portuguese pronunciation

[citoyen]

Any Portuguese speakers able to verify the correct pronunciation of the place name Cascais?

I've been given 'cash-kye' but my gut feeling is that the final S should be pronounced. I could be wrong!

[T42]

When I was there I heard it as "cash-cysh" with an intonation I could never reproduce.

[Ham]

I would say the last s is more of an sh sound, but as T42 says, there is unique Portuguese way that - as far as I can hear - is actually pronouncing each letter, but in such a manner that it sound like a dipthong. Almost.

Kah-s-kah-ih-sh is how I would do it. (ETA elided without the pauses indicated by the dashes)

Eg, Coimbra, the nearest big town to where my shit-for-brains BiL&SiL have retired to. They think it is supposed to be pronounced Queem-brough, which actually isn't a bad approximation of what it should sound like: Koh-eem-bra said so it almost sounds like, well, queembrough

[Samuel D]

Certainly you pronounce the ‘s’ at the end. The type and amount of ‘h’ you add to the ending (per T42) depends on where you’re from in Portugal, Brazil, or Africa. Source: lived in Brazil for many years.

[grams]

I've been there with my Portuguese native friend. There's a definite sh on the end and only a little bit of sh in the middle, so more like cass-kaish.

[Greenbank]

so more like cass-kaish.

That's my memory from going there on honeymoon.

(Stayed at Farol, way too trendy for us.)

Palácio Nacional da Pena in nearby Sintra is a must see if you're in the area. We stayed a couple of nights at the Tivoli Palácio de Seteais - bonkers place for the price we paid (under £80 a night).

We spoke no Portuguese beyond hello/please/thank-you/etc but found that speaking Spanish slowly and with a lisp would get us understood in most places (after trying limited Portuguese obviously).

[citoyen]

Kah-s-kah-ih-sh is how I would do it. (ETA elided without the pauses indicated by the dashes)

so more like cass-kaish.

That's my memory from going there on honeymoon.

Thanks, all. You've pretty much confirmed what I thought. I think between these two versions I can come up with something that works on paper.

(Stayed at Farol, way too trendy for us.)

Palácio Nacional da Pena in nearby Sintra is a must see if you're in the area. We stayed a couple of nights at the Tivoli Palácio de Seteais - bonkers place for the price we paid (under £80 a night).

We spoke no Portuguese beyond hello/please/thank-you/etc but found that speaking Spanish slowly and with a lisp would get us understood in most places (after trying limited Portuguese obviously).

I've been to Lisbon but didn't get further west than Belém while I was there. I'd love to go back and see more of the country. My experience is that the Portuguese seem like lovely people but all utterly bonkers.</national stereotype>

[Pingu]

Cascase... No, CASCASE... No, CASCASE...