Italian speaking DUers - how do you pronounce Giusi?

[NewJeffCT]

My wife got an email last night about a phone interview for a job that would be closer to home for her, and for a company that has an employee pension plan (her current company does not)... the man that contacted her had his adminstrative assistant email my wife. My wife, for whom English is not her first language, was a bit confused on how to pronounce the name, so she asked me.

But, is the name Giusi pronounced like "Juicy", as in Juicy Fruit?

I kind of laughed, then felt sorry for her having to go through her teen and pre-teen years with that name. It's almost like a stripper name if I'm correct in my pronounciation.

[Momgonepostal]

1. more like Juzy

[stopbush]

3. Yes. "s" between two vowels is a "z" sound.

[Lavender Brown]

2. JOO-see

That's how I'd pronounce it. :shrug:

[Misunderestimator]

4. Yes, what the others said... JOOO ZEE

[KurtNYC]

5. I would say "jee - ew - see"

Pretty close to juicy but a hard "G" and both "i"s pronounced like a long e sound.

Not a native Italian speaker but 2 semesters of italian in college. It is a very regular language. G's are all hard and they pronounce every vowel. EG. Provolone = pro - voh - loh - nay

[Cornus]

11. That would be a SOFT *G*

Both hard and soft G sounds exist in Italian.

From the *Little Italian Pronunciation Guide*:

"g" before "e," "i" as in "general"

gelato formaggio genio finge Giovanni gengive

"g" before "a," "o," "u" as in "goat"

gamba gufo gobbo raccolgo ragazzo

Your suggested pronunciation is close since each vowel should be pronounced, but I think the first and second syllables should be sort of blended.

[SOteric]

6. JOO-zee

[LoZoccolo]

7. gee-yoo-zee

With the "gee" being real short, but still there.

[Misunderestimator]

8. True, but an inaudible difference in comparison to the american "Ju" sound

...since the "u" already has the implied "i" sound preceding it... say Juice then Giusi... exactly the same "iu" sound. The "i" in the Italian makes the "iu" sound and changes the G to a soft "J" sound. Otherwise, it would be "GOOO ZEEE". But in English, the "J" itself makes the "iu" sound when followed by a long U (not Jug or Jungle, but Jew and Juice both have the "iu" sound).

[NewJeffCT]

9. sort of liky the Chinese name Zhu, pronounced like "Jew"

I remember calling a friend of mine at work with that last name - before I knew her last name, and she answered "this is xxx Zhu", and I was thinking, "why is she telling me she's Jewish?" Then, I found out she was Chinese and her last name was Zhu.

[Padraig18]

10. Jee-oo-zee

You're welcome.

:hi:

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

12. Jew-zsee

It's a diminutive of Giuseppina and sometimes it is a proper name by itself.

I went to school with a lot of Giusi classmates

[NewJeffCT]

14. Thanks, and still waiting on this FOIA filings

If you look at the woman's email address, it is from a Giuseppina.

And, we're still waiting on the FOIA requests regarding my wife's green card application. We made one to INS about the green card itself & another to the FBI for the background check.

[ironflange]

13. Whichever way you pronounce it. . .

. . .make sure you wave a hand around while you do it, makes it much more authentic.

[NewJeffCT]

15. I'm half Italian, just don't speak it at all, and neither does my mom

My mom's the Italian one and does not speak it at all. Back when she went to school, it was all about English only.

[ironflange]

16. I'm 100% Ukrainian

Mom and Dad both spoke it well, but I'm hopeless with languages. I can get the gist of a Ukrainian conversation, but that's about it.