is it Lorenzo or Lorentho

numerous local interpretations ?

i listened to cocks on the bbc he's been saying hector barbera



bar-bear-ra



lorenZo or George lawrence is easier

Speed commentators are stupid. Don't listen to them, it will actually make you dumber.

Jumkie said:

Speed commentators are stupid. Don't listen to them, it will actually make you dumber.

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I haven't watched a race on Speed in years, and look where its gotten me!





And for the record I thought it was Lorentho, Hore gay Loren tho.

I noticed that too, it was driving me nuts. Speed commentators are usually best enjoyed on mute. Every once and a while we get lucky and they will give us the British guys.

In castillian spanish you pronounce the sound of "zo" as "tho" with a little lisp sound (with your tounge between your teeth). The Spaniards seem to be very proud of this "dialect" like pronunciation difference and I have to say it makes it distinct and very pleasing when heard in person. It makes it stand out from Caribbean and Latin American Spanish. So some of the guys, announcers, are trying to sound cultured by pronouncing it Loren"tho" like a "real" Spaniard would. I think they're trying a bit to hard personally. I doubt even that Jorge pronounces it like that. I would love to hear a true Spaniard say it for the record.

For the Spaniards on the board forgive me if this is an oversimplification of linguistics as it relates to your native tongue.

Here's a better explanation for those that are interested. I stole it from about.com........





Question: I was looking for information on the history/origin of Castilian Spanish and King Ferdinand. I was told (by my instructor, who is Cuban) this was because the King spoke with a lisp and all the people then copied him.



Answer: It's a great story, but it's just that: a story. More precisely it's an urban legend, one of those stories that is repeated so often that people come to believe it. Like many other legends, it has enough truth (some Spaniards indeed do speak with something resembling a lisp, at least to those who accustomed to the pronunciation of Latin American Spanish) to be believed, provided one doesn't examine the story too closely. (In this case, looking at the story more closely would make one wonder why Spaniards don't also pronounce the letter s with a so-called lisp.)



The fact is that all living languages evolve. And when one group of speakers is separated from another group, over time the two groups will part ways and develop their own peculiarities in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. Just as U.S. English differs from British English (both of which differ from Canadian and South African English, among others), so does the Spanish of Spain and various Latin American countries. Even within one country, including Spain, you'll hear regional variations in pronunciation. And that's all we're talking about with the "lisp." Some people in Spain (and even in a few parts of South America) pronounce the letter z roughly the same as the English "th" of "tooth," while others pronounce is like an "s." It's not a lisp; it's just a difference in pronunciation.



There isn't always a specific explanation of why language changes in the way it does. But there is a plausible explanation given for this change, according to a graduate student who wrote to this site after this question and answer were first published. Here's what he said:



"As a graduate student of the Spanish language and a Spaniard, being confronted with people who 'know' the origin of the 'lisp' found in most of Spain is one of my pet peeves. I have heard the 'lisping king' story many times, even from cultured people who are native Spanish speakers, though you will not hear it come from a Spaniard.



"Firstly, the ceceo is not a lisp. A lisp is the mispronunciation of the sibilant s sound. In Castilian Spanish, the sibilant s sound exists and is represented by the letter s. The ceceo comes in to represent the sounds made by the letters z and cfollowed by i or e.



"In medieval Castilian there were two sounds that eventually evolved into the ceceo, the ç (the cedilla) as in plaça and the z as in dezir. The cedilla made a /ts/ sound and the z a /dz/ sound. This gives more insight into why those similar sounds may have evolved into the ceceo."

Gator is Right Spanish can be spoken very different East coast spanish (mainly carribean and South american) is way different than west coast spanish (mexican and Central american) and both are completly Different from the spanish spoken in Spain. Being that im fluent in spanish i can get away with talking to central americans in their Style and Mexicans in their style aswell Both are very Different once you throw in the slang words. But if I try and talk to a cuban im completely lost those dudes speak a million words a minute and the Spanish people can confuse me at times but i can hold my conversations. Being that I mainly speak English now I love to see Spanish speaking people fighting with others over who's Dialect is the Correct one (everyone thinks theres is the right one) i just like tripping out on them. For the record 99% on the west coast would pronounce it Lorenzo (zo) as i do too. if me or any of my spanish speaking friends pronounced it lorentho we'd consider ourselves ....! The Brits pronounce the names funny like Jacob smertz sounds like ....... smertz I also like the way Rossi calls Jorge Yor Ge

I live in Zaragoza, Spain. Many maps from outside Spain spell it Saragossa. But like you said, it is the "th" sound and not the "s."

Spanish GP commentators do pretty good with pronouncing the rest of the international riders names. At least all the latin country names, so most.

What we get here is Ben "e-Spies" or Bradley "e-Smith." Our football/soccer commentators really butcher northern european names. Too bad you can't

hear me type Lorenzo, it sound pretty good. Just don't think of me as a cute olive skin dark hair lady saying it!

I think it may depend on which part of spain your from.

when i went to valencia i pronounced it val enc ia but was corrected by the locals. It's actually pronounced Bal en thia. Same with lorenzo's first name. Is it Horhay, horgay, george ??

baturro said:

I live in Zaragoza, Spain. Many maps from outside Spain spell it Saragossa. But like you said, it is the "th" sound and not the "s."

Spanish GP commentators do pretty good with pronouncing the rest of the international riders names. At least all the latin country names, so most.

What we get here is Ben "e-Spies" or Bradley "e-Smith." Our football/soccer commentators really butcher northern european names. Too bad you can't

hear me type Lorenzo, it sound pretty good. Just don't think of me as a cute olive skin dark hair lady saying it!

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Good tunes come from Zaragoza! Los heroes and enrique bunbury who I might go see this Saturday in Hollywood

Geez Gator, I feel educated now. I had always thought it was the king-lisp thingy.

i noticed the same too on Al Jazeerah sports! for the first time the commentator decided to call him Lorentho, and also called Jerez, hereth. i thought it was herez. all commentators are damn sheep, haha. i hope Jeremy Clarkson doesn't decide to start saying Lambor-genie or Bujaati

It is the th version. My wife speaks Cuban which basically means she talks .... all day.



What's up with Qatar. I always thought it was ca tar but now I hear it pronounced cutter

JohnnyKnockdown said:

It is the th version. My wife speaks Cuban which basically means she talks .... all day.



What's up with Qatar. I always thought it was ca tar but now I hear it pronounced cutter

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the ......... pronounce it cutter and the idiots pronounce it gutter.



its as you thouight Ca-tar

The California Kid said:

. Being that I mainly speak English now I love to see Spanish speaking people fighting with others over who's Dialect is the Correct one (everyone thinks theres is the right one) :

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The cubans are the only ones that openly admit that their version of spanish is akin to what ebonics is to english.

The Puerto Ricans naturally feel their way of speaking is bigger badder and bester than everyone else's (Reekans are just dark Texans)

Hmmm. My dad is part-Spanish and he pronounces the name HorHe LorenZo.



OT: His older brother's named Jorge as well and everybody calls him George also.

JohnnyKnockdown said:

The cubans are the only ones that openly admit that their version of spanish is akin to what ebonics is to english.

The Puerto Ricans naturally feel their way of speaking is bigger badder and bester than everyone else's (Reekans are just dark Texans)

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I hear the Argentinians says their spanish is the correct one to the Spaniards.











.

Check out what the man himself says (lorentho):



http://www.youtube.com/user/MotoGP#p/u/8/s5jh7gungYs