As for the pronunciation in English of Chile, if you are talking about the ground beef and bean meal, Chile is definitely Chilly.

But when referring to the country, there are more differences. Most people who don’t speak Spanish say it like chilly, but others who do speak Spanish mostly say something more closely approximating Che-lay. For a long time in the USA, Chile, the nation, was generally pronounced “Chilly,” even by radio announcers.

In checking, it seems even those who speak “the language” don’t agree. If you google the pronciation of Chile (the country), you’ll find that, depending on what language you speak, it’s spoken differently.

For me Chile (meal or country) has always been Chilly. But I’ve recently realized that the country, Chile, has various pronunciations. I’m glad those from the country of Chile are forgiving so even to them, it’s fairly unimportant in the over-all scheme of things. I’ll probably still say “Chilly” regardless of my meaning. But when I’m trying to impress someone who “knows,” I’ll go with Che-lay.