How do you pronounce Mario Vargas Llosa?

Nobel Prize In Literature - Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa wins 2010 Nobel Prize in literature.

Commenting on the news our friend wrote -

‘Thanks! What an honor!’

‘But I must say this: they keep referring to him as LLosa, which is pronounced Jossa, but that is not his paternal family name, but his maternal family name,
His last name is Vargas Llosa. You could call him just Mario Vargas, but there are SO many Mario Vargas out there that adding the mother's family name helps to differentiate him…’

’Something similar happened to Pablo Ruiz. Do you (know) who he is? Would anyone know him? There are SO many Pablo Ruiz out there!’

’But if you add the mother's family name: Picasso, Then you end up with Pablo Ruiz Picasso. When he moved to Paris, the Parisians found it easiest to refer to him as just Picasso, since that name is very uncommon and it had "artistic flair" -- so now you know "the rest of the story" . . .’

’My full name in Spanish is Enrique Romaguera Martínez Díaz Jiménez - first name -- paternal father’s family name/ maternal father’s family name/ paternal mother’s family name / maternal mother's family name. This way of naming makes it easy to follow family genesis’.

But the web gives this explanation about pronunciation -

Mario Vargas Llosa:
Pronunciation: [mär´yO vär´gäs yO´sä].

And you (our friend) states that Llosa should be pronounced Jossa.

Is there a different pronunciation tradition in the Latin countries and other countries?

And our friend replies -

‘Yes. Different Spanish countries use different pronunciations for the LL. In S panish the double L is considered a seeeparate letter from the simple L.’

’So in a Spanish dictionary you go through all the words with a simple and then you start another dictionary section with words that start with a double LL.’

’The same thing happens in n mid word. You exhaust all the words with simple L and then you start with those with the double LL’.

’In Spain the LL is pronounced like a palatalized L, the simple L is pronounced as a non- palatalized L’.

’In Mexico it is pronounced like a Y, or a Yond’.

’In Argentina It is pronounced as a ZH. Or a palatalized SH
In many Latin American countries, like in Puerto Rico, and Peru, it is pronounced like an English J.’

’Now you have it from the horse's mouth’.

Yes indeed a lesson in various pronunciation traditions
is learned and we won’t look this gift horse in the mouth!

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