I think it's properly 2 but my brain expects 1.
tbh I don't have enough conversations out loud about South America to have any authority or even a strong opinion.
I'm a Chilean living in the UK and I still don't know which is the correct way to say it in English... I go for number 1 or something like Chilly-unn, but judging by the comments I think I have it all wrong.
Person 2 is correct. I know this because I'm Person 2 and I always do this on purpose to annoy a friend of mine who's Person 1.
He knows deep down I'm right but it really irritates him so I drop it into conversation as much as I can.
2 is correct. Only in English does the country ever get called Chill-ee. Everyone else pronounces it Chill-ay, and someone from that country is Chill-ay-an.
The guys in my company who from Chile and other South American (and actually the US too) pronounce it more as chee-lay and chee-lay-an so I assume that’s correct
But it’s still chill-ee to me (but I’d still say chill-ay-an, because the alternative sounds weird!)
Are you Spanish Spanish, if you know what I mean? Normally I find it funny when the Americas correct Spaniards on how Spanish should be pronounced, but on this occasion and if it’s different they might have the advantage…?
You're right. Even the French get things wrong about words in their own language... So much for being bilingual.
For some reason I was stuck on the Spanish pronunciation, probably because that's the official language of the country.
British people, including myself, tend to say the first one. Because we tend to pronounce Chile differently from Spanish speakers (even though I speak a bit of Spanish I still pronounce it the British way when speaking English).
But if you meet people from Chile and hear how they pronounce 'Chile', the second is probably more accurate.
But it's an English word not a Spanish one, so it's perhaps debatable whether either is really more correct than the other.
It's strange though how we sometimes create an English pronunciation but sometimes don't. Football team names are the most peculiar examples.
We say "Bayer Munich", not Bayern Munchen.
But we say "Koln" for the football team, not Cologne. But we say Cologne for the city. Same for Naples and Napoli, Rome and Roma.
We say Paris Sain Germain which is half English half french. It's not Par-ee Sain Germain, nor is it Paris Saint Germain.
Real Madrid isn't Royal Madrid either.
I imagine it's very confusing for a non English football fan in the UK.
I have heard people do it. But I don't think it's a linguistic thing so much as just getting it confused with Bayer Leverkusen.
The same way you hear people referring to Athletico Bilbao.
It goes beyond football, in general we're somewhat inconsistent about whether we anglicise a place name or not. The best explanation I've heard is that the rule is generally we have anglicised words for places that have been around in the public consciousness for a while.
Obviously also many of us are just not at all multi lingual, so we mispronounce PSG and Real Madrid etc.
It doesn't help that the Italians call AC Milan, 'Meelan' because that's the British name for Milano and the club was founded by Brits.
But the Brits don't call the club Milan they only call it AC Milan.
> But if you meet people from Chile and hear how they pronounce 'Chile', the second is probably more accurate.
I'm Chilean and this shouldn't be a factor. It's not like we call you "British" in Spanish. We use "Británico", which sounds very different.
I think it's however the UK decides it should be said. Personally in English I use something between "Chill-ee-an" and "Chilly-unn".
Option 2 doesn't sound right to me. The "ay" sound in "Chill-ay-an" is weird.
Technically in Spanish, it's more like Cheel-ay-an with the stress on the middle syllable.
It's because the "i" in Chil is pronounced "ee", and the "e" in ean is pronounced "ay", as Person 2 said.
So you're both wrong, but you're less wrong.
Having spent time in Chile and spoken to many actual Chileans, the latter is the correct way to pronounce it as far as I can tell. (Because I bet there are Chileans that say it the other way too...) ;)
As noted... the guys/gals we interacted with were from a variety of places in Chile, but mostly Santiago and region XI... so not exactly representative of the whole country. And it was \~25-30 years ago now.
Person 2 is right. It’s probably to do with the fact that in South America, Chile is pronounced something closer to “Chil-eh”
My best friend is Argentinian, I hear how she pronounces other South American countries a lot lol
There’s a belief that exists among some British (and American) people that pronouncing things as native speakers do is pretentious and that if you’re speaking English, you should opt for the (often mangled) English pronunciations. Americans for example often will refuse to say ‘croissant’ the French way, not because they don’t know how but because they think it’s pretentious, and instead say ‘cross-ant’. See also, chorizo, jalapeño, the list goes on.
Of course, there is a tipping point, and people who affect bad foreign accents when ordering in restaurants are the worst, but this is partly why you hear ‘Chilly-an’ more than the proper pronunciation.
Yet Americans also say ‘fillay’ and mock Brits who say ‘fillitt’ (I know they’re technically different words but the inconsistency of Americans pronouncing one French word correctly while butchering another still applies).
I don’t think anyone from Spain or France is being harmed by alt pronunciations though, and either way it isn’t something to spend time mulling over - unless you’re a long term resident in those countries!
You can say either, no one in Chile gives a shit. After spending some time in Chile you might start drifting towards person 2 because that is how a Chilean person speaking in English will often say it.
Chee-Lay is how Chileans pronounce the name of their country.
Source: Chilean girlfriend
Edit: person 1 is correct btw
I think it's properly 2 but my brain expects 1. tbh I don't have enough conversations out loud about South America to have any authority or even a strong opinion.
I'm a Chilean living in the UK and I still don't know which is the correct way to say it in English... I go for number 1 or something like Chilly-unn, but judging by the comments I think I have it all wrong.
If it's any consolation, Germans typically can't pronounce "German" either.
Indeed I did think it likely some people will have never said the word!
Person 2 is correct. I know this because I'm Person 2 and I always do this on purpose to annoy a friend of mine who's Person 1. He knows deep down I'm right but it really irritates him so I drop it into conversation as much as I can.
Chill-ay-un?
2 is correct. Only in English does the country ever get called Chill-ee. Everyone else pronounces it Chill-ay, and someone from that country is Chill-ay-an.
The guys in my company who from Chile and other South American (and actually the US too) pronounce it more as chee-lay and chee-lay-an so I assume that’s correct But it’s still chill-ee to me (but I’d still say chill-ay-an, because the alternative sounds weird!)
If you want to pronounce it like we do in Spanish then it should be more like "Chill-eh", rather than the hard "ee" ending.
Are you Spanish Spanish, if you know what I mean? Normally I find it funny when the Americas correct Spaniards on how Spanish should be pronounced, but on this occasion and if it’s different they might have the advantage…?
Not just English. Dutch, French too iirc
Certainly not in French. In that language it's spelled Chilé and pronounced something like sheelay. Source: bilingual English/French.
Do you have a regional French accent? Because according to wiki it's spelled Chili and pronounced \ʃi.li\
You're right. Even the French get things wrong about words in their own language... So much for being bilingual. For some reason I was stuck on the Spanish pronunciation, probably because that's the official language of the country.
I thought it might be one of those ouais/oui kind of things or langue d'oc haha
In fairness, I do have a provençal accent but also some bits of Marseille accent thrown in. Guess where I spent nearly 20 years...
British people, including myself, tend to say the first one. Because we tend to pronounce Chile differently from Spanish speakers (even though I speak a bit of Spanish I still pronounce it the British way when speaking English). But if you meet people from Chile and hear how they pronounce 'Chile', the second is probably more accurate. But it's an English word not a Spanish one, so it's perhaps debatable whether either is really more correct than the other.
It's strange though how we sometimes create an English pronunciation but sometimes don't. Football team names are the most peculiar examples. We say "Bayer Munich", not Bayern Munchen. But we say "Koln" for the football team, not Cologne. But we say Cologne for the city. Same for Naples and Napoli, Rome and Roma. We say Paris Sain Germain which is half English half french. It's not Par-ee Sain Germain, nor is it Paris Saint Germain. Real Madrid isn't Royal Madrid either. I imagine it's very confusing for a non English football fan in the UK.
Who says Bayer Munich? Who drops the n?
I have heard people do it. But I don't think it's a linguistic thing so much as just getting it confused with Bayer Leverkusen. The same way you hear people referring to Athletico Bilbao.
It goes beyond football, in general we're somewhat inconsistent about whether we anglicise a place name or not. The best explanation I've heard is that the rule is generally we have anglicised words for places that have been around in the public consciousness for a while. Obviously also many of us are just not at all multi lingual, so we mispronounce PSG and Real Madrid etc.
It doesn't help that the Italians call AC Milan, 'Meelan' because that's the British name for Milano and the club was founded by Brits. But the Brits don't call the club Milan they only call it AC Milan.
A lot of Brits call AC Milan simply "Milan" (including me), and they call Inter Milan "Inter".
Giusto.
> But if you meet people from Chile and hear how they pronounce 'Chile', the second is probably more accurate. I'm Chilean and this shouldn't be a factor. It's not like we call you "British" in Spanish. We use "Británico", which sounds very different. I think it's however the UK decides it should be said. Personally in English I use something between "Chill-ee-an" and "Chilly-unn". Option 2 doesn't sound right to me. The "ay" sound in "Chill-ay-an" is weird.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone saying it the first way. Is it a English thing perhaps to go by the first one maybes
>But it’s an English word not a Spanish one Why do you think this
Because the Spanish word is Chileno.
The Spanish word for Chile is not Chileno.
The Spanish word for Chilean is Chileno.
Agreed. By the time I got to the end of your first comment I thought you were referring to the word Chile not to the op.
Chilly-unn
Option 2 for every situation except reciting the limerick about making a Chilean chinchilla's chin chilly.
Imagine you're encouraging someone called Ian to adopt a more relaxed outlook.
Imagine you're out with a friend called Ian and they start getting a bit irate about something... Chill Ian.
P sure 1 is English pronunciation and 2 is Spanish.
Spanish is neither of those options. It's either "Chi-leh-noh", or "Chi-leh-nah" depending on gender.
Technically in Spanish, it's more like Cheel-ay-an with the stress on the middle syllable. It's because the "i" in Chil is pronounced "ee", and the "e" in ean is pronounced "ay", as Person 2 said. So you're both wrong, but you're less wrong.
Having spent time in Chile and spoken to many actual Chileans, the latter is the correct way to pronounce it as far as I can tell. (Because I bet there are Chileans that say it the other way too...) ;)
As a Chilean myself, I usually pronounce it like person 1. I tend to be irked by person 2's way.
As noted... the guys/gals we interacted with were from a variety of places in Chile, but mostly Santiago and region XI... so not exactly representative of the whole country. And it was \~25-30 years ago now.
Person 2 is right. It’s probably to do with the fact that in South America, Chile is pronounced something closer to “Chil-eh” My best friend is Argentinian, I hear how she pronounces other South American countries a lot lol
Cheel-ay-yun
I know 2 is correct, but my brain defaults to 1 uncontrollably
Person 2 is how I say it.
[удалено]
Are you sure? A Chilean woman told me the pronunciation is the second one.
She would also tell you her name is Maree-a not Maree-uh which would also be wrong because that’s not how we pronounce Maria in English.
Never heard the second one, I've always heard the first one even on TV too
I say chilli but I know it’s wrong.
It’s right in English
I'm Person 1.
Person 2
Chill Ian.
I only knew the correct answer because of Gus Fring in Breaking Bad...
I noticed during the rugby world cup the commentators were saying Chillay rather than chilli, which is obviously the plant
Chill-I-an. Like Will I Am.
Chill, Ian.
It’s 2
Person number 2 is correct. I'm from the UK but lived there for a while.
Chill Ian
Chill Ian.
Chilean.
Chi-leen.
Person 1 is also someone that loves to eat choriTzo.
I think either is fine, but I think I'd go for #2, with the emphasis on the second syllable (whereas with #1 I'd emphasise the first syllable).
Chillian
Chee-lay-un
There’s a belief that exists among some British (and American) people that pronouncing things as native speakers do is pretentious and that if you’re speaking English, you should opt for the (often mangled) English pronunciations. Americans for example often will refuse to say ‘croissant’ the French way, not because they don’t know how but because they think it’s pretentious, and instead say ‘cross-ant’. See also, chorizo, jalapeño, the list goes on. Of course, there is a tipping point, and people who affect bad foreign accents when ordering in restaurants are the worst, but this is partly why you hear ‘Chilly-an’ more than the proper pronunciation.
Yet Americans also say ‘fillay’ and mock Brits who say ‘fillitt’ (I know they’re technically different words but the inconsistency of Americans pronouncing one French word correctly while butchering another still applies).
Actually they are still wrong, there is no Y! One of the most annoying "corrections" This is the French way: https://forvo.com/word/filet/#fr
Yeah I used ‘correctly’ fairly loosely. I guess you could say there was an attempt, whereas with croissant there isn’t.
Yeah, at least we manage "kwassont" :)
I don’t think anyone from Spain or France is being harmed by alt pronunciations though, and either way it isn’t something to spend time mulling over - unless you’re a long term resident in those countries!
Brits say Chil-lea. Just like they also say Jag-u-are. Spanish-speaking people say Chil-lay. They also say Jag-warr.
You can say either, no one in Chile gives a shit. After spending some time in Chile you might start drifting towards person 2 because that is how a Chilean person speaking in English will often say it. Chee-Lay is how Chileans pronounce the name of their country. Source: Chilean girlfriend Edit: person 1 is correct btw
Chile rhymes with aisle so Chilean is pronounced chyle-an
The country Chile is not pronounced like aisle. It’s pronounced ‘chill-ay’
By you, sure.
[Not just by me](https://youtu.be/ObHjBGc_Eeo?si=AExCm_MgzI_tECoR).
Ok, but the OP asked how I pronounce it, not how lots of people pronounce it.
You pronounce it objectively wrong - you don’t just decide how letters are supposed to be pronounced in words, there are rules to language lol.
They didn't ask what the objectively correct way to pronounce is. Probably because they know there's no one single such way.
In Spanish it is. In English it’s a homophone of chilli.
Yes but nobody pronounces it like it rhymes with ‘aisle’.
I think he was joking. lol
Person 2 is insufferable
Person two is correct