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How do you pronounce the letter "Z" ?

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  • Zedd/Zett

  • See

Results are only viewable after voting.

Tender Branson

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We here in Austria and the rest of the German-speaking world pronounce it as "zett", but I have heard Americans pronounce is as "see".

So, C and Z are pronounced the same by Americans.

Now I wonder if this is the same for all English-speakers, or just Americans, and why would you pronounce 2 letters the same way ?

And do you think Americans and other English-speakers should change pronounciation to "zett" or the more softer "zedd" too, like we Germans ?
 
C and Z are not pronounced the same in the US. Your German speaking ear dose not hear the difference.

I have a question for you. Why would you put a hard consonant at the end of the Z pronunciation? What other letter in the alphabet is like that?
 
'Zee'. Most Americans pronounce it 'Zee'. Not 'See'.
Apparently some Appalachian hillbilly's still use the British 'Zed', as in...
"Who's Zed?"
"Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead."
 

I've never once heard an American pronounce Z as see. Never in my life.

Its pronounced Zee. Zed in Canada eh.
 
So, you Americans are hissing the Z like a snake, but not the C, or something like that ?

And do the British still pronounce it Zett ?
 
Tender Branson said:
What's the difference between C and Z spellings ?
Click to expand...
c , before e, i , or y MUST make the /s/ sound. In all other cases c must make the /k/ sound.

Z may make it's own sound, and occasionally make the /s/ sound, and in suffixes it may sound like /sh/ , but never is used to make the /k/ sound.
 



WTF it is ZEE.
 
soap box said:
c , before e, I, or why MUST make the /s/ sound. In all other cases c must make the /k/ sound.

Z may make it's own sound, and occasionally make the /s/ sound, and in suffixes it may sound like /sh/ , but never is used to make the /k/ sound.
Click to expand...
You forgot about the C in Chicago.
 
Zed.

In related alphabet news, there are parts of Scotland that don't pronounce 'J' as 'Jay' but 'Jie' as in 'pie'.
 
PeacefulWarrior said:
I've never once heard an American pronounce Z as see. Never in my life.

Its pronounced Zee. Zed in Canada eh.
Click to expand...
I never heard of the "Zed" pronunciation of Z until I was watching the TV Series Stargate SG1 and heard the character Rodney McKay speaking about the ZPM modules and it was made an issue how Canadian's and Americans pronounce Z.
 
justoneman said:
You forgot about the C in Chicago.
Click to expand...
That's a different phonogram that has three sounds
/Ch/ like chess
/K/ like in mechanic
Or /sh/ like in machine
 
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