Brand names most commonly mispronounced Germany (2024)

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Brand names most commonly mispronounced Germany? ›

By some standards, many English-speakers, even highly educated ones, mispronounce certain borrowed German words in English. Examples include scientific terms (Neanderthal, Loess), brand names (Adidas, Deutsche Bank, Porsche, Braun) and names in the news (Angela Merkel, Jörg Haider).

Well-known international brands include Mercedes-Benz, BMW, SAP, Volkswagen, Audi, Siemens, Allianz, Adidas, Porsche, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Bank and Bosch , BMW Motorrad , Canyon Bicycles , Wiesmann GmbH , Ariola Records , UFA GmbH , Jako AG , Zalando SE.

BMW is correctly pronounced as 'Bee-em-vee'. Read More: What does the 'i' stand for in iPhone, iPad, iMac? Well, it turns out that Porsche, Hyundai and Volkswagen are also pronounced incorrectly by many people. The correct pronunciation of Hyundai is 'Hun-day-, rather than 'Hi-yun-die'.

Telekom has retained its number one position in the 2024 Kantar BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable German Brands Report, growing 9% to reach a brand value of $73.5 billion.

Clothing is the most purchased category with 60% of respondents indicating they've made a purchase. Shoes follow on second rank with half of online shoppers, and Consumer Electronics come in third place at a rate of 35%. Books, Movies, Music & Games follows at 33%, and Household Appliances rounds out the top 5 at 28%.

This combination of German words is pronounced “TEE-gwan”.

When this new SUV was announced, Volkswagen teamed up with AutoBild – publishers of German auto magazines – to sponsor a naming contest where 350,000 readers cast votes for names provided by the Volkswagen marketing group.

Originally, in Middle High German, the sound /f/ had been voiced in some dialects and was therefore written ⟨v⟩. Contemporary German has gone back to the unvoiced pronunciation, but idiosyncratically sometimes retained the medieval spelling.

ADIDAS (ah-DEE-das)

However, it's most likely to be named after the brand's founder Adolf ('Adi') Dassler. Americans pronounce the brand 'ah-DEE-das' - with the emphasis on the middle 'dee' - while in many other parts of the world, they say 'AH-dih-dahs. ' In this case, the Americans have it right.

What brands are commonly mispronounced in English? ›

Brands such as Hoegaarden, Nutella, Tag Heuer, IKEA, Hyundai, Porsche, NIKE, MOSCHINO, HERMES, OCADO, HUBLOT, GIVENCHY, BALMAIN PARIS, Volkswagen, Adidas, Adobe, to name a few have been mispronounced all the time.

Lyft, Tumblr, Flickr, Reddit and Netflix are some examples of 21st century brands with misspelled names although examples can be found farther back in retail history. Some classic brands with misspelled names include Kool-Aid, Dunkin', Trix, Rice Krispies, Froot Loops, Lite Brite, Play-Doh and Slip 'N Slide.