How to pronounce Zazueta
Written on October 9th, 2024 by Tomás Zazueta
For many of my fellow Zazuetas, this article is not necessary. However, I think it’s fair to say that we have all had this conversation at some point in our life:
“Za-zwee-tuh? Am I saying that right?”
If you’re trying to be polite(or, you’re tired of retreading conversations), you say that it was a close enough pronunciation and move on. And if you ever need to give your name over the phone, you know you have to spell it out every time: Z-A-Z-U-E-T-A.
Okay, guy. Now how am I actually supposed to say it?
Well, it depends. But let’s keep it simple and start with the English pronunciation:
Let’s sound it out, together. ZA(rhymes with “law”) ZWE(rhymes with…..”le”? I think?) tuh(rhymes with “uh”)
Hey doesn’t that kinda sound like-
Shhhhhhhh.
In high school, when I first corrected people, my friends noticed something that I could never unhear.
“Zazueta”, kinda sounds like “The Sweater”. If you said it in a corny German accent, of course.
Not going to lie, it annoyed me for a bit before it became an inside joke. I hope I made the right decision to make that public knowledge…..
Got it. What about the Spanish pronunciation?
I’m glad you asked! In Spanish, you would say:
ZA-ZWE-tah
Sounding it out, that last part, “tah”, should rhyme with “law”.
It’s pretty close, but I won’t fault you if you default to the English pronunciation. Either way, you’ll be doing a whole lot better than most of my grade school teachers.
