Thursday, April 19, 2012

It's pronounced "car-tah-hey-nuh", folks

What with the Secret Service sex scandal in Colombia, there are many American newscasters who are on the air, trying to correctly pronounce the name of the city: Cartagena.

Some of them - annoyingly - pronounce it "Car-tah-hen-ya"... but there isn't any "ñ" in the name. (Nope, not even on the Spanish page.) It's the "ñ" that gives the "-nya" sound in the mispronunciation of Cartagena. The correct pronunciation of the city is: "Car-tah-hey-nuh" (or [kartaˈxena]).

(It's about as annoying as Americans saying "Ed-in-burg" and "Ed-in-bore-oh". )

No comments: