Yeshu, Yehoshua, or Yeshua

[Paul Younan]

Here's another video showing the pronunciation of the ayin, this time from the perspective of ancient Hebrew. The ayin is about 6 minutes and 50 seconds in,

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7RIAPosxEI&feature=plcp">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7RIAPosxEI&feature=plcp</a><!-- m -->

Hi Luc,

That individual seems to understand how to pronounce the letter. However, I've yet to see it applied in modern Hebrew speech. Do you have any videos of modern-day Hebrew speech where the letter is pronounced as the video above shows ?

I've heard numerous speeches in modern Israeli Hebrew, all of which show a lack of the proper pronunciation of the letter Ayin (this is especially true of those who belong to the Ashkenazic tradition).

Even among the Sephardic tradition, I've not heard the letter pronounced properly. See for instance the audio files here:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/ptmp3prq.htm">http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/ptmp3prq.htm</a><!-- m -->

This is an audio collection of the Torah, but not once did I hear the guttural stop for Ayin. Instead, it sounds like the familiar "a" sound.

+Shamasha