How do you pronounce Champs Elysees?

Hi P,

Go to http://www.naturalvoices.att.com/demos/index.html

Something lke shompelleezay I would suggest with emphasis on the first syllable and the p quite soft.

the "p" is not heard at all. It is difficult for me as a french to imagine how you could say so if I take your "shompelleezay" I would say shozeleezay. I'm not happy with the "sho" so if you can say "chanter" take off the "ter" and you get it!

sorry ira but this website is talking nonsense! nothing to do with french pronunciation.

oops! sorry again it works ONLY if you select the right language! With Alain's in French it is PERFECT!

Hi Coco,

>..it works ONLY if you select the right language! <

Great idea. Try any phrase in various languages.

That is SO funny -- also cool.

As I already know how to pronounce Champs Elysee (for those without javascript enabled computers, it's SHAWnzayleeZAY) I tried the British pronunciation for some distinctive words:

"bath bathroom car serve father thank- you unity united farther career"

What I got sounded like Dr. Who reproaching the Daleks!

Maybe with single words it would not sound so nutty.

OTOH I did get a nice clear German-speaker's version of "schadenfreude", a conversational staple (and a daily reality in my line of work).

Salut ted, ça va bien? super site n'est-ce pas que je range dans mes favoris aussitôt!
Another ira's good idea!

There's quite a good French pronunciation site with sound at
http://tinyurl.com/874t3

Pronounce the following quickly:

"Shawn's. A. Lee. Say."

That's pretty close.

In the IPA, the exact pronunciation is [ʃɑzelize] (but you'll need a Unicode font on your computer to see this correctly).

ira: What a terrific site. Now if Alain would just slow down a bit

(The pre-recorded samples I could follow, but when I put in a sentence he just rattled off)

MissPrism: I couldn't get the Oxford press site - but it just might be my system.

Very, very cool ira.

Merci Everyone!

Ira, Ira, Ira, what would this board do without you?