Re:Girl, 10, finds rare Mexican axolotl under Welsh bridge
by foldr on Friday April 24, 2026 @09:37AM
(#47890105)
There aren’t any hard and fast rules about how to pronounce loan words. I agree on that point. In your original post, though, you seemed to be entirely dismissing the option of pronouncing the word according to an English approximation of its native pronunciation, which is an approach that’s equally valid (and is what English speakers often do for quite a few words).
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Re:Girl, 10, finds rare Mexican axolotl under Welsh bridge
by fluoridation on Friday April 24, 2026 @10:37AM
(#47890917)
>In your original post, though, you seemed to be entirely dismissing the option of pronouncing the word according to an English approximation of its native pronunciation,
When a pronunciation is already widespread, yes. "Axolotl" is not some new word; lots of people know the animal and call it "aksolotl". If we were talking about, say, some obscure Chinese village that suddenly became very relevant in the English-speaking world, I would not insist to pronounce the pinyin spelling of its name as if it was an English word.