lobita Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 today's burning question: how do do Mexicans pronounce 'Oxxo' and 'Pemex'? is the x 'ks' like in English? or aspirated 'h' as in México? or 'sh' as in Ixtapa? or ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 OHK-so. PEH-meks. eeks-TAH-pah. MEH-hee-koh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gimpychimp Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 How about Xcaret and Xel-Há? Are they pronounced Zee-caray and Shel-ha? Too many choices for the letter "X"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerGuy Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 On the other hand, English is the only language with silent letters... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 On the other hand, English is the only language with silent letters... The 'h' is always silent in Spanish... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerGuy Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 I knew if anyone would catch me up on that, you would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 Delete duplicate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 I knew if anyone would catch me up on that, you would. What can I say! It's my job! LOL... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVGRINGO Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 Lots of silents in French, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbviajero Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 How about Xcaret and Xel-Há? Are they pronounced Zee-caray and Shel-ha? Too many choices for the letter "X"!. Claro como el agua de Xochimilco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 Xochimilco: soh-cheeh-MEEL-coh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbviajero Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 The 'h' is always silent in Spanish...Which might account for all the misspellings of the word;hay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 Hay: there is, there are, pronounced EYE (what you see with) Ay: expression of surprise or dismay, pronounced EYE (what you see with) Allí: there (as in a place, "Búscalo allí'--look for it there.) Pronounced ah-EEE, with elision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbviajero Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 Hay: there is, there are, pronounced EYE (what you see with) Ay: expression of surprise or dismay, pronounced EYE (what you see with) Allí: there (as in a place, "Búscalo allí'--look for it there.) Pronounced ah-EEE, with elision. I was referring to the misspellings in many signs you see,like (ay menudo),for example.It seems to be one of the more frequently misspelled words along with words that contain the letters b&v. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 I was referring to the misspellings in many signs you see,like (ay menudo),for example.It seems to be one of the more frequently misspelled words along with words that contain the letters b&v. I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lobita Posted September 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 I'm still not sure what to do with Xs generally, but at least now I can stop worrying about whether I'm mangling Oxxo and Pemex! gracias. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lobita Posted September 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 How about Xcaret and Xel-Há? Are they pronounced Zee-caray and Shel-ha? Too many choices for the letter "X"! When we visited the Yucatan a few years ago, we were told 'EESH-ka-RET'. fwiw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted September 24, 2013 Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 What you do with X's depends on what part of the country you're in and what the language is of the word you are pronouncing. For example, neither OXXO or PEMEX are even words: OXXO is a brand name and PEMEX is an acronym. Nonetheless, they are pronounced the same all over the country (as far as I know), using standard Spanish pronounciation. On the other hand, Xochimilco is a Nahuatl word meaning 'place where flowers are sown'; in Nahuatl, an 'X' at the beginning of a word is pronounced like 'S'. México is also a Nahuatl place name--obviously, it is the name of this country. The 'X', because it comes in the middle of the word, is pronounced like an aspirated 'H'. Ixcaret, on the other hand, is a Maya word, the meaning of which is either 'small inlet' or completely forgotten in the mists of time. The Maya pronounce the 'X' as 'sh'--a sound which doesn't exist in Spanish, but which does exist in Maya.So you are right: it can be confusing, since depending on where you are, the sound of the letter changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted September 25, 2013 Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 The Spaniards used the letter X for shounds they did not have. In French Basque we call the house etchea in Spanish it is etxea, they do not have the soft sh so they used the X, same in Maya the town Temax is pronounced temash . I think t is one of the mystery letter, unless you know where the word comes from , X can be pronounced different ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdlngton Posted September 29, 2013 Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 The 'h' is always silent in Spanish... There is also a silent U after a G before E or I to make the G hard, such as in guitarra. If you want the U to be pronounced in the GUE or GUI combination you put a dieresis over the U--that's the two little dots, call an umlaut in German, I believe. Like the word guero. There should be the two little dots over the U but unfortunately I don't know how to do that on the keyboard I am on right now as there are no number keys to the right to do ALT commands. The umlaut (or dieresis) is used above the u when the u is sounded in the combinations of güi or güe. Without the umlaut, known as la diéresis or la crema in Spanish, the u would be silent, serving only to indicate that the g is pronounced as a hard g rather than similar to the j. (For example, guey with no umlaut would sound something like "gay.") Among the words with umlauts are vergüenza, shame; cigüeña, stork or crank; pingüino, penguin; and agüero, prediction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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