Guaguas for autobus
In the Canary Islands, people don't say autobus, instead they say "guaguas", I think this is also true for several Central American countries. Are there any other variations in Spanish vocabulary from wherever you are?
17 Answers
Well according to two different speakers at forvo.com, guagua is pronounced "wawa". So it sounds like JohnJuan is talking about the same word.
But what I can't figure out is why it is pronounced that way. Every rule that I can find about the pronunciation of a g before u (or a for that matter) would make the G a hard G as in Golf.
Can anyone give us some enlightenment here? 
Greg, you were asking this, there is no real why to this or because...it is purely regional. In Madrid we pronounce a word like " igual" like /eegual/, with a strong g like in garden.
But.... do you pronounce guagua with a hard G and a silent U? Gosh I hate to keep asking this but I really want to know and I don't think that's been answered yet.
In Mexico I often heard "camión" (applied to both buses and trucks). In Chile I heard "micro" for buses (despite the fact that the bus was not particularly small).
I have never encountered a Spanish speaker who said "gaga".
Not gaga, but guagua.
We do not say "wadería" for example which has the same beginning.
Guardería is pronounced with "gua" like in garden.
Great question!
Just to share personal experience, the very FIRST time that i discovered a G could sound like a W (to an ingles ear), was the word "guero" - which is a 'g' before 'u' word... In contrast to the rule you state above, Greg, I actually thought that ALL g + u words were pronounced as W... though I'm sure that I'm wrong.
que onda, guero?! :D
Great! Then I take it that it is safe to assume that you pronounce 'guagua' as 'gaga'? If you do, then my problem is solved..
On the contrary, I have never encountered a Spanish speaker who said "gaga". I have, on the other hand, known those who said "wawa" that is to say that they "tragan/comen la "g" (en combinación) con la "u") tanto como algunos tragan la "s".
But.... do you pronounce guagua with a hard G and a silent U? Gosh I hate to keep asking this but I really want to know and I don't think that's been answered yet.
thanks for the PM Greg. Well, really, if I see this word written, and don't know the meaning, I would say: /guagua/ but as we know what it means and we know how people in the Canaries pronounce it, we normally do the same, wawa.
I want to bump this question up. Can anyone explain to me why 'guagua' is pronoinced 'wawa'?
Greg, you were asking this, there is no real why to this or because...it is purely regional.
In Madrid we pronounce a word like " igual" like /eegual/, with a strong g like in garden.
Quote from samdie No one seriously claims (at least, no one knowledgeable) that Spanish is pronounced the same everywhere. The claim is that the pronunciation and spelling are very consistent (not a perfect match), especially when compared with English (and to a lesser extent French). If you know how to spell a word you will know how to pronounce it (in whatever system of pronunciation you are familiar with). If you know how to say it you will (usually) know how to spell it (some obvious exceptions being the silent "h", the b/v confusion and the c/s/z [or c/z depending on your "accent"]. The spelling and pronunciation are consistent (which is different from "the same everywhere"). English language dictionaries always include the pronunciation (sometimes with variants) because the spelling is not a reliable indicator of the pronunciation (and vice versa but that is not something with which dictionaries concern themselves). Spanish language dictionaries do not indicate the pronunciation because the universal assumption is that seeing the word written is a sufficient indication of the pronunciation (for native speakers).
Great! Then I take it that it is safe to assume that you pronounce 'guagua' as 'gaga'? If you do, then my problem is solved.....
Heidita? Same question.
By the way, at least one of the people on forvo.com was from Spain.
One of the things that makes me sad is that the Heidita doesn't share with us more of her experience. She's so very wise and has so much more expierence than all of us, especially in the como se va la vida actual. I guess she really can't, but I'd give my dog to hear her ismos, her take on accent and word variations, etc. Me for one, I speak spanish every day, sometimes I go all week no speaking a word of english (drives my wife crazy), but I don't have the experience she has. Ella no viene de los libros, pero en cambio, viva esa cosa dia tras dia, paso a paso. But then, she's very professional...she wouldn't want to share with us students some of the more....sabroso....things she knows! 
HI everybody 
They do say wawa in the Canaries, we make fun of that here, jeje
The pronounciation wawa is not standard in the rest of Spain, we also consider this Cuban for example. I guess Juan is right, the Puerto Ricans do the "wa" too.
Thank you.
I can live with that except for all the ballyhoo that Spanish follows certain and definite rules of pronunciation which are never broken, such that one is never at a loss to know how any word should be pronounced
No one seriously claims (at least, no one knowledgeable) that Spanish is pronounced the same everywhere. The claim is that the pronunciation and spelling are very consistent (not a perfect match), especially when compared with English (and to a lesser extent French). If you know how to spell a word you will know how to pronounce it (in whatever system of pronunciation you are familiar with). If you know how to say it you will (usually) know how to spell it (some obvious exceptions being the silent "h", the b/v confusion and the c/s/z [or c/z depending on your "accent"].
The spelling and pronunciation are consistent (which is different from "the same everywhere"). English language dictionaries always include the pronunciation (sometimes with variants) because the spelling is not a reliable indicator of the pronunciation (and vice versa but that is not something with which dictionaries concern themselves). Spanish language dictionaries do not indicate the pronunciation because the universal assumption is that seeing the word written is a sufficient indication of the pronunciation (for native speakers).
It's just a style thing, a regional thing, etc. Us up here in Northern USA speak and pronouce way different than those from the South. Those from the South don't even care for the way we speak up here. The Canadians sure don't like the we on the east coast tawk, and I'm sure the French don't much care for the way French Canadians speak French. My wife is a country girl and I'm raised in a city...half the time with those crazy constructions she uses...I half don't know what she's talking about (but she's so cute!). I've been carrying on for like forever that the same thing exists in spanish, and I'm variously flamed or called a street walker, or some other bad thing. I'm so glad someone bought this up.
Greg, I have often seen words with an initial /w/ sound (English spelling) written with gui or gue in Spanish. I'm not really sure why, but it's fairly consistent. For example guero/a sounds like (and is sometomes spelled, in America) wero/a (This means, depending on who you ask, blonde, pale, or white person. jejeje)
I want to bump this question up. Can anyone explain to me why 'guagua' is pronoinced 'wawa'?
