Yes they're slightly different in theory, but not in any way that would prohibit mutual understanding. Besides, if you're telling anyone about this library you're most certainly going to spell it out anyways.
I'm American and pronounce Jacques and Jack the way they described. If someone said [ʒak], I would transcribe it as Jacques, and if someone said [dʒæk], I would transcribe it as Jack. It may be a French name, but it's not very foreign. (If I heard [dʒak], I would assume the speaker is British and transcribe it as Jack).
I was confused reading people say that Jacques is pronounced the same as Jack, so it does seem like mutual understanding is inhibited.
It's just like how, even though Johann is a German name (though borrowed from Latin), I know to pronounce it in English not as [dʒoʊhæn] (the naive English pronunciation), but as [joʊhan], which is similar to the German pronunciation, [johan].
explaininjs|2 years ago
Yes they're slightly different in theory, but not in any way that would prohibit mutual understanding. Besides, if you're telling anyone about this library you're most certainly going to spell it out anyways.
trealira|2 years ago
I was confused reading people say that Jacques is pronounced the same as Jack, so it does seem like mutual understanding is inhibited.
It's just like how, even though Johann is a German name (though borrowed from Latin), I know to pronounce it in English not as [dʒoʊhæn] (the naive English pronunciation), but as [joʊhan], which is similar to the German pronunciation, [johan].