French pronounciation
 

What's the proper pronounciation of:<BR>Place des Vosges?<BR>Thanks!

ploss day voje The sges is pronounced like the j in j'adore

Surely it's Plass day voje<BR>

Maggie, you are right BUT you are also British therefore already pronounce plass with a short a. we americans don't - so you gotta tell us<BR><BR>plahss<BR><BR>:-)

I'll try to remember that anon!<BR>Regards<BR>Maggie

Fair pronunciation comment, anon, and fair guess that Maggie's British, with the .co.uk e-mail address . . . but what makes you think Jay or "we" are Americans?

I used ploss since Americans would pronounce plass to rhyme with pass, mass, crass, etc. plahss is better<BR><BR>Any ideas on how to phonetically spell the soft j sound, as in Jacques, j'adore, etc? American English doesn't really have that sound. The closest I could think of is the sia in amnesia or ambrosia. Any takers?

French books typically cite treasure, measure, pleasure, leisure...<BR><BR>Best wijhiz...<BR><BR>:)<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Observer - isn't the ".com" in the email address a tip off that the writer is in the US?

observer - it is fair to guess that when she wrote 'we americans' she was referring to herself and other americans, whoever they may be, and not referring to the entire fodors group as a whole?<BR><BR>why do you care, just curious?

1. midwestern Americans would pronounce "ploss" the way the French would say "place" -- the "o" is so broad and "flat" there. (First time I went to the movies near Chicago someone asked me if I wanted "hat puppers on my neachos" and it took me a moment to translate to "hot peppers on my nachoes.")<BR><BR>2. dot-com simply refers to a commercial domain, so no, it doesn't automatically mean an American address.<BR><BR>3. To help Americans with the "j'-" sound, try the second "g" in garage -- unless, of course, they pronounce it "garadge." Try "vision" in that case.