Correct pronunciation of "Don Juan"?

[Shoeless]

I have always assumed it was pronounced with "Juan" rhyming with "Don". However, the other day on "Jeopardy!" there was a clue where Alex pronounced it like "JEW-an". Where does that pronunciation derive from? Have I been saying it wrong all my life?

[ArizonaTeach]

Depends on the source. Byron intentionally rhymed it in odd ways in his poem, so if the question was about the fictional poem, yeah.

Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Juan_(Byron)#Humour)

[anyrose]

Just don't pronounce w-h-i-p "hwip"

[Duckster]

... there was a clue where Alex pronounced it like "JEW-an". Where does that pronunciation derive from? Have I been saying it wrong all my life?

If I can remember back to my college days, that's Cuban Spanish, as opposed to Castilian Spanish.

[Shoeless]

Depends on the source. Byron intentionally rhymed it in odd ways in his poem, so if the question was about the fictional poem, yeah.

Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Juan_(Byron)#Humour)
Actually, I think the category was about poetry, so yeah that's probably it.

[EverLearner]

I thing the first letter in Juan is like the ch in yacht

[myskepticsight]

I just read this in Brit Lit and my professor pronounced it 'jew-an.' I'll take her word for it because she's a PhD in the subject and I'm sure as hell not.

[Walloon]

Just before the next commercial break, Kelly Miyahara (http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/shows/jeopardy/cluecrew_kelly.php) of the Jeopardy! Clue Crew was featured in an insert explaining that Alex's pronunciation of the poem's title followed Lord Byron's rhyming scheme.

[Polycarp]

Don Juan, in general, whether the fabled roue, the father of Spain's present king, or the victor of Lepanto, is Dahn Hwahn, with a fairly emphatic H (though not the /kh/ sound). But Byron intentionally rendered it as Don Jew-uhn, more or less rhyming with "new one."

[GIGObuster]

As a guy who speaks the stuff almost since birth, I have to say the "JEW-an" really confuses me; in reality Polycarp is close, instead of "JEW-an" I would use "wHO-an" or "hoo-an" (close to the sound of an owl's hoot)

[Colibri]

If I can remember back to my college days, that's Cuban Spanish, as opposed to Castilian Spanish.

I don't think it's any kind of real Spanish. Cuba has a distinct accent, but I am not aware that they pronounce Juan that way.

[Nava]

If I can remember back to my college days, that's Cuban Spanish, as opposed to Castilian Spanish.

Uh... if the JEW is supposed to be like Jew, then it's not any Spanish.

I've never heard of regional variations on vowels. On consonant pronunciation and on which sillable gets stressed, yes.

Juan in Spanish does not rhyme with Don. It's two separate vowels (u like in "you" and a like in "cat"), but a single sillable, a dyptong. The a is the strongest vowel but it's "juan", not "ju-AN". And never "JU-an."

[Thudlow Boink]

See here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Juan_(Byron)#Humour) for an example & explanation of how the pronunciation is used in Byron's poem.

[yBeayf]

If Don Juan were Manx rather than Spanish, his name would be pronounced like Byron pronounced it.

("Juan" is Manx Gaelic for "John", and pronounced "Jewann".)

[lalenin]

I don't think it's any kind of real Spanish. Cuba has a distinct accent, but I am not aware that they pronounce Juan that way.

We don't, "who-AN" is the way it's pronounced in Cuba, and anywhere Spanish is spoken as far as I know.

[aldiboronti]

Byron's pronunciation Jew-an wasn't odd, it was the standard English pronunciation of the day. Before the 20th century the English language unashamedly adapted foreign names to an English-style pronunciation, just as other countries did, and still do.

Thus Don Quixote was pronounced Don Kwicksott in English, Don Quichotte in French. Don Juan was Don Jew-an, and a century before that, Don John. Shakespeare reflects this too - Jacques in As You Like It is pronounced Jake-wiss.

In the 20th century the fashion changed and we began to pronounce names as we thought they should be pronounced in the language of origin - often ending up with a pronunciation that was at home nowhere.

[Shoeless]

Just before the next commercial break, Kelly Miyahara (http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/shows/jeopardy/cluecrew_kelly.php) of the Jeopardy! Clue Crew was featured in an insert explaining that Alex's pronunciation of the poem's title followed Lord Byron's rhyming scheme.
Argh! I missed that... I must have run off to the kitchen too quickly! :smack:

[ChicanoRojo]

If I can remember back to my college days, that's Cuban Spanish, as opposed to Castilian Spanish.

I am guessing you have been out of college for a while. But. Cubans speak Spanish (Castellano) & they pronounce "Don Juan" like anywhere else where Spanish is spoken.

[rowrrbazzle]

If Don Juan were Manx rather than Spanish, his name would be pronounced like Byron pronounced it.

("Juan" is Manx Gaelic for "John", and pronounced "Jewann".)Interesting.

Byron's pronunciation Jew-an wasn't odd, it was the standard English pronunciation of the day. Before the 20th century the English language unashamedly adapted foreign names to an English-style pronunciation, just as other countries did, and still do.

Thus Don Quixote was pronounced Don Kwicksott in English, Don Quichotte in French. Don Juan was Don Jew-an, and a century before that, Don John. Shakespeare reflects this too - Jacques in As You Like It is pronounced Jake-wiss.

In the 20th century the fashion changed and we began to pronounce names as we thought they should be pronounced in the language of origin - often ending up with a pronunciation that was at home nowhere.I listen to repeats of the BBC program "My Word", which ran from 1957 to 1990. I have heard the panelists and the moderator say "Don Joo-an" and "Don Kwik-soat". And of course you can hear the Brits call the car "JAG-yoo-ahr" today. OTOH, they pronounce French names and phrases correctly. I've wondered why words from the two languages are treated differently.

[Duckster]

I am guessing you have been out of college for a while. But. Cubans speak Spanish (Castellano) & they pronounce "Don Juan" like anywhere else where Spanish is spoken.
Yes, I have been out of college for a while. My last Spanish professor was from Cuba and he attempted to teach us Castilian Spanish as well as Cuban Spanish. I can remember that all these years later because he took great pains to teach us the language as required by the curriculum as well as the version he grew up with and spoke.

[Colibri]

Before the 20th century the English language unashamedly adapted foreign names to an English-style pronunciation, just as other countries did, and still do.


Or just translated them, as in the case of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, whose names in Spanish were Fernando and Isabel, or Christopher Columbus, born Cristoforo Colombo but known as Cristóbal Colón in Spanish.

Spanish still typically does this; I have seen Elizabeth I of England referred to as Isabella I in Spanish (the names being related).

[Martha Medea]

The present Queen Elizabeth II is also sometimes referred to as "la Reina Isabel segunda" in Spanish.

On the pronunciation of "Juan" Castillian Spanish speakers will pronounce the J as "kh" while most Latin American speakers use the softer "h" sound.

aldiboronti is correct - I know from speaking to older people that it used to be considered pretentious to pronounce foreign names and expressions that had been adopted into English (like sang froid) the correct way.

[ChicanoRojo]

On the pronunciation of "Juan" Castillian Spanish speakers will pronounce the J as "kh" while most Latin American speakers use the softer "h" sound.


Mmmm. I am not sure about that. At least in Mexico, the "J" is pronounced as a tad "soft" sound, but from hearing and seeing media from Spain, the pronounce it a bit "rougher", but not "kh" since that's reserved for "X" as in "axioma" or "exento."

[ChicanoRojo]

Yes, I have been out of college for a while. My last Spanish professor was from Cuba and he attempted to teach us Castilian Spanish as well as Cuban Spanish.

Nitpick. He might have tried to teach you some words or phrases in Cuba that are used differently in other Spanish speaking countries. But. Cubans speak Castillian Spanish like most of the Spanish speaking world.

[ChicanoRojo]

....and because I didn't do the edit in the alloted time:

"I have met English-speakers that have tried to impress me by telling that they didn't learn any ordinary Spanish used by Mexicans, but rather Castillian Spanish. I always get a chuckle out of that one. :D There are phrases, regional idiocyncracies, tad differences in accents, and what not, as in any average human language, but if you know Spanish, you can safely understand any Spanish speaker from any Spanish speaking country. At any given moment, in the US and in Mexico, Mexican TV consumers will be watching TVNovelas or soccer games from other Spanish countries without a hitch. You don't have to learn different types of Spanish. If its "Castellano", there is no problem."