DISQUS

Dylan · 10 months ago

Paella is one of those "last supper" foods at the top of my list. There's this quality saffron rice which, ever since my first tasting, has proven to be irresistible to my taste. I'll have to thank the Moors for this dish which has filled and crossed generations of empty stomachs.

carlos · 10 months ago

Hehe!
Funny to read a stupidity such as "But it�s just not always appropriate to jump in with pedantic corrections,..."
Pedantic? You may mean "analphabetic"!
The only correct pronounciation of "paella" (and of any word including an "ll"), uses neither your "l" nor your "y", but the approximant lateral phoneme represented by a lambda.
It is true that many illiterate spanish speakers, and also many immigrants coming from Latin America use "y" and "ll" irrespectively of their correct pronounciation.
That's ok. All languages change with time and use. Probably it has to be accepted even if empoverishes the language.
But.....pretending to be pedantic by claiming for PAEYA????
Funny indeed!!!
Besides, great and inspiring article on paeLLa. Made me feel hungry.....

Ivan · 10 months ago

Carlos,

As I am sure that you are aware, the English language does not use the lambda as a symbol of pronunciation - this link provides a list of the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols that apply to English: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba/phon/learnipa.html.

Rather than explore in detail the somewhat erudite (and for the layperson rather uninteresting) topic of phonetics, my goal was to provide an easily accessible approximation of the acceptable English pronunciations of the word ‘paella’: I certainly didn’t expect that I would cause any offense.

wiljak · 10 months ago

Try living with a Valenciana! So far it has taught me too things - one, there is no such thing as paella outside of Valencia (the others are just "rice dishes") and two, tio Enrique can put whatever the hell he wants in a paella and it will still be authentic!

Janine · 10 months ago

Oh, to be able to eat a paella whever you want...

ValenciaSon · 10 months ago

Why anglicize the pronunciation just because one is speaking in English? It sounds so off and tourist-tacky to hear paella pronounced paela.

Ivan · 10 months ago

ValenciaSon - I agree that, at least in theory, there's no need to anglicize Spanish words, but it's not always easy for people to pronounce words from other languages. In English, for example, I still reel at the pronunciation of 'worchestire' and can't imagine how others cope.

And of course there are so many names that take on different forms. I remember my first Spanish girlfriend getting quite miffed that the English had a name for the Río Tajo - Tagus River. And as much as I have embraced the Spanish version of my name - Iván - I never could call my friend, Ricardo, 'Richard'.

Actually, I haven't met a Spaniard yet who can pronounce my name the way I do. Fair enough - I can't roll an 'r' after an 's' to save my life.

Las risas siempre me siguen...