Pronunciation: Montreux vs Montreaux. The first one ends with an "euh" sound. The second one ends with an "oh" sound.

So: the jazz festival city, Montreux, ends with the sound euh---it rhymes with the French word for two, "deux." Another close English approximation is that it rhymes with "zoo."

The second name, Montreaux, ends with an "oh" sound, as in Spanish "diablo" or " Italian "molto." Or French "eau" (water).

Sorry to seem nitpicky, my friends. It just drives me nuts when I hear a name mispronounced in the mass media such as TV or radio, because then everyone thinks it's correct. Then when they buy a train ticket to MONTREUX but arrive in MONTREAUX, they wonder what happened.

When I was traveling in France I even wrote down the name Montreux and showed it to the concierge at my hotel who said "mohn-treux" (RHYMES WITH DEUX).

"<i>Sorry to seem nitpicky, my friends. It just drives me nuts when I hear a name mispronounced . . .</i>"

yes - probably 'nitpicky' being is 9 years after the fact :)

I'm sticking to Leghorn and Reems.

actually it's the mangling of german that gets me going - many people who would feel ashamed to mispronounce a french or italian name or word just don't bother when it comes to german.

funny how some threads get revived!

eaux == ö
Very easy.

when we were still in Canada, had an English friend mention 'Salt sta Marie.' Took a while to discover she meant Sault Ste Marie. To those of you who also don't know this town, it's pronounced Soo Saint Marie. One of many reasons I never criticize French pronunciation rules.

<i>eaux == ö</i>

<i>au contraire</i>, its the Montreux without the "a" that would sound like ö.

correction: it<b>'</b>s

yes,
eaux == o
eux == ö

Funny. Since I wrote this, I've been back to Montreux seven times (five times for two weeks), and my tongue still refuses to submit. These days, when I have to say the town's name, I just turn my head and mumble . . .!

s

Err . . . I mean. Since I tagged onto this thread to ask my question.

s