English is a Problem?

chloe   Wednesday, September 03, 2003, 17:32 GMT
sorry to totally change the subject but I just need to ask this to Joaquin:

How do you pronounce your name?
Ive heard of Joaquin pheonix and I thought you would pronounce it like joe-a-quin but the way he says it sounds very very different.
Joaquin   Wednesday, September 03, 2003, 18:29 GMT
To chloe:

It's pronounced exactly the way it's written. ;)

Joaquin = wah keen'
Clark   Wednesday, September 03, 2003, 19:16 GMT
And if he was German, then it would be "yoh-ah-keen."

Juaquin, wouldn't you pronounce the jota with an aspirated sound? "H wah-keen"? The "H" being like the German "ch" in Bach.
Clark   Wednesday, September 03, 2003, 22:26 GMT
Oops! I just realised I spellt your name wrong, Joaquin.
Juan   Thursday, September 04, 2003, 00:22 GMT
In regards to Joaquins name.

The best I can relate to Spanish pronounciation is this


JO-A-QUIN

The JO bit

The "J" in Spanish is pronounced similar (but not identical but close engough) to how the "H" in "H"ELL AND "H"OW are pronounced. The "O" in Spanish is similar to the "O" in L"O"T or close to it. So it's like saying HOT withouth the T. In other words just say HO (but not HOOOOO its just one vowel)

The A bit

This is similar to the "A" sound in the vowel of the word B"U"T

The QUIN bit

This is similar but not identical to the way the word "KEEN" is pronounced in English.

So JOAQUIN

HO(T)-(B)U(T)-KEEN
Joaquin   Thursday, September 04, 2003, 04:19 GMT
That’s quite all right, Clark (about the spelling). My understanding is the jota is not as guttural in Mexican and Central American Spanish as it is in Castilian and Argentinean Spanish. So "j" is closer to the English "h" than to the throat-clearing "ch" of Scottish "loch" and German "achtung." But you are correct, the true pronunciation of my name would be "hwa keen" But it’s much easier for Anglos untrained in Spanish to pronounce it without the "h" sound.

Juan, you would be correct if you were to say my name real slow. But it's pronounced fast, so "joa" becomes the monosyllabic "hwa." I think this is Portuguese pronunciation (e.g. "oa" diphthong in voar, perdoar, doar, magoar). Joaquin is derived from the Portuguese "Joaquim". I think I would prefer it pronounced this way than your way. I wouldn't want anyone to shorten it to "ho."
Joaquin   Thursday, September 04, 2003, 04:25 GMT
One of the peculiarities of my native language is we have names like Jose, Javier, Francisco, Alexander, Victoria, and Catalina and last names like Cervantes, Mendoza, and Quinones, yet for the longest time our alphabet didn't recognize the letters c, f, j, q, v, x, z! This used to confuse me as a child since my full name is Jose Joaquin Vasquez Franco. Without these letters, I would be Ose Oauin Asue Rano!

In the latter half of the 1970s, the Tagalog alphabet was revised to include c, ch, f, j, ll, enye (n with a tilde), ng, q, rr, v, x, and z, only to be revised again in the late '80s, without the ch, ll, rr. It’s all very confusing to have your alphabet changed every decade.
Clark   Thursday, September 04, 2003, 05:26 GMT
Joaquin, ¿eres de Argentina, verdad?
Joaquin   Thursday, September 04, 2003, 06:44 GMT
No, Clark. Soy Filipino y mi madre es Portuguesa. Aunque, mi novia es de Argentina. ¿Por qué tú preguntas si soy de Argentina?
chloe   Thursday, September 04, 2003, 16:12 GMT
If i was to see the name joaquin id think it was said like jo-a-quin
how can joa = wah thats not the way its written. Any way it doesnt matter
Clark   Thursday, September 04, 2003, 16:54 GMT
Maybe I was mistaking you for Juan, or someone else that said they were from Argentina. Sorry if I offended you.
Joaquin   Thursday, September 04, 2003, 18:14 GMT
No offense taken.
Juan   Monday, September 08, 2003, 00:30 GMT
Joaquin, I guess you know a whole lot more about languages so I take your word for it.

"Juan, you would be correct if you were to say my name real slow. But it's pronounced fast, so "joa" becomes the monosyllabic "hwa." "

You are right, saying fast does make it different, like you said (the J-(OA)-QUIN part of your name). I thought most of the American Spanish speakers(as in the continent no the US) did not have guttural thing from Spain (which is very funny by the way and rough and coarse. I wonder why that is?). I certainly don't. But anyways I guess its your name so it should be said how you like it. I also have a friend called Joaquin and I dont use the guttural "J" (jota) sound. Its soft kinda like the English "H" in most words. I think in American English the word "herb" the "H" is silent.
Juan   Monday, September 08, 2003, 00:32 GMT
Actually I am not Argentinian either. Not that there is anything wrong with that!!