguar, etc.

You pronounce the t in moet. Never let some snob tell you that you don't.

Morricone

Not annoying

RichieC wrote: »

You pronounce the t in moet. Never let some snob tell you that you don't.

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

Daroxtar

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

phasers

what a pathetic thing to care about.


Also nobody proniunces the j in fajitas. Nobody.

El Weirdo

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

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

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

Namlub

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

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

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

American: Sausage ham bologna = baloney does not compute.

lefthooker

peugoet - pyoojho/perjho ???

audi - awdi/owdi ???

Jammy Donut

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

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

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

firefly08

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

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

Coño!

garancafan

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

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

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

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?