>>ALL of these are pronounced with a y... yunivers, yuniform, yunik. Upanishad is pronounced without. Roma locuta, causa finita.
>
>I think we're at cross purposes. If, in English, you are reciting the alphabet then:
>
>U is pronounced as the U in Unicorn (yew? )
>Y is pronpounced similar to 'why'

And there's no way to explain how to pronounce u as i butcher and pudding. If you write u, it's read as yoo, or as uh.

I've come across this problem many times - if you want to explain to an Anglophone how exactly to pronounce this or that, you must memorize a list of "as in" examples and be quick at remembering them.