Do my ears deceive me or is that how many newsreaders (overseas correspondents included) pronounce Volkswagen? My understanding is that it should be "folksvargen" or something very close. Mr intrade should be able to confirm that. Now, how do you pronounce Alfa-Romeo, Audi, Citroen, Lamborghini, Lancia, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Porsche, Renault, Skoda, Subaru?
Didn't Subaru officially change its pronounciation decades back to suit how Americans were saying it? Instead of being arrogant and saying it correctly it just changed its own way, I seem to recall this. Japanese seem to be very fluid in accepting change names and pronounciation to suit buyers, often changing spelling and names. Unlike Germans. Loved the new spelling over rover for Chinese maker roewe! Italian names must all be said in Italian with emphasis and excitement. You can say Alfa Romeo in a boring voice!
sifty,
Sep 24, 5:10pm
Subaru is correctly pronounced Soobaroo, not the Su-BAH-roo that nz uses. Japanese language uses same vowel sounds as Maori so no idea where we got it so wrong.
In this respect the yanks got it right, same as they say Nee-Sahn instead of the nz Nissin.
tamarillo,
Sep 24, 5:48pm
I think because in English we usually have one syllable with emphasis. We put it on the BA and Aussies put it on RU, both wrong as you say. It's an even sounding Su ba ru. I think my memory of how it changing might be wrong, now I recall it was simply that they said they don't mind and if we want to say it wrong that's okay.
petal_91,
Sep 24, 5:55pm
Audi is some sort of made up name, or acronyn I think, based on the names Auto Union and DKW. Similar thing with Fiat. Pronunciations of those sorts of names can surely vary more.
richardmayes,
Sep 24, 6:07pm
Most New Zealand news presenters can barely even speak English.
I would not hold out much hope of hearing correct use of European names.
intrade,
Sep 24, 9:47pm
i dont know about any of that, i know however another thing that probably non of you knew. Ferdinand piech got throwen out of volkswagen so martin wintercorn could be the leader. I am rather shure piech is opening a bottle of shampys when he did hear the news that wintercorn Resigned. He hated the living guts of that guy. Piech is behind the vw unit injector technology and his last baby was the poeton.
"Fünf Mark die Woche musst du sparen, willst du im eigenen Wagen fahren"
johotech,
Sep 25, 1:59am
Actually in Japanese it is Su-ba-ru. They are all short sounds. Same with Nissan which is just Ni-san - In Japanese, the "i" is pronounced as an "e" sound.
Subaru - ?
sifty,
Sep 25, 3:01am
Yeah I realise that (studied Japanese).
Was trying to write phonetically for those who hadn't.
franc123,
Sep 25, 4:54am
Just using either VeetroubleU or Hitlers Revenge is just as quick as trying to pronounce the damn name correctly. Everyone knows what you are referring to.
mike1345,
Sep 25, 2:24pm
Vee Dub
robotnik,
Sep 25, 5:35pm
Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades / Seven Sisters star cluster. I would therefore suggest we could also call Subaru the Pleiades.
pebbles61,
Sep 25, 5:39pm
Roow Veer
elect70,
May 4, 8:35pm
It all depends on the country . Yanks say Nee-san we say Nissan They say suba-roo we say subaru. Yanks say Alumin num we say aluminium then we have tamatoes & tomatoes .
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