Comments on: Spanish sportsmen

By: Graham

Graham — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:24:42 +0000

BL – In standard Castilian Spanish, the final -Z would be pronounced like an English ‘th’, but in Andalusia (or Andalucía in Spanish), it would be an English ’s’ sound. Most English commentators have mispronounced Jiménez’s name in a different way: they have stressed the first syllable rather than the second, which is correct (the acute accent over the first ‘e’ gives it away).

By: BL

BL — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:03:26 +0000

Actually, I heard Renton Laidlaw (long time European Tour commentator) saying that M.A. Jimenez requested that they say his name with the ‘th’ at the end. Apparently, this is the way people in Southern Spain (where he is from) pronounce the z.

By: Lilian Garcia

Lilian Garcia — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:20:07 +0000

Hey!…I Googled for sergio garcia, but found your page about sh sportsmen – Linguism…and have to say thanks. nice read. Lilian Garcia

By: Graham

Graham — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:52:23 +0000

In response to Nigel, my point was that sports commentators cope with an unusual (for English speakers) sound at the beginning of “José”, so why do they not offer the same courtesy to Sergio García? The voicing of intervocalic S is a different problem.

By: Nigel Greenwood

Nigel Greenwood — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:18:26 +0000

You say that “They seem to have no problem with the name José – the first sound doesn’t come out as a full-bodied velar fricative, but there is an attempt at it”. Actually the S is almost always voiced (”Hoe-zay”) by English speakers, whereas in Spanish it’s unvoiced.

By: Ed

Ed — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:17:24 +0000

I don’t think it’s just the Spanish names the commentators struggle with!