Are 'visa' and 'mastercard' pronounced correctly?

[TeaSpring]

Hello. We, a group of non-native English speakers, have some disagreement about the pronunciation of "visa" and "mastercard". I have attached the mp3 files in the post. I'd like to know if native-speakers think their pronunciation in those audio files is correct. Please note that the original utterances are English mixed with Cantonese. I cut "visa" and "mastercard" from those utterances, so if there is anything about the beginning or the end of the audio files, it could be the result of this cutting. Thank you very much.

 

[emsr2d2]

Bear in mind that "Mastercard" is pronounced differently in different variants but here are my reactions as a native British English speaker:

"Visa" - the stress is on the wrong syllable and the "i" isn't long enough. It's more like "vee-zuh".
"Mastercard" - the speaker has mixed up British and American pronunciations. BrE doesn't have a rhotic r so we don't make the r in "card" noticeable - in the recording that final syllable is more like AmE. However, the speaker used "ah" for the a in "master", which is BrE pronunciation. BrE would be "Mah-ster-cahd".

(Sorry, I don't do phonetic symbols so I've done my best with how I would say the words.)

I think you'll find Forvo very helpful. Here's the link to the page with both BrE and AmE pronunciations of "Mastercard" for you to listen to.

 

[SoothingDave]

I pronounce "visa" with an "s" sound, not a "z."

 

[emsr2d2]

I pronounce "visa" with an "s" sound, not a "z."

OK, that's definitely a BrE v AmE difference I wasn't aware of.

 

[TeaSpring]

Bear in mind that "Mastercard" is pronounced differently in different variants but here are my reactions as a native British English speaker:

"Visa" - the stress is on the wrong syllable and the "i" isn't long enough. It's more like "vee-zuh".
"Mastercard" - the speaker has mixed up British and American pronunciations. BrE doesn't have a rhotic r so we don't make the r in "card" noticeable - in the recording that final syllable is more like AmE. However, the speaker used "ah" for the a in "master", which is BrE pronunciation. BrE would be "Mah-ster-cahd".

(Sorry, I don't do phonetic symbols so I've done my best with how I would say the words.)

I think you'll find Forvo very helpful. Here's the link to the page with both BrE and AmE pronunciations of "Mastercard" for you to listen to.

Thanks for clearing this up for me. I think your comments are much more helpful than online dictionaries because when it comes to subtle differences, we might not be able to see what's wrong just by listening to the standard pronunciations. So forums like this is helpful for people like me.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks for clearing this up for me. I think your comments are much more helpful than online dictionaries because when it comes to subtle differences, we might not be able to see what's wrong just by listening to the standard pronunciations. So forums like this is helpful for people like me.

Forvo isn't an online dictionary; those normally have AI-generated pronunciations. Forvo collects recordings from real people from all over the world. If you choose an English word, you'll be able to listen to recordings by actual native speakers. The words aren't cut from longer recordings - the contributors literally sit in front of their computer microphone and record single words. It's really helpful. Take some time to play around with it.

 

[Skrej]

I pronounce "visa" with an "s" sound, not a "z."

OK, that's definitely a BrE v AmE difference I wasn't aware of.

I think it may be more of a regional variation even within the US. I'm terribly inconsistent myself, slipping between /z/ and /s/.

In this Visa commercial, the narrator (who sounds like LaVar Burton) uses /s/.
Here, Ryan Reynolds uses a hard /z/.

For me it also depends if I'm referring to the credit card or the passport document, although there's no good reason why I'd switch. I think I tend to use /s/ for the document and /z/ for the credit card.

Webster's lists both pronunciations, as does Cambridge, although the latter gives the /s/ as a strictly AmE alternative.

 

[emsr2d2]

That's definitely a BrE v AmE variation then. I've never heard a BrE speaker use /s/ in "visa".

 

[jutfrank]

How to Pronounce English Naturally | YouGlish

Struggling with English pronunciation? YouGlish uses real people speaking real English to help you master tricky sounds. No more dictionary confusion!

youglish.com

Both meanings are included here—the credit card and the travel document.