a hotel, an hotel or A hotel

Oh that’s really funny Fennel!
Regarding languages it’s never too late. I’m learning German and whilst not particularly proficient (far from it) I am enjoying it and in these lockdown days it’s added another dimension to life. Also, Italian is easy, especially as you must speak French well. Give it a go! Forza!

- I wish I'd learned (?learnt) Italian.
Going back to the french word hotel - the first time we went to France we ended up in some town or other late at night, looking for somewhere to sleep. We saw this big building with the notice Hotel de Ville which looked very nice and knocked on the door. But it was all locked up.
Later found out that it was the Town Hall .

?? Fino ad allora!

Sarà fatto!!

Buonasera Bellanonna. Non vedo l'ora di sentire le tue notizie!

Hello Marydoll! Trust you to be awkward!?.
Ti scriverò!

I think I was taught 'an hotel'. I'm old though. But we sing 'a hymn'.

I think a hotel is easier to say.

I think these days a hotel is perfectly correct. I only remember elderly people saying they had been taught it was an otel, but obviously both versions are still in use.

I was brought up to say an hotel but now I would usually say or write a hotel (I think!)

Grandmafrench, I have a degree in French language and literature, which probably explains my pronunciation of 'otel.?

Bellanonna, I would say, an 'otel, but the hotel, just to be awkward!? .

Lovely to see you, we haven't crossed paths for ages! ?

If we have never learned a word of French, we'll still know more than 15,000 French words. The only difference is the pronunciation. And that's (almost the spelling of) one of them!

Hôtel is a French word in English usage and the closest we ever get to that word in English is Hostel. Because English children would be taught that to speak correctly they should pronounce their aitches, they would naturally make that sound when using words beginning with "H". Words such as hamster and hiatus are in common English usage and so the aitches would again be sounded. Many English or American words which (to the despair of many traditionalists in France) are taken up and then adopted with "le" or "la" in front of them are automatically mispronounced in France, especially if they begin with an "H". (le hold-up, le hot jazz, le home-trainer, etc., ) Incidentally, "honor" is an American word - the English is "honour".

In the Middle Ages, French was the language spoken by Royalty and persons of wealth and title at the English Court. In the years when France was ruled from England and then when England was ruled by a French King, it's likely at that time there was a huge exchange of words - and naturally much of the French remains in the English language. Today many are actually used and pronounced in the French way - fait accompli, for example- and it's likely that many English people never think of the origins.
In France now, English language and traditions and style are often considered "très snob"; yes, they actually say snob. It's the reverse of a time when the French language was the classiest language spoken at Court all those years ago.

IMO it's a straight choice. If you have a word which you use in English and which you have always considered as English, then you are going to pronounce it in the English way. Far less often, you'll use a new word from another language but try to pronounce it in the way it would be in that language. Hotel is a word used commonly in English over endless years, so people will please themselves. But otherwise, we generally make an effort to pronounce words properly in another language - whether we speak that language or not. If not, the UK would be filled with the sound of people mangling language and ordering "café olē to drink with their take-away Peezers, for example!

Would you also say THE ‘otel, in the same way as you would say the honour, the heir, the hour etc? In the latter words the aitch is never pronounced. I think hotel is different. I would certainly say the hotel. Or I’d say hotels are being built here, not ‘otels.

I found it difficult to convince my children that it was usually wrong to drop aitches ( definitely not haitches) but right to say an ‘otel an ‘our, an ‘eir. There again I had also been taught to drop the ‘t’ in ‘often’.

It is grammatically correct Greta, but I do think how you speak and your accent play a part in whether you use a or an.

In the past, both were commonly used. Does it really matter? Language is evolving all the time, I find it fascinating.

We have a number of words beginning with h that have been imported from the French. Those of you who have studied French will know that h is never pronounced in French. Also, that there are two types of h in French: h aspiré and h muet. Whether we in English pronounce the h at the beginning of a word often depends on which French word we have imported.

Examples of French words where we in English pronounce the h:
le hamster, le hiatus, le hall.

Examples of words from the French where we do not pronounce the h:
hour, heir, honesty, honor

Not sure if this makes it any clearer. The correct English is "a hotel" and the h is pronounced.

I was taught an hotel, because the h should be silent, therefore the word begins with the vowel o.

I'd say A hotel is correct.

AN orange/egg/onion/elephant/umbrella,

A house/bed/woman/cat/dog/hotel

Surely a or an before u depends on how the u is pronounced. If short, as in unusual, then it’s an; if it’s long, like yew, as in useful, then it’s a.

I always thought that an hotel was correct, but I never say or write that, as a hotel sounds better regardless.

I still say ‘an otel’ and in common with other GNs, it comes from my grandmother.
She was a fusspot regarding manners, language use and grammar.

I accept its outmoded now.

NannaRose wrote
"Of course language evolves. I have begun to say 'stadiums' instead of 'stadia' because it is less understood and sounds odd. Interestingly, we rarely use 'datum' but have taken 'data' into general use."
I think that's the root of it. I'll have to tell our friend (a man) that he'll never find the exact answer to a question like that.
I did tell him that I thought it varied from place to place and time to time.
Language is so fascinating - at least I find it so.

From Fowler's Modern English Usage:
"The old-fashioned pronunciation with the h silent is almost dead, though an otel may still be heard, perhaps because it it less trouble to say than a hotel.

What about an MRI scan? Presumably it is because it starts with the sound em.

I was taught an hotel. But you say it an ‘otel !