Another French pronunciation question -- "x"?
 

Words ending in "x". Paix is pronounced like "pay" in English. Aix as in Aix-les-bains, is pronounced approximately like "ex." My Lonely Planet says Ile d'Aix is prounced like "eel day." Is that correct? I know that the x is pronounced in Gex. I have always left the x unpronounced in Chamonix, but my mother-in-law, who taught French, pronounces it. I am pretty sure the x is pronounced in Asterix. Are there any rules about all this? Help!

Well, you are right that it is pronounce in Asterix. I have an idea that for proper names, the pronunciation is based more on historical reasons than grammatical, and sometimes on where in the country you are....an example I remember (from watching Manon des Sources) is that in the south, some people prononuce the month of August(aout) as 'ah-out', while in Paris (and Quebec) it is 'ah-ou'...but I digress...

Several years ago when I mentioned we spend a week in "Ex", I was severly reprimanded by a French woman who claims she grew up there and it is pronounced "AY", so I guess you never know. I never heard anyone there pronounce it that way and I continue to say "Ex".
And I swear when we stayed in Chamonix, the girl in the hotel actually pronounced the x on the end -- I thought she was trying to pronounce it as she thought it would be in English. That's sometimes the source of confusion.

A in aôut isn't usually pronounced, so it's either ou or u, with the final t barely audible ou:t. And there is no -ay sound in paix; it's pé.

There is no hard-and-fast rule about the final -x: it's either pronounced or silent.

I went on a couple of dates with a French guy from Aix-en-Provence. He said 'Ex', if it's any help.

There are general rules, but they don't apply to place or proper names, so you can't always use them to know. It's often from the origin of the name, meaning, custom, etc. Some names are pronounced differently in different parts of the country, I think (I've heard that bout Cassis).

In this case, I have never heard anyone pronounce Aix as "ay", although I am not familiar with some place named "Ile d'Aix", so don't know. The town in Provence is pronounced "ex" as all towns with Aix in the name I've ever heard of, like Aix-les-Bains (and there are quite a few).

The origin of the word is from Latin, as I've read, aquae sextiae, so you would pronounce the "x" for that reason, I believe.

Aix as in the Bistro Aix in Florida :) is pronounced Ex ( for as long as I can remember)
I used to say "Ay" and was corrected..which is not at all unusual, if you know what I mean ~

one of my favorite things about europe is that regardless of how one mispronounces, everything seems to be understood.

remember that different areas within the same country will frequently have differing pronounciations. this is dialect. also, there are varying idiomatics from region to region.

while it is possible to speak perfect catalan, it is not possible to speak perfect spanish...or french...or german...or, even, english for that matter.

so don't worry about it too much: your effort at trying will be more appreciated than not.

i meant to add...

i would pronounce AIX as ayze with a dimminuation on the ze and nobody has abused me over it yet.

Okay, so is the "x" in Chamonix silent?
As for Ile d'Aix, it is a tiny island off the coast of La Rochelle and Rochefort.

Chamonix - x is silent. That's the standard pronounciation. By standard I mean, on TV and radio, they never say "shamoniks" and the people in Chamonix and its regions almost always (I'm being careful here not to say always-always)pronounce "Shamoni". Rarely I heard people say "shamoniks" but it did happen. Sometimes they say it almost jokingly. Aix-les-Bains is of course like "eks" as it is already clear above.

General rule for x as in most consonants at the end of a word, (But...rules are made to be broken)you would pronounce the x if the following word starts with a vowel. You would not pronounce it if the next word begins with a consonant. It's called making the laison (not sure how that's spelled.) It's not really pronounced separately, but sort of rolled over to the next word.

Aix-en Provence: the x is tacked onto the en and it would sound something like "ek-zahn-provence".

Aix-les-bains would sound something like "ey-lay-ban".

Notice that with the word "les" the same rule applies, "les enfants" would be "lay-zenfant" but "les bain" is "lay ban".

Thank you Mme Bouchet...I still remember a little of what you taught me ;-)

Linda I don't know what you Mrs Mouth told you but : Living in Geneva, Aix-Les-Bains is not far and I have never heard the name of the town pronounced as you say "ey-lay". That's definitely "ex". Also with Aix-en-P., that's "eks-ahn" and there is no z sound. No usual liaison.

I'm interested about what Christina said regarding Aix coming from latin. That may exlain why it's pronounced always ex (or eks) and there is no liaison (s changes to z)in the case of Aix-en-P.

Les-enfans thing is called liaison. You already use the word in Englsih although not for the same meaning, don't you.

And how about Bruxelles? I've always said Broux elle, but read somewhere recently the the "x" is not pronounced as "ex" in this case.

Grandmere: The "x" in Bruxelles is pronounced as an "s".

Ginny
(French is my mother tongue)