You say tchoritso...

[BrillianaHarvey]

...and I say khoritho. Because it's RIGHT. That's how ACTUAL SPANISH PEOPLE say it because it COMES FROM SPAIN.
So why do you look pityingly at me as though I'm some kind of illiterate imbecile, and get me to repeat it, several times, before you say, triumphantly, 'Oh, tchoritso!' like you've just cracked the fucking Enigma Code?
And it crosses my mind, fleetingly, that perhaps my life would have been easier if sometimes I'd chosen to be wrong instead of weird.

My Irish friend pronounces it the American way -croisSANT. Not sure if she may have first encountered them in the states when travelling after college or if that's how it's pronounced in Ireland.

As for the "best Spanish" thing, most of us who are not native speakers and learned Spanish in school/Uni in the UK were taught in materials using a Madrid/Castillian accent at first. It's like when people are learning English, most start with a middle England, neutral accent. You wouldn't expect them to learn with a mix of Geordie, Northern Irish and Australian accent, even though all are correct English.

I wasn't routinely exposed to non-Castillian Spanish accents until Uni level where we looked at more Latin American stuff. Still struggle with someone from Seville speaking very quickly and all the "vos sos" stuff you hear in Argentina. Did my year out in the Basque country and found the Spanish spoken there to be pretty "standard". Basque itself is a totally different ball game. "Agur" to any Euskera speakers.

Don't agree that it's wanky to pronounce chorizo, paella or croissant correctly, or as they would in their country of origin.

My PIL pronounced every fucking thing in a faux French accent because they 'vacationed there'

I have to physically control myself every time they say rest-rong. As in 'shall we get a McDonald's from the drive through or go into the rest-rong?'

I have to physically control myself every time they say rest-rong. As in 'shall we get a McDonald's from the drive through or go into the rest-rong?'

Ha, this reminds of my ex-boyfriend saying the word 'bistro', which always turned into an elaborate production. He was so very proud of his GCSE French...

It was the use of the word latte, that actually means milk, that was the thing.

For the last 15 years ive recollected my friend's nonplussed face and a laughing Italian cafe owner every time I hear the word latte

Surely it isn't actually 'kwassant' though. Firstly the second syllable is more like 'ong'. And secondly, there is a rolled r in the French which is difficult for English people but it's not a w.

I agree that words like croissant, pizza, paella, Ibiza etc have become so absorbed into English that dinosaurs like Delia just sound like my 95 yr old grandmother when they pronounce them wrong. (and Ibiza had been in the Great British awareness for 50 odd years so anyone pronouncing that wrong, really is a dinosaur)

Other words sound knobby when given their furrin-pronunciation but will probably be absorbed into the collective linguistic bank in due course.

While I agree that it's not a good idea to try it in Italy (but then, in the bit of Italy I know best, they think it's weird to have milky coffee at any time other than breakfast anyway), I think most English people know that they're using an abbreviation for 'caffe latte' (can't do accents on phone!) when they say latte. I've never seen a menu that just says latte. I think it's just like saying station for train station or something.

May change my username to TinfoilLatte.

As for the "ch sounds like tch" in the Basque area - partly true, but only with Basque words where tx or tz is "tch". So the Basque word for the local police is Ertzaintza, pronounced roughly err-tchein-tchah. A common Basque surname is Goikoetxea - goy-coh-eh-tchay-ah.

Totally, totally different from Castillian Spanish and unrelated to any other European language.

I think most English people know that they're using an abbreviation for 'caffe latte' (can't do accents on phone!) when they say latte

Disagree - "latte" is the full word for most people. Especially those who don't speak Italian or related languages. Even Costa - the UK's biggest coffee shop chain - refers to it as just a latte on their menu. www.costa.co.uk/our-coffees/

" have Spanish lessons.
CH is pronounced TH in Spain"

You haven't been listening in your Spanish lessons. It's the z that's pronounced like the 'th' in thistle. 'Ch' is pronounced like the 'ch' in church.

To be honest, most Italians wouldn't know what a caffe latte was either. I mean, they'd understand, but the sizing and strength of the coffee would flummox them. Because it would be a cappuccino, or a macchiatto, or an espressino etc.

I think a UK "latte" would actually be a "latte macchiato"

Caffe latte would probably get you a "caffe macchiato"

Who cares?

"Why do people add at t sound to chorizo anyway? If you are saying it English style you'd say a zzzz sound surely?"

They think it might be an Italian word and follow the pattern of pizza (pitza).

"English people tie themselves up in knots to pronounce foreign words properly and think it's horribly uncouth to mispronounce them?"

You're talking of a certain kind of person.
I live in Wales, admittedly, but many of the bar staff are English and here it's the other way around - it's considered pretentious to pronounce something correctly. White wine is blonc with the c pronounced, or even blanc with an 'a' sound.

"Who cares?"

You don't have to be on the tread.

But can you pronounce Llanelli???

I can speak Spanish and I came on to correct op's "authentic" pronunciation but I see that has already been done.

I usually just pronounce foreign words in the English style in The UK just to avoid confusion. I see no point in using the correct pronunciation (if I know it) if no one can bloody understand me!

Having said that I had a debate with dh over the pronunciation of Pfizer the other day. He say fizer whereas I say pfightzer. In my defence though I don't think I have ever heard anyone say Pfizer before.

On the level of ridiculous, my daughter's school was about 80% Spanish speaking Mexican, and the only foreign language class they offered (required to graduate) was Castilian Spanish. Utterly bizarre.

My daughter's boyfriend is Spanish/English bilingual and honestly his pronunciation of some words involves sounds that I literally can't reproduce. I'd rather make a fool of myself by knowingly saying it wrong than make a fool of myself trying unsuccessfully to get it right. (Which means doing things like not rolling my Rs, not things like substituting a completely wrong vowel sound.)

It might be how the spanish pronounce a word but if you're not spanish then why would that be your justification?

It's like when people say 'Pareee' instead of Paris.

You might say it like that but saying that is because it's how the spanish says it isn't a valid enough argument.

For the record I say tchoreeetho

Who cares?

Possibly you, if you were in Italy looking forward to a milky coffee. Obviously if you were at home in your English speaking country asking for a latte you'd get what you get what you'd been hoping for. But then again if you were in your English speaking country asking for chorizo you'd be understood if you didn't say it in the word exact same way it's said in some part of Spain (which ever part is the purest natch).

Oh, you're right, tinfoil - I am both wrong and very unobservant because I walk through a big Costa to get my train most days, so I obviously have seen it on menus!