patissier

[tzfujimino]

Hello, everyone.
:-D
Today I have a question about the French word 'patissier.'
It is now part of the Japanese language, and many of my students, when asked about their dreams, write:

'I want to be a patissier in the future.'

I think 'pastry chef' is the English equivalent for the word.
Has it (the word 'patissier') become part of the English language, too? If so, how do you pronounce it?

Thank you in advance!:-D

 

[emsr2d2]

I think most people in the UK who watch cookery programmes will probably have heard the word "patissier" and would know what it means. I would say it's part of the English language, yes, but not necessarily that everyone would know what it meant.

We pronounce it approximately the same way as it's pronounced in French. I don't do phonetics but I would describe it as "pa-teece-ee-ay".

Edit: As BobK pointed out, we perhaps don't pronounce it exactly the same as the French do but I wanted to make it clear that (in the UK) we don't completely Anglicise the pronunciation. If we did, we would end up with something that sounded like "put-iss-ee-yer" or "pat-iss-eer" or even "pat-iss-eye-er". If a British person with absolutely no knowledge of French pronunciation saw the word for the very first time, I'm not sure how they might attempt to say it.

As Bob said, the final "-ier" is more like one single syllable in French, giving something closer to "pat-eess-yay".

 

[tzfujimino]

I think most people in the UK who watch cookery programmes will probably have heard the word "patissier" and would know what it means. I would say it's part of the English language, yes, but not necessarily that everyone would know what it meant.

We pronounce it the same way as it's pronounced in French. I don't do phonetics but I would describe it as "pa-teece-ee-ay".

Thank you, emsr2d2.
:-DSo, you kind of stress the second syllable (and the third syllable too, maybe)?

 

[BobK]

I think most people in the UK who watch cookery programmes will probably have heard the word "patissier" and would know what it means. I would say it's part of the English language, yes, but not necessarily that everyone would know what it meant.

We pronounce it the same way as it's pronounced in French. I don't do phonetics but I would describe it as "pa-teece-ee-ay".

I think most French speakers would question your use of 'the same way' ;-) Among many British people, it is felt that one shouldn't make too much of an effort pronouncing foreign words! (In support of that assertion, a very recent example springs to mind: a friend of mine was speaking to MrsK about her holiday in Brittany, and said she was staying 'near St Nazaire'. Afterwards I felt - lest it might be thought that her accent was pretentious - I felt I had to explain that, although her English is perfect, she was born in Belgium and so can't help pronouncing French properly!)

Most Br Eng speakers would give it four syllable, unlike French's three, and get the vowels wrong of course (;-): /pæ'tɪsi:eɪ/. (We also aspirate the [p] too much* - but that's harder to hear, and anyway not phonemically significant.)

b

 

[SoothingDave]

Hello, everyone.
:-D
Today I have a question about the French word 'patissier.'
It is now part of the Japanese language, and many of my students, when asked about their dreams, write:

'I want to be a patissier in the future.'

I think 'pastry chef' is the English equivalent for the word.
Has it (the word 'patissier') become part of the English language, too? If so, how do you pronounce it?

Thank you in advance!:-D

I don't watch any cooking shows, but I do read the food pages in the newspaper. I've never seen this word in America.

 

[Barb_D]

Although "pastry chef" is quite popular amidst the popularity of various cooking shows.
It's currently my daughter's aspiration.

 

[BobK]

Afterthought. Using patissier in an English context, English Speakers would get the stress wrong as well. We stress the second syllable, whereas in French the stress is on the last syllable. Even when making an effor to speak French, English natives often make this mistake.

b

 

[emsr2d2]

Afterthought. Using patissier in an English context, English Speakers would get the stress wrong as well. We stress the second syllable, whereas in French the stress is on the last syllable. Even when making an effor to speak French, English natives often make this mistake.

b

True, but at least we try!