Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
a unique
English answer:
a unique (not an unique)
English term
grammar: the use of "an"
OR "an unique strategic location .."
My preference is to "a" - as it modifies location (and not unique). (Or is it because it comes before a "u"?)
| 5 +8 | a |
Lincoln Hui
|
Jan 29, 2020 09:10: Barbara Carrara changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): Lincoln Hui, Tony M, Barbara Carrara
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Responses
Hong Kong
Excellence is a basic requirement.
Native in: Chinese (Variants: Cantonese, Traditional) 
, English
Works in: Chinese to English, English to Chinese, Japanese to Chinese, and 1 more.
a
| That's what I thought too. (Just need to send your support to the client, so that they will belive me!) |
| agree |
Tony M
: Because it's pronounced 'yunique' — but N.B. some rather dated EN usage would slavishly say 'an unique...', but I think this is no longer current and even deprecated.
46 mins
|
| agree |
Mark Robertson
2 hrs
|
| agree |
Monica Colangelo
2 hrs
|
| agree |
Arabic & More
: If necessary, you can show your client examples from prominent newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post, etc.).
2 hrs
|
| agree |
James A. Walsh
6 hrs
|
| agree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
8 hrs
|
| agree |
Christine Andersen
1 day 2 hrs
|
| agree |
Kelsey Donk
5 days
|
Discussion
I think you can tell your customer that they are being very old-fashioned if they attempt to follow that practice!
Note that a similar thing happens with certain words beginning with 'h' — and in this case, the practice very definitely survives today, as some 'h's are pronounced and some are not: it sounds natural to say 'a hospital' or 'a host' — but equally, to say 'an hour'; there is less certainty about e.g. 'an hotel' (which some people tend to consider rather affected these days) or 'an historic moment'.