Chili or Chil-ay?

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

The cool part about Spanish is the pronunciation is ALWAYS the same (well, 99% of the time)....Once you get it down, you can pronounce everything correctly (unless you get words like Oaxaca, a city in Mexico, pronounced 'wah---hock---ah')

The letter E in Spanish is pronounced like our letter A....Always and forever....

Hence, Chile, the "le" part is pronounce "Lay"...

Mexico = MAY--HEE--CO .......Again, you get the English letter A sound from the E in Mexico

Te Amo (I love you).....'te' pronounce TAY because of the 'e' in 'te' (A sound)

De nada (your welcome).....'de' pronounced DAY

Thank You! 10yrs of customer service management and I wish I took Spanish in school!

[lucyrich 20]

"Chee-lay" is an approximation to the Spanish pronunciation, and is a lot closer than "chilly", but it's still not quite right.

A Gringo will typically turn the last syllable of "Chile" into a dipthong, trying to pronounce that last syllable like it rhymes with the English word "day". If you listen closely to an American speaker of English saying "day", they start the vowel with one sound, like "eh", but then they change it and finish it with "ee". The two sounds blend together seamlessly. The mouth is continuously closing from the "eh" to the "ee".

But in Spanish, if a dipthong is to be pronounced in a word, it's also written that way. There are no dipthongs in "Chile". So you put your mouth in the position to start the vowel from "day", and you keep it exactly in that position, so it just stays on the "eh" part for the entire syllable.

Oh, and the first syllable vowel is a long "E" sound, not a schwa, not a short "i" sound.

[chri'stina 190]

I feel silly saying Chile the right way even though I know how to pronounce "e"s in Spanish. I mostly say "chilly" which I know is wrong. One of my friend's half bro is from Chile, so I have heard him say it correctly many times. But I also took Spanish in high school and college.

Edited February 28, 2010 by chri'stina

[Marilyn. 340]

The cool part about Spanish is the pronunciation is ALWAYS the same (well, 99% of the time)....Once you get it down, you can pronounce everything correctly (unless you get words like Oaxaca, a city in Mexico, pronounced 'wah---hock---ah')

The letter E in Spanish is pronounced like our letter A....Always and forever....

Hence, Chile, the "le" part is pronounce "Lay"...

Mexico = MAY--HEE--CO .......Again, you get the English letter A sound from the E in Mexico

Te Amo (I love you).....'te' pronounce TAY because of the 'e' in 'te' (A sound)

De nada (your welcome).....'de' pronounced DAY

Thank You! 10yrs of customer service management and I wish I took Spanish in school!

also LL in Spanish is pronounced like a Y or ee...

my last name has a LL and people pronounce it wrong a lot

[chri'stina 190]

also LL in Spanish is pronounced like a Y or ee...

my last name has a LL and people pronounce it wrong a lot

Hehe, I bet...

People can't pronounce my maiden name or married name correctly. (well, they aren't Spanish, but they aren't so easy)

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

How do other countries pronounce Chile?

[CDAgirlMI 51]

How about I-Rack? Just as stupid and yet people still say it.

Yes, that as well.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

How do other countries pronounce Chile?

?

[bora bora 1]

also LL in Spanish is pronounced like a Y or ee...

my last name has a LL and people pronounce it wrong a lot

...unless you're from Argentina or Uruguay, and then it's a "sh" not a "y" sound

[웃 910]

...unless you're from Argentina or Uruguay, and then it's a "sh" not a "y" sound

Good point.

Me llamo = "May" "Johm--O" ......like John with an 'm' at the end

And "Yo" = "Joe"

[Jenn! 918]

I say "Chilly". Just like I don't pronounce "France" with the French pronunciation. And I say "Germany", not Deutschland. I think it's consistent.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I say "Chilly". Just like I don't pronounce "France" with the French pronunciation. And I say "Germany", not Deutschland. I think it's consistent.

[Texanadian 10]

Maybe it's just me, but the X sound in Spanish seems odd.

Mexia is pronounced Ma-hi-uh.

Bexar is pronounced Bear.

I saw Geraldo on Fox talking about Chili. He said Chil-lay and Chilly in the same opening speech. And he's Latino! Make up your mind!

Edited March 1, 2010 by Texanadian