How to say: Escondida
| 14:34 UK time, Friday, 18 August 2006
A guide to words and names in the news, from Catherine Sangster of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Pronunciation Unit.
"Today's pronunciation is for Escondida, the world's largest privately-owned copper mine in Chile, ."
"We recommend the pronunciation esk-on-DEE-dhuh (dh represents the voiced th sound in the word "this")."
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Comments
dh pronounced th as in 'this'? Not sure about dhat one. I know what you are getting at, however i'd say the second d is actually aspirated with the front of the tongue almost flirting with the roof of the palate.
However if an non native spanish speaker is to struggle with this i'd always recommend sticking with a plain old d as in 'duck' sound.
Hi
Nice try, but, I think there is a mistake in the syllabification of the word. It should be:
es-kon-DEE-dhuh
I think you are using English rules, no Spanish ones---which means that you are actually advising how to say "Escondida" with an English accent.
The same goes for Javier Solana:
kha-BYAIR so-lAA-nuh
(which is more like a B than like a V)
Agree with Piers 1., although for a non-native Spanish-speaker maybe the ideal model would be a weaker "D" than that found in "Duck": how about a final "D" such as "baD"?
Wouldn't it be possible and much more useful to illustrate each example with a sound file? It seems bizarre to be using this non-orthodox system of representing pronunciation as the sole method - having to explain what "dh" stands for is a sign in itself of its limitations. I would have thought IPA symbols in even a simplified version would have been the obvious choice. They're not that difficult to get to grips with, honestly, and what's more they're unambiguous.
Still, a good initiative.
mmmmm d as in duck or dh as in....mmm why has no one bothered asking the mines owners. Then at least no one will duck it up.