Its "Ney-vada" not Ner-vada. Y eso es espanol no es de Gringolandia.

Yup, ya got them backwards I was kind of like 'eh?' It's easy enough to do, though!

I usually have to interpret for the DH - he actually had a fast food worker look at him and say 'yer not from around here, are yew?'. I mean, he's northern irish, but the accent isn't THAT difficult to understand (well, okay, the Ballymena and Derry accents are a bit thick but hey! ).

I was with 3 (non-hispanic) Americans tonight, so I asked them which state Vegas was in....after the predictable rolling of eyes at the dumb foreigner in their midst, they all said it how I would have done...which is not like either of your options! More like Nuhvada.... I think....or maybe like your 2nd option but without the "r" sound...

Everyone I know in California pronounces Nevada as Nuh-Vada.

Same here on the east coast/ south east as far as I can tell, ..... a "Nuh" or a "Nah" kinda sound, and I've never heard anything like a "Ner", nor a "Ney" for that matter.

Yep, same here (CT).

Have a listen here:

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/nevada.

My point, perhaps not explained well: Non-spanish speaking Merkans use the anglicised form "Ner-vada" as British folks naturally will or "Nuh-varda" further west, like in California where I am.

I only mentioned it as someone was questioning the issue of an alternative pronunciation, which I know being a Spanish speaker. Perhaps my attempt at phonetic spelling was bad. Spanish "e" being more of an "i" sound.

The Nevada Tourist board led with a campaign a while back that was about how the locals pronounce it, which is as the correct Spanish form. I don't know how it gets butchered and by who, I just know Spanish. Nada mas, eso es :-)

Lol....I'm really bad at accents, cos that lady sounded more South African or antipodean to me!

Actually, its not a great American accent, i.e from this continent, although there are numerous dialects. Hence my original spelling Ney-vada.

Lots of Hispanoblantes in your "friendly" Tejas to ask and practice!

But it does beg the question, if we are supposed to use the Spanish pronunciation of Nevada, do we do the same with tex/jas, and how about Paris TX, New Orleans etc etc.... gonna get mighty confusing!

Do as the locals.

I only wrote about Nevada as someone raised the issue of a different way to say it.

And I only wrote Tejas (Te-has) to be friendly and as I expect you know that's where Texas comes from...Tejas = friend in Spanish :-)

Round here, it's hard to find a local! But when you do, some of them say tejas, and some texas...(.did I read somewhere that a native Spanish speaker struggles to say the "x" sound...or is that somewhere else.....). There are a lot of contracting companies that use Tejas i/o Texas, but whether that is to get around some restrictions on state use in corporate names, or to appeal to a certain market, I'm not sure.
The kids are taught in school that tejas actually came from a Caddo Indian word meaning allies (also roof tile), and was later adopted by the Spanish. I've got to say, wherever it came from, it is a lot easier on the ear than the other one sometimes heard...Texian

Right, tejas is tile. Tejas is an Indian corruption. I didn't Know about the Caddo. Thx.

I learned a lot as the kids went through 1st,2nd,3rd grades....

Nuh-VAD-uh, or Nee-VAD-uh. Not Knee-Var-Dar. It's a Spanish word, and the "r" in Spanish is a rolling "r". There is no "r" in Nevada. Americans usually get it right, never met a visiting Brit who did.