questions about car pronunciation?

[Emohawk]

The Toyota Prius, for example.. In America, it's "pree-us". In England, it's "pry-us".

Countach for me has always been "coon-tosh", but I think the Brits call it "coon-tash".

I think Celica is like the Prius, either one works... in America, it's "sell-ick-a", in England it's "sell-eek-a"

Renault= Renn-oh
Peugeot= Purr-jo
Citroen= Sit-tren

-Never heard pree-us before, always pry-us in Canada.

-Isn't it Italian for 'hey, lookit this' or is that just some silly rumour?

-Both are accepted as far as I know. I use both (my car is a 'sell-eek-a soo-pra', the other things are 'sell-i-ka')

-I used to say 'ren-alt'. Fortunatly, I didn't have occation to say it a lot untill I learned better.
I say Pu-jo, that's probably wrong, but it doesn't come up.
Citroen I used to get all dislexic and say 'sit-o-ren'. I don't actually think I've had to pronounce it yet. I'd probably just use the british pronounciation.

Nissan: NI-(s)san. I may have failed Japanese, but I know that.

Seat: it is 'say-it', right?

Opel: Like the stone (O-pull), or 'O-pell'?

Maybach: May-BOK, MYE-bok, May-BACH. I've heard all three from journalists proclaiming them the correct pronounciation.

 

[Firebird]

-Never heard pree-us before, always pry-us in Canada.

I don't know where the hell you're from, but I've never heard "pry-us". Always "PREE-us" around here...

 

[a6m5]

NEE-sahn



There is no 'u' in Mazda. Mazda is supposedly both a reference to the Zoroastrian deity Ahura Mazda (pronounced "MAZ-dah"; the first 'a' akin to the 'a' in 'apple') and an anglicization of Jujiro Matsuda's name (pronounced "MAHT-soo-dah", with the last two syllables pronounced very quickly). "Mazda", as far as I know, is pronounced "MAHTS-dah" in Japan.

Thanks for your help on the German end of it, but I'm Japanese, so I think I know how to pronounce Nissan and Mazda. On Nissan, I've taken a tour at one of their plants, and I have talked to Mazda people in Japan before, so I've heard how they pronounced the names of their company directly from them(not that there is anything to them, if you're Japanese).

In the Nissan name, the "Ni" is kept short, never extended to "nee" as you've suggested. The Mazda name, it is pronounced the same way you'd of the "Matsuda" name you mentioned(pretty common last name) and yes, you do say the last two syllables very quickly. Thank you for the origin of mazda name, but it definitely is not pronounced that way.

This reminds me of the time I said Sumo, and my friend(American) corrected my pronounciation. "hey, thanks for correcting my Japanese!"

P.S. I grew up in Yokohama, so I don't have any weird dialects either.

 

[Emohawk]

BC, lower mainland, Pry-us.
I believe I heard it on Motoring 2005 though, and they're based in Toronto.

 

[Firebird]

Thanks for your help on the German end of it, but I'm Japanese, so I think I know how to pronounce Nissan and Mazda. On Nissan, I've taken a tour at one of their plants, and I have talked to Mazda people in Japan before, so I've heard how they pronounced the names of their company directly from them(not that there is anything to them, if you're Japanese).

In the Nissan name, the "Ni" is kept short, never extended to "nee" as you've suggested. The Mazda name, it is pronounced the same way you'd of the "Matsuda" name you mentioned(pretty common last name) and yes, you do say the last two syllables very quickly. Thank you for the origin of mazda name, but it definitely is not pronounced that way.

This reminds me of the time I said Sumo, and my friend(American) corrected my pronounciation. "hey, thanks for correcting my Japanese!"

P.S. I grew up in Yokohama, so I don't have any weird dialects either.

Fair enough. I won't pretend to know a lot about Japanese: I'm repeating what a Japanese colleague told me. She said "NEE-sahn" and "MAHTS-dah".(same goes for "Benz" and "BENTST": just repeating what German friend told me. But I do know the French ones! )

 

[a6m5]

Fair enough. I won't pretend to know a lot about Japanese: I'm repeating what a Japanese colleague told me. She said "NEE-sahn" and "MAHTS-dah".(same goes for "Benz" and "BENTST": just repeating what German friend told me. But I do know the French ones! )

I think she was probably saying it in the way you can understand it easier. I know how to say the Japanese names properly, but if I was going to teach an english speaking person an name, I'd change it a bit. If I said "Honda" in Japanese to an english speaking person, you can bet on it that next thing to come out of his/her mouth will be "a what?"

P.S. I was reading an Japanese car mag today, for those of you who might be curious, they say Prius like Pu, le(like "lee", but shorter), usu. "Pu-le-usu". In Oregon, as Jedi mentioned, most people say "Pree-us" I almost wonder if Toyota selected this name to use the controversy to sell even more Prius(I hear the same conversation regarding this name, all the time).

 

[Firebird]

So she was just patronizing me?!

 

[a6m5]

So she was just patronizing me?!

In a way. It's just my guess, but I see that all the time. I do it too. When I teach somebody how to say konnichiwa(hello), I do go(case by case) "koun-neechi-waa", little different than I'd normally say it.

 

[Quick_Nick]

I watched a video of an NSX drag racing an RX7 & while they narrated it in Japanese they pronounced NSX ENESEXU.

video

 

[a6m5]

I watched a video of an NSX drag racing an RX7 & while they narrated it in Japanese they pronounced NSX ENESEXU.

I'm not sure what that is you wrote there, but they should pronounce it like, enu-esu-ex. Say the "e" like you'd say in beggining of "engine", not like "ee".

 

[donbenni]

Most Britons couldn't pronounce a foreign word if their life depended on it.

Man you don't know anything about Britons. There's loads of dumbarse people who come here who can't pronounce a shed load of forgeign words, whereas most people i know can speak at least two languages and have a very good understanding of the pronouciation of words from most European languages.

Family Guy is show written for Americans remember, and that rip of was from My Fair Lady, a film that's 40 years old.

 

[Firebird]

Man you don't know anything about Britons. There's loads of dumbarse people who come here who can't pronounce a shed load of forgeign words, whereas most people i know can speak at least two languages and have a very good understanding of the pronouciation of words from most European languages.

Next I suppose you're going to tell me all of you don't have bad teeth and don't drink too much...

(kidding! )


But if there's so many of you who speak other European languages how come not a one of you can pronounce Renault, Peugeot and Citroën correctly?

Family Guy is show written for Americans remember, and that rip of was from My Fair Lady, a film that's 40 years old.

I know, but to be honest I've never been able to sit through My Fair Lady.

 

[donbenni]

But if there's so many of you who speak other European languages how come not a one of you can pronounce Renault, Peugeot and Citroën correctly?

What is pronoucing a name correctly? After reading through this thread it seems people have different opinions here. Some say you pronouce names by the country of origin (see John below), but others say that you pronouce names by personal preferance.

It's all down to the fact that different countries pronouce names differently. It's dumb i agree but that's the way it goes.

My name is John. In France my name is Jean (pronouced Jchon sort of, almost Shawn). That's dumb, my names John, and you pronounce it Jon! Names shouldn't change just because you're in a different country, but for some reason they do.
Paris (France's capitol) is pronouced Pa-ree in France, but Pa-ris in England.

I'm sure Renault, Peugeot and Citroen are all pronounced differently in each country, maybe even more diversely than that.

I personally say Ren-oh, Per-sho and Sit-ron/Sit-ren.

I don't really believe in pronoucing names based on country of origin, that just gets too confusing. Lets all just be really ignorant and call them whatever we like. Probably the easiest method

 

[Firebird]

So THAT's how you're all masters of two or more languages? You just pronounce the words however you like?

Okay Jean. ("zhahn")

 

[donbenni]

So THAT's how you're all masters of two or more languages? You just pronounce the words however you like?

Okay Jean. ("zhahn")

Just the names

We're not that lazy

 

[Hyst]

Yeah, it's a giant bump, what of it? Not worth starting a thread over.

I'm usually very good with any kind of pronunciation (being an enormous soccer fan, following obscure teams all over Europe, whatever no one cares), but I'm looking for the correct way to say:

Pajero
Escudo
Murcielago.

Am I right in thinking 'Pie-yair-oh', 'Esh-ood-oh', and 'Merr-chee-ell-ogg-oh?

 

[the Interceptor]

the correct way to say:

Pajero
Escudo
Murcielago.

Am I right in thinking 'Pie-yair-oh', 'Esh-ood-oh', and 'Merr-chee-ell-ogg-oh?

It's...

Puh-che-roh (with the 'ch' pronounced like the 'j" sound in Tijuana)
Ess-coo-do'h
Moor-thee-el-uh-goh (with a voiceless 'th')

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

I always pronounced them:
Pa-jer-o
Es-kood-o
Merr-see-al-arg-o

 

[Hyst]

It's...

Puh-che-roh (with the 'ch' pronounced like the 'j" sound in Tijuana)
Ess-coo-do'h
Moor-thee-el-uh-goh (with a voiceless 'th')

So I couldn't be more off, eh? Good thing these particular cars don't come up all that much in conversation.

Thanks mate .

 

[Heldenzeit]

Isnt Köenigsegg pronounced Ker-nisch-zeg?

The German word for "king" is könig, pronounced ker-nisch.


....i think. My Swedish isnt all that great.

 

[the Interceptor]

Actually, König is pronounced 'ker-nig'. Therefore, Koenigsegg is pronounced 'Ker-nigs-egg'.

 

[Muzaffar]

I'll help out.

Yeah, it's a giant bump, what of it? Not worth starting a thread over.

I'm usually very good with any kind of pronunciation (being an enormous soccer fan, following obscure teams all over Europe, whatever no one cares), but I'm looking for the correct way to say:

Pajero
Escudo
Murcielago.

Am I right in thinking 'Pie-yair-oh', 'Esh-ood-oh', and 'Merr-chee-ell-ogg-oh?

Pajero: Puh-jay-ro (if that ever makes sense)
Escudo: =Ass-kuh-do
Murcielago:Mur-cie-a-lar-go (dont know why I pronounce it like that ) or mercy-a-la-go/mercy-la-go

Isnt Köenigsegg pronounced Ker-nisch-zeg?

The German word for "king" is könig, pronounced ker-nisch.


....i think. My Swedish isnt all that great.

I don't know why, but I pronounce it like Koh-nig-seg. Pratically even Jeremy Clarkson pronounce it like that. Maybe its a British slang......

 

[Heldenzeit]

Actually, König is pronounced 'ker-nig'. Therefore, Koenigsegg is pronounced 'Ker-nigs-egg'.

Ok, that was my second guess. Thanks.👍

 

[McLaren]

Murcielago is Moor - see - EH - la - go, or Moor - thee - EH - la - go, due to the accent above the "e". Moor-see-EL-ago is also a correct way to say it.
However because different countries & languages pronounce things differently, it really doesn't make that much of a difference. In Spain or Italy, the 3 I listed would fit while the way it's pronounced in the US might strange to them.

Actually, König is pronounced 'ker-nig'. Therefore, Koenigsegg is pronounced 'Ker-nigs-egg'.

But, then you might be referring to Königsegg, a small German state. Koenigsegg also does not have those dots/accents above the "o".

 

[the Interceptor]

But, then you might be referring to Königsegg, a small German state. Koenigsegg also does not have those dots/accents above the "o".

To be honest, I never heard of the shire Königsegg before you just mentioned it. But it doesn't exist anymore, so it's not actually a state.

Anyway ... As the letters 'ö', 'ä' and 'ü' are exclusive to some languages, there is a way of writing 'oe' instead of 'ö', 'ue' instead of 'ü' and 'ae' instead of 'ä', simply because many people don't know the letters and/or don't have them on their keyboard. Therefore, the terms 'Königsegg' and 'Koenigsegg' actually are equal. The founder of Koenigsegg, Christian von Königsegg, is written with the 'ö'. I suppose he changed it to 'oe' in the company name to make it easier to go international.

 

[McLaren]

To be honest, I never heard of the shire Königsegg before you just mentioned it. But it doesn't exist anymore, so it's not actually a state.

Anyway ... As the letters 'ö', 'ä' and 'ü' are exclusive to some languages, there is a way of writing 'oe' instead of 'ö', 'ue' instead of 'ü' and 'ae' instead of 'ä', simply because many people don't know the letters and/or don't have them on their keyboard. Therefore, the terms 'Königsegg' and 'Koenigsegg' actually are equal. The founder of Koenigsegg, Christian von Königsegg, is written with the 'ö'. I suppose he changed it to 'oe' in the company name to make it easier to go international.

Ah, that makes sense.

The way I normally pronounce cars though is through the way they're pronounced on Top Gear. I do this not because I think they know everything, but because it's an European show, so I only assume as Europeans, the 3 Englishmen of the show would know the correct way to announce a European car. And in this case, I can swear I've heard Clarkson say Koenigsegg as Koh-negs-egg.

 

[the Interceptor]

I can swear I've heard Clarkson say Koenigsegg as Koh-negs-egg.

He did, but he was wrong on that one.

 

[Wolfe]

Actually, König is pronounced 'ker-nig'. Therefore, Koenigsegg is pronounced 'Ker-nigs-egg'.

To me that just looks like "Kurr-nigs-egg," and I've heard americans say "danke shurrn" too many times. I'm familiar with the sound for ö, and while I'm not sure how to write it in internet forum phonetics, I think the "i" in "bird" (and just the "i") would be an apt description.

So maybe "Kih-nigs-egg."

 

[the Interceptor]

I think the "i" in "bird" (and just the "i") would be an apt description. So maybe "Kih-nigs-egg."

The 'i' in 'bird' is a very good example for pronouncing the 'ö' in 'Königsegg'. Note that the British pronounciation is wanted here, not the American one (not Texas style at least).

 

[Wolfe]

The 'i' in 'bird' is a very good example for pronouncing the 'ö' in 'Königsegg'. Note that the British pronounciation is wanted here, not the American one (not Texas style at least).

Good point, that didn't occur to me. Here in Madison you don't really hear a flat "berd" or "burd." That's definitely more of an effect of a southern drawl.