How Do You Pronounce “Teixeira”?
Perhaps one of the most difficult things for both native and non-native speakers of English to get right is the pronunciations of someone’s last name. English spelling, as you know, is not always easy to match to a pronunciation. The problem is even more acute (serious) in the United States, where there are people who come from all over the globe (world) and who bring their own non-English names.
The rule in the United States is that (usually) you can pronounce your name however you’d like, even if it doesn’t seem to “match” the spelling. This is very different from other countries and languages, where the rules for pronunciation leave little room for variation. But in the US, perhaps because of our individualist spirit, you can pronounce your name however you want to. In fact, sometimes people in the same family pronounce their common last names differently! (I know a couple of cases of this.) There is no “right” or “wrong” way to pronounce most last names, although of course there are more common and less common ways. The differences can be with the vowels, the consonants, and/or the syllable(s) stressed.
Differences in pronunciation can also depend on the person you are talking to, and if you are talking in English or another language. One professor in Florida found that many of his students had dual (two) pronunciations: one version for their family (often in their home language), and another anglicized (made to sound like English) version for school and work. You will often see the pronunciation of unusual last names given in newspaper articles, especially if it does not seem to follow the expected pronunciation pattern.
You really can’t be completely sure how a name is pronounced unless you talk to the person who uses it – especially for last or family names. Unfortunately, there are more than six million different last names in the United States, so it is unlikely you will be able to get all of them correct! Don’t worry about making mistakes, however. Even native speakers make mistakes about last names and place names (streets, cities, etc.). When I first moved to Los Angeles almost 20 years ago, I pronounced the name of a famous street here, Wilshire Boulevard, “WILL-shy-er,” with the last syllable having a long “i” as in “tie” or “pie.” But someone corrected me and said, no, it is pronounced “WILL-shur,” with the last syllable sounding like “sure.” There is no rule that can help you with that sort of problem. You just need to hear it.
Fortunately, there are now websites that will help you pronounce difficult last names and place names in English, and even let you listen to the correct pronunciation. One is called PronounceNames.com, which is organized by a woman from India who had difficulty pronouncing place names when she first moved to the United States several years ago. You can go to the site and look up words, although their database is not complete. You can also add pronunciations of names that you know how to say. (I just added “Wilshire” for all the other people who come to LA and get it wrong!)
Even when you think you have figured out a “rule” for certain names, sometimes you will still be wrong. For example, here in California, there are many place names that are from Spanish, such as Los Angeles, San Jose, San Pedro, etc. We “anglicize” the pronunciation of many of these, but not all. “Los Angeles” is anglicized (the “g” is soft instead of hard, as it is in Spanish), but “San Jose” is not (the “j” is hard, not soft as it could be in English). San Pedro is pronounced “San PEE-dro” and not “San PEH-dro” as it is in Spanish. All very confusing, I know.
~Jeff
P.S. So how do you pronounce “Teixeira,” which is the name of a famous baseball player in the United States (first name: Mark)? Teh-SHARE-uh. Now you can impress your friends.
April 30th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Well this is very confusing for me, for instance the word insurance, I have heard its pronunciation with the stress in the “I” or “U” and I don’t know what is correct, I guess that it depends on the state or province, since the same word may be pronuounced different depending on the region.
I have seen some electronic translator/dictionaries (Casio, Franklyn) that have the function of pronunciation ¿Jeff, do you think they are good help?
Tks Jeff for yr interesting comment
Rodrigo
April 30th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Jeff and I want to thank everyone for their patience as we made changes to the blog in order to make it more stable and easier for us to approve your comments more quickly. We really appreciate our regular readers, including those who take the time to comment. This blog wouldn’t be the same without all of you.
Thanks for “hanging in there” (staying with us)!
~ Lucy
April 30th, 2009 at 10:22 am
well…. the topic is really interesting and perhaps, very dificult to put up with since they are words (names) that came from others country and which one anyone else can give ot them their own pronunciation…. Perhaps I prefer to stick to tons of commom english words that we already got with so many defferences between their spellings and pronouncings and so on.
the bottom line is to make sure you listen first any word that you are doubt with its pronounciation, before you try to figure out it how to do it upon in your own language rules…. cause it’s what really happen when you bump into a new and never seen word in english.
stay calm and try to listen all those previous eslpod that you haven’t heard yet… for sure, you going to be surprise by recognizing any of your wierd words that you got doubt with it.
doctor jeff and lucy, thanks a lot for your efforts in providing us with such good work;
best regards,
preto.
April 30th, 2009 at 11:31 am
I agree with you Jeff. Is very confusing. In fact the entire English language is confusing (I’m talking about pronunciation, of course), at least for me.
In English there are many words which can pronounce of diferent form, for example “either”, “neither”, “Caribbean” and much more that I can’t remember now but I have heard in different episodes of “English Cafe”. I’m sure that natives remember a lot of them
I’m Spaniard and as you’ll guess my mother tongue is Spanish. I know, or rather I think, that Spanish language is more difficult to learn than English, as regards its grammar, although, as far as its pronunciation concerned is very simple because each letter is pronounced of the same way however there is a few exceptions but they are very few.
Thus, the most difficult of English language for me is to understand when someone is speaking.
This is my goal now, that’s why I’m hearing all of your ESL Podcast and English Café.
Regards.
April 30th, 2009 at 11:58 am
For me every english person speaks different from the other beside he or her and doesn’t matter which words they are talking about, that is the real problem to people that write and pronounce in the same way as we spaniards do.
In our lenguage once we learn how to read or write eveything is easy because you may write a word as soon as you hear it whithout knowing nothing about its meaning the only problem would be if it is with v or b, g or j, h or without h or with acent or without it.
But English?.
First I was so intrigate that all people said “spell it please” but very soon I could knew why, and it has been my heavy burden till now that I can understand a little much better…thank you Jeff, thank you Lucy…you have taken a big burden off me.
April 30th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
The name’s pronunciation is so difficult!
I remember the first time I came to Los Angeles, I asked somebody about the flight but I called LA by the spanish pronunciation …. they didn’t know what I was talking about.
Also when somebody calls my last name I’m not sure if they are calling me or not.
April 30th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Hi Jeff,
Somebody corrected you! Vow,It is huge. Man, I thought ,you never go amiss.
Here, In Canada, People have the same problem. By that I mean ,There are many places and cities that have saved their Original Indian names,and sometimes impossible to pronounce them right.
Speaking of which, you Definitely know, Toronto and Ottawa both are Indian names.One of them means a big village and the other one defined as an assembly place for the heads of tribes. I guess toronto means a big village
April 30th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Lucy, You don’t need a reason;you don’t need to explain yourself. In fact,thank you for the insight and knowledge you have extended to us through the well written transcripts of yours. . ( I like the punctuation part the best)
I have been learning English via you guys.
Thanks a million,
May 1st, 2009 at 11:43 pm
yes peter your right… thank you lucy and jeff
hi Lucy can you please tell me how or the ways we can express QUESTIONS…..
I even don’t know how to ask a question..
I don’t know how to use when why what… maybe you may not know what i am talking about..
sometimes peoples use what or why or how at the beginning of the question…
I wanted to know when we have to use these…
I hope you will get it what I am trying to ask.
please forgive me… I am weak in English and trying my level best.
May 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Hi Jeff
Teixeira is prononced : T-e-i-sh-e-i-r-a.
Remenber that in Spanish
“e” is not “i”, but “e” – Eduard
“i” is not “ai”, but “i” – Itali
“a” is not “ei”, but “a” – Los Angeles
I hope that my little collaboration will be interesting.
All the best for ESL Podcast Blog Team.
San Sebastian, Spain
May 2nd, 2009 at 9:58 am
I agree with you.I think pronunciation is one of the most difficult part in english language.
I always have this problem when i read magazines and books and so forth.If i see strange words i can listen to their pronunciation in my electronic dictionary, but i can’t figure out how to pronounce names and place names because they aren’t available in dictionaries.
finally i want to thank you and Lucy for clear pronouncing.
Regards.
Reza from Iran.
May 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Teixeira is a comun surname in my mother language, wich is Português. Jose Maria is right and his explanantion is very good. I’ll just break the world is small pieces, or sílabas, as we said in Português: TEI – SHEI- RA. As Jose said, “E” is not “I”, is “E”= E*dward or e*lse. “I” is not “AI”, is like “I*magine”. Finally, the letter “R” alone, has an weak sound, like “Re*member” in English, not as the letter “H” in English. I know it seems a little confused but for us, Latin people, is so simples..*hahaha*, as Inglês is easy to Americans and hard to us.
ps: English Podcast is the best site to teach English. I love you Jeff and Lucy.
Patricia – Brazil
May 2nd, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Hello, jeff, I’m interesting this topic.
I think English pronunciation is difficult. And many Japanese have the same trouble.
Kanji (the character is used in Japan) is not always easy to match to a pronunciation.
So many Japanese always mistake a pronunciation.
How about a pronunciation symbol instead of a character all over the world?
May 3rd, 2009 at 2:24 am
Hi ! I am so glad to communicate again ! I missed much your opinions and the breeze of gaiety .
All the best for you all ,
Tania
May 3rd, 2009 at 7:30 pm
hi Lucy,
when i read first your last name, i thought it pronounced should be like Su, in Chinese pinyin. after repeating many times by dear Jeff, i know it’s a different way to pronounce your last name. however, m still wonderling if we share the same last name in writen way?
i dont know if i remember right that today is your birthday“`
i wish our sweet Lucy a Happy Birthday“`and hope you will get drunk by the sweet birthday cake“`
lalalalala
May 4th, 2009 at 1:52 am
I have got an Oxford American Dictionary including the Pronunciation Key , an Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language and an English – Romanian Dictionary with different pronunciation keys .
For instance the word “motel ” :
[moh-tel] – American
[motel] – English
[moutel] – Romanian
I can read no word from the American Dictionary as I do not know the pronunciation key .
Thank you for the website address “PronounceNames.com” . We need to use it .
Tania
May 4th, 2009 at 6:38 am
This is really tricky!! I think it applies even to given names sometimes. For instance, the way u English speakers pronounce “Adriana” is beautiful but has nothing or little to do with the original pronunciation. As far as i know Adriana comes from Latin and its a regular name in Italy, Brazil and Romania mostly, so its pretty tricky for an English speaker to pronounce. When i watch American movies i always catch myself trying to figure out the pronunciation of (not so famous) actors (at the end of the movie). I always get very frustrated cause i have no clue on some of them.
This website came in handy, it will be of great help indeed! One last thing. I always had hard times understanding how Americans pronounce certain words but after listening to Dr. McQuillan’s pronunciation, everything became so clear. The way he pronounces the words (slowly and perfectly clear) has been helping me to improve my English a lot! Thanks so much and keep up the wonderful job! 
May 4th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Sorry, ESL team, I don´t see a Post where to send Lucy all our wishes of happiness by her birthday, so this one is a good place to:
WISH YOU LUCY A VERY HAPPY BIRTH DAY FULL OF LOVE AND HEALTH, HAVE PLENTY OF GIFTS AND SPEND A GOOD TIME WITH ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY.
I know you are a girl, so I think you have many years to enjoy every day of your life, please do it and we all your pupils would be happy if you did, we can say you are the one of all the teachers we had.
Emiliano from Spain.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Hi Jolly-good-fellow Lucy,
Happr birthday ,
I know it is sad to be one year older ,I am on that with you , But on the bright side, you have grown on year wiser . I wish you a very joyfull ,and prosperous year.
As far as I am concerned, Happiness is not a word ;it is a state of mind. May our dear mentor lucy be overwhelmed by it in another beginning she is about to embarke upon. thanks for the wisdom ,thanks for the knowledge,and thanks for the insight you shared with us last year and years before.
Thanks that a word from you is a boon to me,education wise.
P.S. sorry for my terrible spelling mistakes . The thing is ,generally I am good at English my only acellies heel is speaking,writting,listening ,and comprehention combined togethr. Who am I kidding ; my dry sense of hummour ,unlike Jeff, does not get me anywhere
Lucy,believe you me, I was gonna get you a greate gift ,I could not think of any since nothing could match with the great
May 4th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Please overlook all my mistakes this time around . I was pressed for time. Youn know what ,through no fault of my own, my ignorance of English language catches up to me sometimes.
May 4th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Sorry, Jeff sense of humour is great. Sorry for the honest mistakes . I fell short this time ,big time. I m patrified
Such a coincidence
I am just listening to you Jeff in the cafee 187 you are ansewring to my question regarding face value . Thanks for the response ,but you said before you answer that you dont know where I was from .And that You assumed I am from Mars. Give ma a break man, I am form your neighbouring country, but Originally Iran.
This time is funny , that is for sure
May 4th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
past year and years before
Acellies heel are
May 4th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Today only I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!! Dr. Lucy and thanks for all.
May 4th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Happy birthday Lucy, have a great time with your family and friends
and, in ‘spanish’ pronunciation: japi berzdei (jiji) ¡¡¡¡¡ feliz cumpleaños !!!!!!
May 5th, 2009 at 6:40 am
I had a very nice birthday, all the more because of your good wishes. Thank you all for your kind messages!
~ Lucy
May 8th, 2009 at 5:04 am
I’m a Brazilian speech therapist and the name Teixeira is a very common name in my coutry.
If you have dificult to pronounce this name, follow the tips:
Tei = use the expression “hey” and replace the “h” with “t”
xei = use de sound of the “sh”, for exeple, in the word “shoulder” – like this “shey”
ra = you have to vibrate the tongue to pronounce the “r” adding the sound of the last “a” of the word “camera” (this is a Latin sound).
So … it will be something like this:
TEYSHEYRA
I hope you have enjoyed this tips.
Best regards,
Fernanda
Brazil
May 10th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Hi Jeff!
I love you!!! I was wondering if there is any website like this, and you gave me the address. Thanks a lot.
Best
Mohammad
May 12th, 2009 at 3:56 am
Hello Jeff!
Thank you for your explanation. Since there’s no rules in it, I just want to ask whether it is embarrasing (and how much) to mispronounce someone’s name or surname. And if it’s better to ask about it in advance or just try to guess it. I mean especially in more formal conversation e. g. with your bussines partners.
Lenka
October 25th, 2009 at 11:48 am
hi all!! thank you for this blog that you yook time out to write…as you can tell from my surname {above} , it is “TESHEIRA” and it was indeed derived from “TEIXEIRA”. I often wondered if i was pronouncing it correctly {i pronounced it like “TEE-SHEE-RAH”}, and now im thrilled to know the correct pronounciation
.I have always known my last name was portuguese and my ancesters were also. even though I am Black and I am From The U.S Virgin Islands, I got my last name from my Father who is from St.Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean, and I was told that my ancesters came from SOme spanish speaking country as slaves, and made children with the locals there, and so on and so forth…..Is this story in any way plausable??