This article details how to pronounce Moët and Chandon, the name of the most famous and most prolific of all French Champagne houses.
More importantly, this is why you shouldn’t pronounce it any other way.
There is an eternal debate on whether you should pronounce Moë & Chandon (not pronouncing the letter T at the end of Moët) or Moët & Chandon (with a non-silent T).
So, let’s clear things up, once and for all.
Hear the Correct Pronunciation of Moët et Chandon in Video
How and Why to Pronoucing Moët & Chandon one Way or Another?
It is true that in French, if you follow the grammatical pronunciation rule by the letter, you should pronounce moë because the T at the end of a word like this is normally silent and not pronounced.
There is even a French chef based in Sydney, Australia, Manu Feildel who argues online that you should Moe… et Chandon but that if you put the two names together, Chandon after Moët, then the ‘liaison’ makes it pronounced Moët et Chandon pronouncing the T.
This is factually incorrect.
The simple answer is that Claude Moët, the founder of Moët & Chandon Champagne house was of Dutch origin and in Dutch you wouldn’t pronounce Moë but Moët.
For names of people and for proper names, you would adopt their pronunciation, not the pronunciation that is grammatically correct.
Claude Moët would say “Moët, my name is Moët“, pronouncing the letter T.
So, you ought to say it this way, pronouncing the T at the end.
Then, yes there might be a debate on whether you should say Moët AND Chandon or the French way: Moët ET Chandon. ET being French for AND. Obviously, this is up to you.
Tf you want to say it the real French way you would normally say Moët ET Chandon, but if you want to say it in English you can easily, and you are allowed to say Moët AND Chandon. That is perfectly fine.
Let me know in the comments which words, which French words you would like me to detail the pronunciation of.
For the Same Reason, Hear How to Pronouce Perrier-Jouët Champagne
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