# Letra J



## thaliafan

I always thought that 'j' in catalan was pronounces like the english 'j', for example, when I was watching a Spanish music program on TVE last month, they introduced a singer called Joan Tena with a hard J. However, when listening to my 'Colloquial Catalan' cassette, they say jo sóc with the spanish j, otherwise 'ho' soc. Can someone please tell me what's right?

Thanks,

thaliafan


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## Mei

Hi there,

The "j" in catalan most sound like the one heard of "Joan". 

Mei


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## Outsider

I believe the J of Catalan is pronounced like the French J -- not exactly the same as the English J, which is pronounced "DJ".

P.S. You can type words or phrases here, and listen to their pronunciation.


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## betulina

Yes, Outsider is right. The Catalan J is like the French one. The English one is too "hard", but it's not big deal if you pronounce it as in English. 
What shocks me is that you heard a Spanish J in your cassette.  Catalan does not have this sound -although we can pronounce it because of Spanish and we use it when we say Spanish words when speaking Catalan. But "jo" is by no means a Spanish word. Really wierd... 

Oh, come to think of it, "jo" is a tricky word to pronounce. Well, not tricky, actually, only that many of the speakers say "io" (or "yo", in fact) instead of a J. Both pronunciations are accepted. Maybe you heard that...?


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## thaliafan

yeah i did!  sorry, just heard it. thank for your help!


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## betulina

So they say "io"? Good to know, that's a relief!  

You are very welcome to ask us whatever you need!


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## panjabigator

so its kind of like a "zh" sound found in Farsi?  Is it the same pronounciation as in the word "je" from French?


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## betulina

panjabigator said:
			
		

> so its kind of like a "zh" sound found in Farsi?  Is it the same pronounciation as in the word "je" from French?


Hi panjabigator!

I'm afraid I have no notion of Farsi, but yes, it's the same as in French, or, at least, very close. Yes, look, that's what I found at Wikipedia:

In French former dʒ is now pronounced as [ʒ] (as in English _measure_).  In Portuguese, Turkish, Azeri and Tatar J is always prounced [ʒ]. 

In Catalan is pronounced like that.


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