[XeTeX] Pronunciation of "XeTeX" in various languages

[Cyril]

On 22 févr. 07, at 07:43, Robert Spence wrote:

>
> On 21 Feb 2007, at 21:44 , Bruno Voisin wrote:
>
>> Thinking about it a bit more, I would say you're right: x is usually
>> pronounced /gz/, as in "exercice", while /ks/ would rather be written
>> cc, as in "accessoire". A notable exception is the Greek letter xi,
>> pronounced as /ksi/, but usually the transliteration "ksi" is used in
>> French texts instead of the ISO "xi".
>>
>> My dictionary, though, says the same as yours: for some words it's /
>> gz/, and for others /ks/. I must admit I've never heard the second
>> used, but it may be just a matter of having trained ears. I know some
>> people who tell there's a difference in the ways "brun" and "brin"
>> are pronounced, but I never noticed any myself.
>
> My mother was taught at highschool in Australia in the early 1940s
> that there was a difference, but my highschool teachers there in the
> late 1960s told me there was no difference.  At university I was told
> that (strictly speaking) my mother's teachers had been right, not
> mine.  I think the difference has died out everywhere except on the
> stage, so your native-speaker feeling is right and my university
> lecturers were pedants.

Well, I must side with your pedant university lecturers, and I'm a  
native French speaker, from Lausanne. I pronounce xénophobe [ks],  
xylophone [gs] as well as Xavier. I also hear and pronounce the  
difference between "un" et "vin", "brun" et "brin".
But it is regional and the differences between [œ̃]  and [ɛ̃]  
(respectively  œ  and ɛ with tilde in case they do not come out  
right) have dissapeared in Paris, much like the difference between  
[a] and [ɑ] (patte pâte).
I say (in my head anyway, I also haven't had the oppurtunity to  
discuss XeTeX with many people other than online) XeTeX almost like  
Bruno, ie [ksetek]. Why do you pronounce it [kz] Bruno ?
Cyril