How do you pronounce the letter J?

[Zeddy]

I say traditionally in the UK it has always been "jai" and that the American version of "Jay" has quickly taken over from it in the media.
Work colleagues say that "jay" has always been around in England and that "Jai" is just a regional variation.
Who is correct?

[jno]

erm, what's the difference? Can you quote words that rhyme with what you're trying to ask?

[Zeddy]

Jay as in jay walking, Jai as like eye.

[raysparx1]

Then in England it is Jay

[raysparx1]

Should have said in the UK it would be Jay

[Feena]

Its Jay in Wales as well Zeddy.

[Zeddy]

Ah well us Scots are just different for the hell of it!
NB Scotland is currently in UK.

[Zeddy]

Thanks folks!

[raysparx1]

must just be you lot up in Scottyland Zeddy, lol.

[brian j john]

J as in jug with an A

[brian j john]

or how you pronounce it when repeating the alphabet , thats from wales too Feena

[stewey]

Well.........how do explain 'gaol'?

[THECORBYLOON]

The letters I and J rhyme but most non-Scots pronounce the J as jay.

[kctgreat]

"Jay"walking in New York.

[heathfield]

AB's typeface won't handle the characters, but the official phonetic pronounciation of the letter J in the English alphabet is represented by 'd3eI'.
(That's a 'd' combined with a symbol that looks like a number 3 with a dropped-down tail, and the 'I' is a small Roman capital 'i' ).

The 'd3' is pronounced as the g in 'edge'.
The 'eI' is pronounced as the 'ay' in 'day'.

[nightmare]

This is complicated by Southerners tending to diphthongise the ay sound, and "cockneys" making it rhyme with eye.
Northerners pronounce it as jay, but with a flat ay sound, not diphthongised to ayee.

[Thunderbird+]

Gawd Blimey ! I thought it was only Dick Van Dyke cockney that makes J rhyme with eye.

[Goodsoulette]

I have never heard it pronounced jai.

West country and its jay here!

[Quizmonster]

J pronounced j-eye is just a dialectal variant in exactly the same way as 'haitch' rather than 'aitch' is.

[Zeddy]

J looks more like an i than a k.
Therefore by my sound reasoning all who pronounce it j-eye are correct!

[THECORBYLOON]

Zeddy, a lot of English folk don't pronounce half of the letters in English words so I wouldn't worry that they call J "jay.