The letter K is barely seen in Spanish, except where it's borrowed from English or some other language. It is in their alphabet, added later, not there originally. I wondered why there are no towns or names of places in LATAM that start with the letter K, until I discovered this tidbit of information.
I have seen nametags of salespeople with Karen spelled with a K. I've also seen it spelled Caron, which is more in line with Spanish. Meaning the few times I've seen those nametags with "Karen," it means they borrowed the K from English.
When I say my name in a Spanish country, I pronounce it with the "ah" sound. In English, the letter "a" can have several pronunciations, depending on the word, but in Spanish it is always pronounced like "ah." And of course the R has a different sound in Spanish than in English.
Mi nombre es Kah-den. That's how it's pronounced in Spanish.
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| Kah-den in Mexico City enjoying a lovely day in January |
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| Kah-den at home in Veracruz, wondering how this casual outfit looks on her. |
"Ken" es mi nombre. Hey! A "K"!
ReplyDeleteWhen I took Spanish in High School, everyone was given a Spanish name. Since "Ken" didn't have a Spanish equivalent, I was "Pepe."
ReplyDelete"Pepe El Pequeno."
I didn't know this bit about Spanish. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteWe don’t really need K, as other letter combos can give us the same sound. That said, I like K… and Karen is such a pretty name!
ReplyDeletei used to like my name. I'm named after my two Norwegian grandmothers, Karen and Kristine. But in the past few years, my name has practically become a swear word, calling an annoying woman a "Karen." That is so unfair, and I resent it.
DeleteI like the outfit you're wearing in the last picture.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary!
DeleteI did not know this about Spanish. It's funny how different languages deal with our names.
ReplyDeleteInteresting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the learning, I'm ignorant of the nuances of most languages other than English
ReplyDeleteYet another reminder I wish I spoke Spanish. I do understand it some, but apenas puedo hablarlo, Kah-den
ReplyDeleteWell done, Mirka! I wish I spoke it better, especially when I'm in Mexico...or maybe understood better among people who are speaking fast and slurring their words haha.
DeleteI'm lucky in that "Samantha" pronounces pretty easily in most languages. Just a difference in the A's, as you said. I rather like the Spanish version: Sah-Mahn-Thah. @samanthabwriter from
ReplyDeleteBalancing Act
One little change though-- the last syllable is tah, because the th is not a sound and they literally can not make the th sound, saying it as a t instead. Kind of like Americans have a hard time rolling the Spanish double r.
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