How Do You Pronounce Isaias?

Isaias is the ninth tropical storm and the second hurricane in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. As it barrels through the Bahamas, the pronunciation seems unclear as newscasters and citizens alike have presented different versions of the pronunciation.

What should we expect? Isaias is believed to be the Spanish and Portuguese version, and we are an English speaking country.

The English version is “Isaiah,” meaning “God is my salvation.”

Isaias, pronounced ees-ah-EE-ahs, arrived in the Bahamas as a category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 75 miles per hour, lashing the island of Andros and now bearing over Grand Bahama.

Before crawling to the Bahamas, It travelled through Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic where it caused flooding, power outages, toppled trees, destroyed homes and crops and created small landslides.One man died in the Dominican Republic.

In Puerto Rico, it swept away one woman, whose body was recovered Saturday, before National Guard could rescue nearly 35 people from floodwaters.

The pronunciation of the name has not been clear to non-Hispanic speakers.

Politicians have refused to pronounce the name and have referred to it as “the hurricane.” And broadcasters have said various versions of the pronunciation.

Here is how to pronounce Isaias:

The next storm name in the Atlantic Hurricane Season will be… #Isaias (pronounced [ess-ah-EE-ahs]. Here is a short video of how to properly pronounce it. #Spanish pic.twitter.com/g60ckwOLS6

— NWS Melbourne (@NWSMelbourne) July 27, 2020