What is Guayabera?
Audio For Guayabera
Phonetics For Guayabera
guayabera
gwah/yah/BEH/rah
A Quick Overview Of Guayabera
'Guayabera' is the name of a type of man's shirt with large pockets, which, according to Fidel Castro, originated in Cuba. He was moved to comment on the origins of the shirt after hearing that President Obama is having a number of guayaberas made to wear to the Summit of the Americas in mid-April 2012.
"What's curious, dear readers, is that Cuba is forbidden from attending this meeting, but not the guayaberas. Who can stop laughing." Castro wrote.
He makes a point.....
In Spanish a 'y' can either sound as it does in English, or it becomes a soft 'j' - the latter pronunciation is particularly common in South America. If you make both sounds, you will see that your mouth is in virtually the same position for both. English speakers think there is a vast discrepancy between the sounds until they do this exercise!