A couple members of our team are currently hanging out with the Zara team in A Coruña, a spot on the northernmost tip of Spain (keep an eye out for our reports from the other side). But upon arrival, they quickly realized something. Says Refinery29 senior fashion news editor, Alexandra Ilyashov, "Between checking out the retailer's sprawling design studios and sipping Rioja, we realized there was a key component to the Zara orbit that we hadn't quite grasped yet: How the hell DO you pronounce Zara correctly, anyway? Luckily, one of the retailer's communications reps was kind enough to set the record straight for us."
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If you want to phonetic about it, it's pronounced "dzah-dah." When Mercedes and her crew do it quickly, however, it sounds more like "tsada" to us. After watching this video a thousand times, we will never not be able to pronounced it as "saaa-daaaa!"
Zara ("saaa-daaaa!") is based in Arteixo, Spain — and pronounces its Zs with a soft "th" sound, and Rs more closely to American Ds. Not saying you have to code switch like your college roommate who came back after a semester abroad with a put-on accent for certain words, but give it the same care that you give to a non-American word like Louis Vuitton — you're not exactly saying that "Louis" the same way as you'd say St. Louis.
So, to recap — it's not really like "zahr-ruh." Or "zay-rah." Or — according to that one friend we all have who studied abroad in Barcelona for one year — "thara." And — sorry Kanye — but it's definitely not "zawrah."
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the dominant dialect in Arteixo is Northern Castilian. Spanish (Castilian) and Galican are both spoken.