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How do you pronounce the word, Superman?

For example the pronunciation of man seems equal in American and British English. But this is not the case for Superman. It seems that in American English, it is pronounced as Supermen. I'm asking it because in Italian we're using the American pronunciation.

tchrist
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wiso
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    No, In america it still has a "short a" as in 'bad' or 'fan' or 'can'. Regional dialect may change how that short a is pronounced. But however it is pronounced I'd expect that just plain 'man' and the 'man' in 'superman' would be pronounced the exact same way. – Jim Aug 19 '12 at 23:42
  • After listening to the two audio clips, I've concluded that the British woman seems a lot more excited to see Superman than her American counterpart, who seems much more ho-hum about the matter. But, to answer your question, I agree with @Jim: however one is inclined to pronounce man, they will likely pronounce the last syllable of superman pretty much the same way. Any variations in the recorded dictionary audio snippets are probably due to normal vocal/pronunciation variations in the speakers themselves. – J.R. Aug 19 '12 at 23:53
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    In America it's /supərmæn/, with the /æ/ vowel of man, Stan, hand, and the second syllable of banana. What some people call the "short A" sound. In the UK that sound does not extend quite the same way, since the TV hero called /bə'nanəmæn/ in RP would be called /bə'nænəmæn/ in the US. – John Lawler Aug 20 '12 at 00:04
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    Also, it looks like the OP may not reliably distinguish /ɛ/ in men from /æ/ in man, which is a common difficulty with English vowels. – John Lawler Aug 20 '12 at 00:06
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    Highly relevant: "Why isn't it Spidermən?" –  Aug 20 '12 at 04:12
  • @JohnLawler: probably this is the problem – wiso Aug 21 '12 at 17:30
  • @downvoter: comment – wiso Aug 21 '12 at 17:30
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    The /æ/ sound in American English is somewhat closer to the /ɛ/ sound than the /æ/ in British English (but not as close as the /æ/ sound in New Zealand English). This is probably what is confusing the OP. I (an American) hear the American pronunciation in the link as /supərmæn/ and not /supərmɛn/. – Peter Shor Jan 25 '13 at 18:21

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Since no-one has turned one of these comments into an answer yet...

"Superman" is pronounce just like "Super" and "Man". "Super" sounds like "Soup" (I don't know IPA, but that vowel sounds like the name of the letter "U") and "er" and "Man" rhymes with "can, fan, span, and plan"

TecBrat
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In a comment, John Lawler wrote:

In America it's /supərmæn/, with the /æ/ vowel of man, Stan, hand, and the second syllable of banana. What some people call the "short A" sound. In the UK that sound does not extend quite the same way, since the TV hero called /bə'nanəmæn/ in RP would be called /bə'nænəmæn/ in the US.

And Peter Shor similarly wrote:

The /æ/ sound in American English is somewhat closer to the /ɛ/ sound than the /æ/ in British English (but not as close as the /æ/ sound in New Zealand English). This is probably what is confusing the OP. I (an American) hear the American pronunciation in the link as /supərmæn/ and not /supərmɛn/.

tchrist
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