# Do Spanish speakers do anything to Spanish words to make them sound more English? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 18, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073 "2020-05-18T22:43:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/21 "2020-05-20T00:02:21Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > As a related aside, I live in an area when many street names are Spanish. And I find it so annoying that both Google and Apple have chosen anglicized mispronunciations of the Spanish names in their mapping apps. . I live in an english speaking city with english street names – and Google can’t get those right either. And it is incredibly annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/22 "2020-05-20T00:23:35Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > There is debate as to whether Juan Cabrillo, the explorer, was Spanish or Portuguese. Is “cah-BRILL-oh” a Portuguese pronunciation? In Portuguese, the name would be spelled Cabrilho. The combination lh in Portuguese is pronounced much like ll in Spanish, that is, like y in English. So the name is not pronounced cah-BRILL-oh in either Spanish or Portuguese. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/23 "2020-05-20T03:19:20Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I suspect that there are still enclaves in the Upper Midwest where those are “tor-TILL-a” and “JAL-a-PEE-no,” respectively. 😃 Yeah, that’s the Upper Midwest. But what’s our excuse in San Francisco for pronouncing “Cabrillo” street “cah-BRILL-oh”? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/24 "2020-05-20T03:51:36Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Yeah, that’s the Upper Midwest. But what’s our excuse in San Francisco for pronouncing “Cabrillo” street “cah-BRILL-oh”? Damn. The board’s been hanging, but I haven’t seen a four-hour lag between duplicate posts before. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/25 "2020-05-20T04:14:32Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > It’s not as if you pronounce San Francisco properly. Good point. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/26 "2020-05-20T04:23:46Z")
Yes, you don’t need a foreign language. We borrowed my dad’s GPS to go to Philadelphia, and it told us we were approaching the “Franklin Branch”. Huh? Oh, it was entered in the database, no doubt, as “Br.” and I bet the street names translator ("by=Bay,“ave=avenue”,“ct=court” etc.) thought it was a street designation not “bridge”. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/27 "2020-05-20T04:30:22Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > I’m thinking of the opposite of what is common in English to make words sound more Spanish. Usually, this is done by adding an “o” to the end of a word or prefixing the word with an “el” or “la”. Among Spanish speakers, is there any equivalent to try to make Spanish words sound English? No, but we sometimes invent words which sound English-ish, or adopt English words because they sound cooler than the Spanish ones to those idiots who think anything foreign is cooler (ex: people used to _hacer montañismo_, now they _hacen mountain-climbing_ pronounced _mountáin clímbin_). The name vueling, an airplane company, is a lampshade: _vuelo_ (flight) + -ing. They don’t pretend it’s English, they make fun of some people’s tendency to drop mispronounced English into every single conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/28 "2020-05-20T04:55:43Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > No, but we sometimes invent words which sound English-ish, or adopt English words because they sound cooler than the Spanish ones to those idiots who think anything foreign is cooler (ex: people used to _hacer montañismo_, now they _hacen mountain-climbing_ pronounced _mountáin clímbin_). There’s also _el parking_ (for a parking lot) and _el camping_ (for a camp-ground). My favorite Englishism is _chatear_ for on-line chatting. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/29 "2020-05-20T07:49:42Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > No, but we sometimes invent words which sound English-ish, or adopt English words because they sound cooler than the Spanish ones to those idiots who think anything foreign is cooler […] > The name vueling, an airplane company, is a lampshade: _vuelo_ (flight) + -ing. […] Yes! I had forgotten that \*jogging \*used to be called \*footing \* or even _fúting_ in Spain when it started to become a popular sport some 40 - 50 yrs. ago. But that was not meant to make fun of the English, they talked like this in earnest. The name Vueling gets badly on my nerves. I don’t know if they mean it in earnest, if they are making fun of me or calling me and their customers in general an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/30 "2020-05-20T07:56:38Z")
Concerning GPS it is hard to beat the annoyance you can feel while navigating in Brussels, where some streets have French names, some have Dutch/Flemish names, some are called after Englishmen (Avenue Churchill, Rond-Point Montgomery)… if you then set your navigator to speak with the Spanish or the German setting it gets surreal. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/31 "2020-05-20T08:03:36Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > No, not that I was aware of. But we sometimes put an “éibol”. Yeah. Also we add “-ation” (as in station or ovation) to random words. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/32 "2020-05-20T09:38:18Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Interesting. It might be mentioned that Spanish-speakers frequently pronounce loan-words and foreign names according to Spanish rules, rather than attempting the original pronunciation. For example, the fast-food restaurant _Popeyes_ here in Panama is called (approximately) _Poh-PEH-yays_, and corn flakes are _corn FLAH-kays_. (Before a camping trip, I once had someone ask me if I had remember my col-GAH-tay. I had no idea what he was talking about until I realize he was saying Colgate and asking about toothpaste.:D) English, on the other hand, pronounces words like _tortilla_ and _jalapeno_ as they are in Spanish (although admittedly not _llama_ or Amarillo, Texas.) It should be noted that Spanish spelling is far more phonetic and consistent than in English. So with loan words, the question becomes whether you speak the word as in the original language, or write it the same (and therefore pronounce it the way the spelling implies it should be spoken in Spanish). I’m glad that Spanish does the latter. I don’t speak much Spanish but I would little problem with reading out Spanish text, even including loan words. Whereas, even though I’m English, reading out English text can be a riskier proposition if it’s material with words or proper nouns I’ve never heard spoken before. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/33 "2020-05-20T12:50:18Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I suspect that there are still enclaves in the Upper Midwest where those are “tor-TILL-a” and “JAL-a-PEE-no,” respectively. 😃 My brother in law used to pronounce fajitas as exactly that - with a hard J. He’ll now deny when we remind him of this, or course. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/34 "2020-05-20T15:09:45Z")
There’s a town in California called El Granada, in which we get not only the pronunciation but the grammar wrong. (I don’t speak Spanish, but I’m told it should be La Granada.) ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/35 "2020-05-20T16:14:57Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > “Englishifying” a Spanish word in a parodying sense can take many forms such as … having final "O"s be pronounced to rhime with “slow” Wait, what? How is the final “O” supposed to be pronounced? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/36 "2020-05-20T16:16:30Z")
Dare I ask: if all it takes is an -o or -a, how does fake Spanish differ from fake Italian? Pig Latin I already know sometimes throws in the occasional -ix and -ibus. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/37 "2020-05-20T16:20:33Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Dare I ask: if all it takes is an -o or -a, how does fake Spanish differ from fake Italian? In fake Italian you wave your hands around a lot more.😃 Actually, in fake Italian you add “a,” not “o.” And in fake Spanish, you put “el” in front of everything. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/38 "2020-05-21T11:50:52Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > Wait, what? How is the final “O” supposed to be pronounced? As in “oh!”, not as in “slow”. It’s a SINGLE vowel; one of the greatest pronunciation sins of Anglophone learners of Spanish is adding extra vowels. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/39 "2020-05-21T12:20:45Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Yeah. Also we add “-ation” (as in station or ovation) to random words. Yeah, this is the one I was looking for, at least in Mexican Spanish. I remember a TV commercial many, many years ago, something like, “Regressation Aztecation,” because it was going to be a USA-Mexico game at Estadio Azteca. But, like per the OP, where we just as “-o” to endings, Mexicans (and maybe others) can add “-ation” to endings. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073/40 "2020-05-21T12:39:06Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > As in “oh!”, not as in “slow”. It’s a SINGLE vowel; one of the greatest pronunciation sins of Anglophone learners of Spanish is adding extra vowels. That’s the same sound for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-spanish-speakers-do-anything-to-spanish-words-to-make-them-sound-more-english/854073.md?page=3)