Mercedes-Benz is also near, but as the speaker in the video shows, the German letter C is closer to a Ts sound, which is present as its own letter in a number of languages, including Slavic. The final sound is more akin to Mer-TSEY-dess, with emphasis on the second syllable.
The German pronunciation of Opel is the most subtle, and you can hear why right away. The L comes after what in some other languages would be a soft sign, but is absent in English and is typically transliterated with an apostrophe.
The pronunciation of Volkswagen may have surprised American drivers the most. Depending on your state of residency, it is pronounced quite similarly to how it is written in the U.S. with a strong accent on Volks and a little drawl-heavy “WAH-gen.” However, it is definitely not how it is said in Germany.
If we were to spell it closer to how it sounds in German, it would be more like FOL’KS-vahgn. The word “olks” contains a pronounced soft sign that replaces the letter L, followed by something that sounds more like a T sound than a K sound something between T and K if you really listen before the letter V, which is actually a F sound in German. Like most German words that begin with the letter W, the second part of the word has a V sound in the middle. The Germans also do not linger on the A in the word’s “wagen” portion; this is primarily a foreign influence or how speakers of English pronounce “wagen,” which tends to sound more like WAH-gun.
In This Article...
Why is the word “Volkswagen” pronounced “Folkswagen”?
The origin of the largest automobile manufacturer in the world conceals its pronunciation. The Beetle was the first car that Volkswagen built as a brand. As a result, it was given the name Volkswagen, which is pronounced “folks-va-gun” and meaning “The People’s Car.” Essentially, “v” becomes “f.”
How is the E in Porsche pronounced in Germany?
Why isn’t it pronounced as a one-syllable word like most, if not all, Americans do (“PORSH, a softer take on the term “porch”)? There are actually two explanations, but the way German words are uttered is the main one. In short, unlike in English, German does not use “silent letters.” German pronunciation is more common for words like “share,” “there,” and anything else with a “e at the end that isn’t pronounced clearly in English.
Second, Porsche is unquestionably a German terma formal name, in factunlike the word Audi. In 1931, Ferdinand Porsche founded the company under that name as a design and development consultant. Nearly 20 years later, his son began producing sports vehicles under the Porsche brand.
So there you go, everyone. One syllable: PORE-shuh. We must now discuss how to say “Jaguar.”
What does the German word “Volkswagen” mean?
Although Volkswagen is a well-known name, many people are unaware of what Volkswagen stands for. Volkswagen is a German automaker. Volkswagen means “the people’s car” in German. Given that Volkswagen is renowned for its dependability, this makes sense. You can rely on Ancira Volkswagen of San Antonio to uphold the Volkswagen brand and give you sturdy, dependable automobiles. Contact our dealership in San Antonio, Texas right now if you require any help choosing a new Volkswagen vehicle. Come see us in Texas’ San Antonio.
Is it Nike or Nikey when pronounced?
So, if you’ve been saying it that way all along, congratsyou were correct!
We’re sorry to say that you’ve been saying it incorrectly if you’ve been trying to make it rhyme with “bike” or “like.”
When two individuals submitted a letter to Nike chairman Phillip Knight asking him to clarify the pronunciation, the myth around how to pronounce the well-known sportswear brand’s name was dispelled in 2014.
They asked Knight to circle the proper pronounciation, and he chose “Ni-key” rather than “Ni-ke.”
They said to Sportsmail: “We had this friendly bet between us for a while now and decided to write to Phillip Knight to finally put one of life’s greatest unresolved issues to rest.
“So that he could easily circle the answer and mail it back to us all, we provide a stamped, addressed envelope with the letter. We didn’t genuinely believe he would carry it out. But to his credit, the letter was received again a few weeks later!”
There you have it, then! The next crucial decision in life is whether to pronounce “Adidas” correctly with a long or short “i.”
Does that sound like JIF or GIF?
“The pronunciation is JIF, not GIF. similar to peanut butter. According to Wilhite, both pronunciations are recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary. “They are mistaken. A soft “G,” pronounced “jif,” is used.
In German, how do you pronounce Tiguan?
The German terms for “tiger (Tiger)” and “iguana” are combined to form the moniker Volkswagen Tiguan (Leguan). How do you pronounce Tiguan? The pronunciation of these two German terms is “TEE-gwan.
How do you say the name Audi?
Since the name Audi is so near to the word “audio,” we frequently hear it pronounced “Aw-dee,” but just to be clear, the correct pronunciation is “Ow-dee,” which sounds like “howdy” or “outie,” like the belly button!” So, there you go.
Does one say Porsche or porcha?
Porsch is one of the most widely used pronounciations, yet this pronunciation is incorrect. Porsche is actually a two-syllable word when spoken correctly. So, the correct pronunciation is “Por-shuh. Your inquiries about Porsche, including how to pronounce it, are welcome at Hendrick Porsche, of course!
Describe fargen nugen.
In a 1990 U.S. advertising campaign that featured a stick person driving a Volkswagen, the German automaker Volkswagen employed the term Fahrvergngen, which is pronounced [fafnyn] (listen).
Fahrvergngen translates to “driving pleasure” in English (from fahren, “to drive,” and Vergngen, “enjoyment”). The word itself is a neologism (compound noun) devised specifically for this marketing campaign and is not used in standard German. The phrase “Fahrvergngen: It’s what makes a car a Volkswagen” was used in one of the taglines.
Describe Fukengruven.
It parodies the vintage Volkswagen ads from the 1970s and 1980s. Fahrvergnugen! It was meant to be THE term to express the delight of operating a Volkswagen.
At a Grateful Dead concert, I first encountered Fukengruven, and I believe a Deadhead was responsible for its invention. I had one on my VW Bus back in the early 90’s. My bus was covered in Dead stickers, so I assumed it was one of those. It included the small dancing man, a variation on the dancing bears and skeletons.
At a Dead concert, I also acquired a Fukengruven sticker and shirt. My best friend’s father, Rolf, a skilled VW mechanic, confronted me about that sticker as he approached the rear of my 1974 Thing. I said, “Rolf, do you know about the Fahrvegnugen? This bumper sticker features the dancer and Volkswagen driver FukenGruven “. He laughed wildly for over an hour. I obviously bought him a sticker.
The Dunkin’ Donuts advertisement with the words “Fukin GoNuts” in the same font was the other noteworthy one from the Dead concerts. There are always some original stickers during Dead gigs.
What does the German word taigun mean?
According to Volkswagen’s narrative, “the people” desired Tiguan, a combination of the German words for tiger (Tiger) and iguana (Leguan). (TEE-gwan is how it’s pronounced.)
What does the English word Audi mean?
People who emphasize August Horch, a German engineer who created the company, are in the “Aw-dee camp.
Horch is a German term that meaning “listen,” and the Latin word for that is “audi, from which the name of the company he created derives. Numerous individuals believe that Audi should be pronounced similarly to other Latin-derived words like “words like “audio,” “auditory,” “audible, etc. However, we’re here to inform you that this is untrue.
In fact, the brand’s name should be pronounced “The brand’s own reps exclaim, “Ow-dee.”
“According to Loren Angelo, vice president of marketing for Audi of America, the Latin word “Audi” means “listen” and loosely translates to “horch” in German, which is obviously a homage to the company’s original creator, August Horch. “Since the name Audi is so near to the word “audio,” we frequently hear it pronounced “Aw-dee,” but just to be clear, the correct pronunciation is “Ow-dee,” which sounds like “howdy” or “outie,” like the belly button!
So there you go, everyone. Directly from the source, it is “Ow-dee rather than “Aw-dee. Friends, let’s talk about how to pronounce “Porsche” and “Jaguar” correctly now.
Why is a hard g used while pronouncing GIF?
According to a 2019 analysis by linguist Marten van der Meulen, “system” argumentswhich support one side of the dispute by arguing that the pronunciation should follow a logical rule of languageare the most often used justifications online on how to pronounce GIFs.
[14] The “system acronym” argument, which holds that the letter G in GIF stands for the word “graphics,” is one example of this. This argument claims that the letter G should be pronounced with the same phoneme as the word, i.e. with a hard g, in the acronym as well as the word itself. The quip that the word should be pronounced as /drfks/ if the acronym were to be spoken with a soft g is commonly used in conjunction with this particular argument (“jraphics”). [15] [16] [17] [18] This claim is refuted by the fact that acronyms do not always have to pronounce their source words the same way. For instance, the letter u in the acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, scuba, is pronounced /u/ even though the word from which it derives, undersea, is pronounced with /. [15] The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA (pronounced /ns/(listen)), has a similar acronym inconsistency. [13][15]
Frequency analysis, which is similar to Dow’s analysis in that it looks at how often other English words use hard or soft g pronunciations in other contexts, is another illustration of a “system” argument.
[19] Following Steve Wilhite’s declaration that the soft g pronunciation was the only acceptable form, there was a lot of discussion on social media and in the media from both sides of the argument. [2] In a piece for Gizmodo, Casey Chan stated that Wilhite was incorrect because soft g words that are followed by the letter if, like the “jiffy” in “Jiffy Lube” and “be back in a jiffy,” as well as the peanut butter firm Jif, should be spelt with the letter j. [20]
The next most frequent type of argument identified in van der Meulen’s investigation was a claim that the file format was created by a recognized figure, typically Wilhite.
[21] Many people acknowledged Wilhite as the expert on the word’s pronunciation when he declared his support for the soft g pronunciation because he invented its format. For pronunciation of GIF, Wilhite is the most often mentioned authority; 65.2 percent of cited arguments in the poll recommended a soft g. [21] Some, like Casey Chan, supported the hard g by citing U.S. President Barack Obama;[20] while others used dictionaries or digital assistants like Siri to bolster their claims. [21]
Does one say “Adidas” or “Adidas”?
- It is pronouced with the accent on the first syllable, “AH-dee-dahs.” The name of the German creator, Adolf Dassler, is the source of the brand.
If you’re an American, you’re probably saying “Ah-DEE-dus” when you say the name of the shoe company Adidas.
The initial syllable should be highlighted, and the final syllable should be prolonged.
Still perplexed? What it ought to sound like is as follows:
Since the company is German, most Europeans can accurately pronounce “Adidas.” It derives from the founder of the business, Adolf Dassler, whose pet name was “Adi.” We get “Adidas” from that and the abbreviation of his last name.
According to a popular urban legend, “Adidas” stands for “All Day I Dream About Sex” or “All Day I Dream About Soccer.” That makes no sense because the brand is German. Both are “backronyms,” indicating that the names were added after the originals.