Sally

How do you pronounce "quai"? Thanks

Grasshopper

K

xxx

Are you sure it isn't "key"

xxx

sorry, quay is key

cheche

Like the italian "che". Hope you speak some Italian.

Grasshopper

Che in Italian is also "K" I stick to my original assertion.

Rex

quay (English) is "key" - - but "quai" (French) is much closer to "kay" - - or a hybrid between "kay" and "keh".

We've had this discussion on the sounds of mes, mets, mai and mais before.

You'll do fine with the "kay" sound.

Best wishes,

Rex

Kappa Ti

But in Italian, the letter K is pronounced kappa. So is quai really pronounced kappa?

Grasshopper

Very cute, Kappa.

Capo

So does that mean, in Italy, one orders a quaicinno in the morning? :~)

Grasshopper

What is a quaicinno? You lost me.

Capo

*If* "quai" = "kappa" then...

LietMotiff

Quai can be k or kay or cay. It's not a sound on the river, of course, or what the late marshall called himself. This is being overstudied, naturally. Just give it the AO-K, and drop the Don Jo or caribbean sound portion. K?

kelly

In French, "quai" as in the thing running along the Seine or the thing you stand on before you get onto the metro is pronounced : "kay".

Phil

Sally,

Quai is pronounced "keh". Saying "kay" will instantly give you away as a native English speaker (not that saying "keh" will stave that off an awfully long moment though, or so I supose....;-)).

Phil

zodag

Capo, you have way too much time on your hands.

Arnaud

Phil is right; "quay" is pronouced "keh". C'est comme cela qu'il faut prononcer !

Capo

Speaking of pronounciations...

In addition to the one on London, I also watched a Travel Channel show on Rome last night. The narrator kept pronouncing "pasta" as if it rhymed with "fast-a", not "cost-a."

In the U.S. it seems to be generally prounced as rhyming with "cost-a." Isn't that also the way it's pronounced in Italy?

Maren

My Canadian (Vancouver) friends all say past-a like fast-a. (They also say Mazz-da for the car.) I have always wondered if Italians pronounce it to rhyme with fast-a....

jahoulih

It's a British (and apparently Canadian) quirk. Italians say it to rhyme with "hasta" (as in la vista).