Axarquía

[Sancho Panther]

There is an area in Málaga province that bears this name, how should the 'x' be pronounced, is it like the guttural 'j' in Castilian Spanish or more like how English speakers pronounce México?

[aleCcowaN]

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Axarquía (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Axarqu%C3%ADa)

[Rusty]

There are two favored pronunciations, IPA |x| (like the 'j' in 'jarra', the 'g' in 'gente' and the 'x' in 'México') and IPA |ʃ| (like the English 'sh'). The origin of the word is Arabic (aš-Šarqiyya), which was clearly pronounced with the English 'sh' sound.