calling all Francophones

We're having a dispute in the office about how to pronounce French. None of us speak French, thus the lack of an in-house authority.

The French word "Saint"...

rhymes with the French word "bon" or the French word "les"...or neither?

Merci beaucoups.

 

sahn

 

I used to piss off a hockey-loving former coworker by constantly pronouncing it "Martin Saint Lewis."

Every time, he'd huff and puff and say "MarTAHN SAHN LOU-EE!"

So much fun.

 

Bon... is a harder, o sound.

 

This from a true francophone, so you can take it to the bank.

The "N" is silent, too.
There really is no phonetic way to spell it.

Think of "sain" (like Johnny Sain), but stop before you pronounce the "n".

The "N" in Martin is also silent.

So it sort of sounds like this: Mart-ay Say Lou-eeeeeeee.

 

Who own da Chiefs?

 

If "Saint" precedes a word starting with a vowel, would the liason include pronouncing the "N" and "T" or just "N"?

 

It would primarily be the "T" sound. The "N" is so subtle to begin with, and it wouldn't accentuated with a proceeding word beginning with a vowel. "Saint-Andre" would go something like "saihn-tahn-DRAY" with the "N" very faint.

 

Ownz! Ownz!