Correct Pronunciation

[Rondola]

What is the correct pronunciation of Moët? I have been having a lively discussion about this with several different people-- The Perrier Jouët web says the correct pronunciation od their name is Ju-ET. The double dots over the the e (an umblaut) indicate that one uses a hard "t". However, most people think Moët is Mo-AY.

Please help?

[Jerry D Mead]

Most people are wrong...it is indeed properly pronounced Mow-et.

Mow-ay is how it would be pronounced in French and it is a French product...but Mr. Moet was German, as I recall.

Tom Stevenson will correct me if I'm wrong.

That's the story with Jou-et as well.

[tomstevenson]

Dutch actually Curmy, but the Dutch language is a derivative of Low German, so who's arguing? Jouet is pronounced Jew-ett (the "J" is more of a cross between "J" and "Sch") because the diaeresis (umlaut in German) hardens any consonant following it. Moet is pronouned Mow-ett for two reasons; the diaeresis as mentioned above and the vowel in "et" following it (Moet et Chandon), which hardens the consonant preceding it.

[m_cyclops]

Tom Stevenson is right, Möet alone will be pronunciate Mow-e, but since the et follows then you have to say Mow-ett Shando (the final n in Chandon is not pronuncied since it's french) accenting the last o.

[This message has been edited by m_cyclops (edited 12-30-1999).]

[tomstevenson]

Sorry to contradict you m_cyclops, but even on its own Moët (the diaeresis is on the "e", not "o") is still pronounced with a hard for the above explained reason. Furthermore, with Chandon joined by the "et" or "&" it is pronounced "Mow-ett ay chandon" and although the "n" and the end of Chandon is softned, it is pronounced (in fact it's more like "chandong" but very softly and not at all as an Anglo-Saxon would naturally pronounce it).