English pronunciation of "jalapeño"

Generally depends on the proximity of the person to Hispanic people, their language, and their culture. I pronounce it "hah lah pain yo", but I met a guy in Vermont once who really thought it was "jah lah pee no".

in the US, you'll hear either hala-pen-yo or hala-peen-yo, in my experience.

I’m from California so my pronunciation of Spanish is less anglicized than some other Americans. That said, I think many Americans pronounce it correctly, but it’s likely that half of them say it with the ee sound.

Everyone I know says "halapayño", unless they're being sarcastically ignorant.

I'm in California, which was originally part of Mexico, like Texas. Maybe that's why around here we usually pronounce it hal-a-PANE-yo.

big US cities, spanish pronounciation. rural areas, gringo pronounciation as other have mentioned. Just depends on proximity to the spanish language.

It really depends on the person. It’s not really a regional thing (maybe heard a little more in the southern states excluding Texas) I hear the correct pronunciation to incorrect, maybe, 70/30? Edit to add: I’m strictly referring to the United States here. I have spent a lot of time in England and yes, they do seem to have a harder time with Spanish words. Same in Canada (in my experience)

I’m in Arizona. We pronounce it “hala-pen-yo”

I’m from the Midwest. Almost everyone who isn’t an ignorant yokel says “hala-peen-yo”. Proper Spanish (it’s a Spanish loan-word) is closer to “hala-pain-yo”. Don’t pronounce it with an anglo “J” unless you want to sound ignorant.

Over here it's either Ha-la-pen-yo or Dja-lë-pee-no, with very little in-between.

Just to give a Canadian perspective, I pretty much exclusively hear "hala-peen-yo" here!

It can be pronounced several ways and we’ll understand what you’re saying. The weirdest sounding one is with the hard J instead of the H sound at the beginning. It’s like a joke, but once in a while they aren’t joking. In English there isn’t always a “correct” pronunciation, and especially with words from other languages.

Americans are so accustomed to saying the ñ Spanishly that some will accidentally do it in “habanero” and say it as if it was “jabañero”. I grew up with saying it as if it were “jalapeño”. I’m assuming you’re a Spanish speaker and will interpret my pronunciation guides according to Spanish pronunciation rules.

Yes long EE but we do retain the ñ, so hal-a-peen-yo. Is the vowel like “pay”!in Spanish?

I think not having the “j” pronounced as a “j” is pretty good for most American speakers. I think the issue is with the ”ñ” sound. Google says to pronounce it as “ny” to get a sound closer to the Spanish pronunciation (hala-pen-yo). In Hindi they actually do pronounce the “j“ as a “j” jalaapeno

And conversely, people who pronounce jalapeño more less correctly, pronounce habanero as if it's habañero. #

Growing up in Texas I usually pronounce it /ˌhaləˈpiɲo͡ʊ/ (hahl-uh-PEE-nyo) but that’s because of how close Texas is to Mexico

Same as in Spanish though some demographics of white people far removed from reality say Hall a pee no. Majority of Americans do say it properly

"hala-pen-yo" for this American English speaker

People where I live say “holla piña”

Indiana here. Haal-uh-pain-yo is how we say it around here.

Oh my gosh no, not to this American. It’s hallah-penyo in these parts. I can see anglicizing the e, sure, but that is an ñ, not an n, so saying hala-peeno is basically a crime against language. I’ll understand it but I sure won’t like it.

[Relevant Trailer Park Boys clip](https://youtu.be/st3jCUMO2no?si=xn3M9Mbg-nubip5F)

I say “halla-PEEN-yo” /ˌhæləˈpinjoʊ̯/ in English. I would say most Canadians I meet say it the same way. Maybe a few go for “halla-PAIN-yo” or “halla-PEE-no”, but I think “halla-PEEN-yo” is most common. As for why we change it: it’s not just about whether we have the sounds, but whether they fit the rules for which sounds can occur in which situations (which is called “phonotactics”), and the influence of spelling.

This is a “loan” word, but the enye really is supposed to be pronounced: ha-lah-PEN-yo

ha-la-PEEN-yo and ha-la-PAIN-yo and ha-la-PEN-yo are all common. Also people say it with or without the y sound in the last syllable. Just don't say ja-LA-puh-no 😂

Having lived in Los Angeles for 15 years, the only way I heard it pretty much sounds like the Spanish pronunciation. And yet, I spent a few months in England recently and heard it more the way you’re describing it.

1) people will either pronounce the j as they don't how it's pronounced in Spanish. 2) they know and pronounce it correctly and do so 3) they know but pronounce it incorrectly or exaggeratedly for comedic effect.

I've heard it both "hah lah pay/peh nyo" or "hah lah pee nyo" - those are the most common in my experience. Some people forget the tilde on the last syllable. And I've heard it humorously mispronounced as "juh lah puh no". Variation like this tends to happen to words imported from other languages.

I used to work at a Subway, and I heard a customer pronounce it hot-la-PEE-no. Yes, with the T.

Spanish /e/ does not exist in English, nor does its /o/ or /a/. The fricative /x/ of "j" doesn't exist in most varieties of English either, nor does the /ɲ/ of "ñ". English /p/ is also aspirated unlike in Spanish, so that's different too. English only really has 1 of the consonants, and literally none of the vowels. The whole word needs to be approximated. It's just that vowels tend to be more salient since Spanish's 5 vowel system is the most common system of vowels across the world. English speakers are terrible with monophthongs Anyway, back to English, stressed "e" can generally be read a few ways in English. /ɛ/ like in "bet" /i/ like in "bee" /ej/ like in "Merc**e**des" Which you choose is basically arbitrary, so English speakers tend to use any or all of them depending on what they're used to and their familiarity with Spanish and other foreign vocabulary. As a Canadian, I tend to say /hæl.ləˈpiːn.jo͜ʊ/, with that "bee" vowel.

ha-la-pee-nyo [obligatory canadian reference.](https://youtu.be/TvnXI-86b6Q?si=NlZQrfMuPlu1sn1v)

Here in Southern California, I pronounce it hollow-PEN-yo, although it wouldn’t strike me as incorrect if someone else said PEEN or PAIN. By the way, most languages have borrowed words that are pronounced differently in their native tongues, but for some reason people talk as if English speakers are uniquely “wrong” — perhaps because a higher percentage of our language consists of loan words.

I would say hala-pen-yo (UK)

a youtuber made a very good point - no one really pronounces loan words in the original language.

> but I think all the sounds of jalapeño exist in English. The e doesn’t. The sound in “bet” and the sound in “bay” are closer options than the sound in “bee”, (and I hear the sound in “bay” used in that word all the time) but they’re still not the sound that Spanish uses.

Hala-pen-yo. Juh-leh-peh-no if I'm being silly.

Halla - peen - yo is how I've pronounced it my whole life. Midwest USA

I say hala-peen-yo

Only as a result of ignorance or poking fun at ignorance. Hah-lah-PEN-yo has always been the way when speaking seriously, as far as my experience goes.

I’m English, and I say Hala pen yo

Hah. My very English husband said juh-LAH-pen-o when he first moved here. He learned very very fast. (I'm from Upstate NY and say hal-uh-PAY-nyo.)

There is no english pronunciation of Jalapeño, you either pronounce it in spanish or you pronounce it wrong.

I'm English and pronounce it as jalla-peen-o but that just might be me

People who are unfamiliar with Hispanic pronunciation are more likely to sub in the English sounds associated with the characters (with n instead of ñ because ñ doesn’t exist in English). Usually people’s first instinct upon seeing an unfamiliar word is to try to sound it out using the pronunciation system they’re familiar with.

By people that don't know how to say it, yes.

I’m a native … we have 2 pronunciations for that … LAS FEE-liz for the older traditional folks, but with hipster or ethnic friends we trend towards LOS feh-LEEZ.

I’m a white American, not Hispanic, and in the South we say “haw la PEEN yo.” So like, we try to use the right sound for the J and Ñ, but everything else uses English phonics. I  have also heard people say it with a short A sound like “hal a peen yo,” and I honestly don’t know if that’s a joke pronunciation or not. I used to live in Oklahoma, where people unironically said Italian like “Eye talian” and Iraq like “Eye rack” and Iran like “Eye ran.” So I *want* to say that pronouncing “jalapeño” with a short A sound is a joke making fun of gringos, but I would not be surprised if that’s actually just how people say it in some parts of the US. 

we dont really have an anglicised equivalent for enye. So the further away a particular english speaking population is from a country with enye the less accurate the pronunciation will be

the ~ over the n makes it sound like ny instead of n. e.g. Children in spanish: niños (nee - nyoss)

Where I'm from most people say hala-peen-yo or hala-pen-yo. Hala-pee-no makes me giggle but is also common, but most people I know (PNW Americans) pronounce the ñ

The Werefrog insist on pronouncing it "Jah-Lop-In-Oh" when saying that word. Grover taught that "J" makes the "Juh" sound. Grover did not teach that "J" makes the "Ha" sound. However, when speaking Spanish, The Werefrog do use the regular Spanish pronunciation.

ha-laa-pay-nyo ?

Same as in Spanish where I’m at. Even the pasty white kids pronounce it correctly.

Don’t do it. There is zero reason why Americans cannot say jalapeño correctly. Mispronouncing it is on purpose, so don’t be like them.

Ha-la-pin-yo For me personally. But english isn’t my first language (spanish isn’t either btw) so idk if that has an impact

Ha-lu-pain-yo or ha-li-pain-yo The ha is like the ha in hall. Stress is on the pain. The lu is like the lu in luggage. The li is like the li in lit. The yo is like yo-yo.

/hɑːlɑːpɪnjoʊ/, /hɑːlɑːpiːnjoʊ/, /dʒɑlɑːpɪnoʊ/, and other slight variations thereof are pretty commonly heard in Texas. I only ever hear the Spanish pronunciation /halapeɲo/ from Spanish speakers and people trying to be pretentious, though.

hall la pen nyo

Hall-uh-peen-yo -Texas

in the southeastern US it’s most common to hear ha-la-pain-yo or ha-la-peen-yo. i personally say the former but hear the latter still relatively frequently especially among older people. heard the J pronounced wrong when I was a kid a lot but that has mostly stopped down here from what I can tell.

I usually (england Manchester) hear ha-le-pee-nyoh /haləpʰiɲəʊ/ or /haləpʰinjəʊ/

Hallah- Pain- Yo

Correctly, I have only heard it pronounced correctly, the way it is in Spanish. It is a Spanish word. Never heard it pronounced the way you are saying unless it was part of the travesty of the great british bake-off Mexico episode.

Do not remove the tilde from ñ. Bad things can happen. Many years ago, a kid did that in my Spanish class for años (years) and proudly told the class he had 13 buttholes.

It’s depends on person dialect and location I say hala pee ño. With the eñe because I’m Californian but others will say jala pen o with the French j or even the English one. Because they just do as long as you understand it it’s fine.

I'd say hal-uh-peen-yo and to a lesser extent hal-uh-pain-yo are most common in the US northeast The ñ is definitely pronounced ny as in canyon here. IPA- /hɑləpinjow/ /hɑləpejnjow/ /hæləpinjow/ /hæləpejnjow/

I say hah lah pen yo

Almost everyone I knew in Alaska said “hal uh PAIN yo”or “hal uh PEN yo”. I’m in California now, and people here usually pronounce it the same way.

I'm a Brit, specifically a Yorkshireman. Boomer too, for good measure. I think I managed to adopt an approximation of hala-pen-yo several decades ago, even if it is with a broad Yorkshire accent. My dad would have been one to say 'jalla peeno'. He said pizza, not peetsa, actually pizza. I've always thought most brits must have grasped jalapeño by now - next we need to be taught there's no ñ in habanero, and that there's no 'lay' in chipotle.

In UK it's normally ha la peen o. Ha la penyo is probable a closer second

hala pen yo

It's the spelling. I *know* how it's supposed to be pronounced, but I see that combination of letters and my brain short circuits. It's a miracle I can stop myself from calling them jalopynies.

wait, so I just googled this thinking I must be wrong, because of all the other comments, but I'm not. I'm hella confused by nobody arguing with the "all the sounds exist in English". Google gives me "xalaˈpeɲo" as Spanish pronunciation. I'm German, and we do get very close to the original because we have the "x" sound. English doesn't, and I've seen English natives struggle with that sound a lot. So I do think they have to adapt!

As an Australia with 0 knowledge of or contact with Spanish, I say it 'ha-la-pee-nyo'

Let’s break it into parts. The Ja- is almost always pronounced with an H sound. The -no is mostly pronounced like “Nyo”, but “No” speakers exist. I think the greatest variety is on the -pe-.I think is mostly “peh” or “pay” though “pee” is a pretty sizeable minority. As for -la-, I think most people swallow it up like “luh” but some people brighten it with “lah”

Say it with Spanish phonetics (and sound ever so slightly pretentious), or it really doesn't matter as long as you get the "h" sound at the beginning and use a schwa for the second "a." Peenyo, peeno, paynyo, and payno are all pretty common endings.

Funny how the Americans here make such a big thing about pronouncing jalapeno correctly, but give them a croissant…

i say hal-uh-pain-yo (hal rhyming with pal) and i’m from the american east coast, but i grew up in a neighborhood with a bigger latino population

Its not an english word. Say it how it sounds in spanish. Ha-la-pay-neo is probably the easiest I can think of

depends on your accent tbh, with my glaswegian (scottish) accent it sounds like “hala-peh-no”

People here will often pronounce jalapeño as ‘jalapeeno’ and habanero as ‘habanyero’ (habañero)

It’s pronounced djallapeeno, I will not be taking questions.

I’ve personally always said hala-pay-no but I may be the minority

It's a Spanish word. It doesn't have a different pronunciation in English, it's just that a lot of English-speaking people are ignorant of the correct pronunciation. In other words, you're hearing people mispronounce the word.

From my experience it's almost always the same as the Spanish pronunciation. It's a loanword

Jesus would like a word.

Yup, that's how everyone I know says it.