A Conversation for Ask h2g2

How do you pronounce the name 'Joao'?

Post 1

Icy North

How do you pronounce the name 'Joao'?

I tried earlier, but it sounded as if I'd momentarily lost my balance.

Any tips for English speakers?


How do you pronounce the name 'Joao'?

Post 2

KB

I don't know, but I'd guess it's something like 'wow', with an initial /h/ .


How do you pronounce the name 'Joao'?

Post 3

Gnomon - time to move on

The ao at the end is a nasal sound like 'ang'. I think the whole word is like "whan" with a more nasal ending.


How do you pronounce the name 'Joao'?

Post 4

Gnomon - time to move on

The Portuguese Sao means saint and is pronounced San / Sang.


How do you pronounce the name 'Joao'?

Post 5

Milla, h2g2 Operations

So... more like the spanish Juan? maybe softer?
smiley - towel


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Post 6

Moderator001

This post has been removed.


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Post 7

psychocandy-moderation team leader

Sorry, posted from the wrong account by mistake.

My SIL, who currently is living in Brazil, says it is pronounced "juh-wow" (where the "j" is pronounced as it would be if one was speaking French).


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Post 8

KB

Drifting off topic, but I found it interesting that a lot of guys on the Isle of Man are named Juan. It's not pronounced the Spanish way, but as it looks in English (Joo-an). It's like a familiar name for John.


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Post 9

bobstafford

Could the cause of this be survivors from the armada wrecks KB smiley - cheers


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Post 10

KB

It seems as good a guess as any. Presumably from contact with Spain at some stage down through the centuries, anyway.


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Post 11

KB

Actually, I'm not sure that adds up: literacy and reading and writing came pretty late to the Isle of Man - post-Armada. So if they picked the name up at that time, pre-written-Manx, they would have picked it up by hearing it - so they wouldn't pronounce it Joo-an. That's a mistake you'd only make by reading it and pronouncing the letters as they would be pronounced in English...


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Post 12

Gnomon - time to move on

Ok. Looking it up I find Portuguese j is different from Spanish j. It's a zh sound like a French j or the s in English vision.

The ao is pronounced ow but the tilde on it makes it nasal making it sound somewhere between ow and owng. So psychocandy's Brazilian version seems to be the Portuguese one as well.

I'd write it zhoo-owng.


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Post 13

Gnomon - time to move on

In Wexford where English was spoken long enough to develop into a different dialect, the man's name John was pronounced jo-un and spelled Joan. It's likely that the Manx spelling is just a phonetic one of how they prounced John.


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Post 14

Icy North

Thanks Gnomon.

'zhoo-owng' should be easy to remember - all I have to do is sneeze with a Manchester accent smiley - smiley


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Post 15

KB

Could be - although it seems to have existed alongside John.


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Post 16

You can call me TC

Now that's settled, I am reminded of someone I once heard of who decided to name their son Guy. They had apparently never heard it spoken, however, and pronounced it Goo-Wee.

smiley - shrug


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