³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

A weekly guide to names and words in the news, from Catherine Sangster of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Pronunciation Unit.

This week's pronunciation is the name of the president of the European Commission and former Portuguese prime minister, .

We find that Portuguese names sometimes suffer when pronounced by English speakers who are more familiar with the sound of Spanish; such speakers may think they are making the correct sounds, but what they are producing can be very far removed from the Portuguese pronunciation.

Our recommendation for this name (which is as always anglicised in line with our usual policy) is as follows:

zhoo-ZAY man-WELL doo-ROW(NG) buh-ROH-zoo

zh as in measure. ow(ng) is like the diphthong in cow, but the vowel is nasal. There's a sound file of a native Portugese speaker saying the name on .

(For a guide to our phonetic pronunciations, click here)

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