A promo for Locked Up Abroad mentions Tijuana. The voiceover guy pronounces it ‘Tia-Wanna’.
It grates on my ears.
I’ve heard it pronounced that way going back even into the sixties. I think you’re just gonna have to get used to it.
How do you pronounce it?
Guess you don’t like the Kingston Trio, then: - YouTube.
Do you say meh-hee-co too?
No. But I don’t add any syllables to it either.
Some old maps of San Diego spell the city’s name as though it were Spanish for “Aunt Jane.” (Tia Juana.) Maybe that narrator on the TV show was a really old guy.
Thanks.
I would feel like such a raging douchebag pronouncing it tee-hwana that it’s not even on the table for consideration. I presume you likewise pronounce all cities of foreign nations as closely to the local pronunciation as your caucasion tounge can manage.
If this is actually the case, you are a raging douchebag. If not, what’s so fucking special about Tijuana?
So pronouncing words is a binary thing? You’ve probably never lived in Southern California.
I have to agree. The title is false just because Tijuana is pronounced “Tia-Wanna” by millions of people. Pronouncing foreign names exactly as they said by locals can be a little effete and affected. Many foreign countries and cities have completely different local names than they do in English. A slight pronunciation difference is minor league in that regard. It gets a little complicated however. Saying Tia-wanna is fine in my book but pronouncing fajitas as faj-eetas is a major social offense.
You’re completely overlooking where Tijuana is, and how San Diego and Tijuana are so economically and culturally entwined. For anyone growing up in San Diego, Tijuana is really NOT a foreign country, and Spanish is NOT a foreign language. (Really, you could say the same about much of Los Angeles.) No one who has spent any significant part of childhood in San Diego or L.A. would pronounce it like that. That’s how old people from Iowa say it.
Which I did, BTW.
17 years, plus 11 in Northern L.A. County.
The same people who say ‘Lohs ANG-gell-eez’? 
So how did San Diego enter the conversation? If you live in San Diego, I’m sure “tee-whana” is perfectly acceptable. Good for you. In most parts of the US, it’s not. It’s douchebaggery. As Shag said, it comes across as a very affected manner of speech.
My horny Mexican aunt assures me that Tia Wanna.
Just to drive this home, a hypothetical:
Your neighbor tells you he’s taking his family to Paris for vacation. Good for him, right? How about if he says “We’re going to pah-reese” in his best french accent without a hint of irony. Do you still think Brian is a good guy, or do you think he’s an affected asshole?
Hey, lay off of Arlo Guthrie! 
I actually have no problem with the Anglicization–except that its history is somewhat twisted. (It doesn’t “grate” on my ears as it does for Johnny L.A.) But I’ll be damned if when I go to Cedar Rapids and mention that my girlfriend is from /tiˈʰwɑnɑ/ I suddenly become a “douchebag.” You expect me to affect my speech so I don’t appear to affect my speech to your delicate ears? Isn’t that just the same–or maybe worse?
Oh, well for fucks sake. Your girlfriend is from Tijuana. That’s not at all an edge circumstance.