It's important to note that the "American" pronunciations are how the companies advertise their names in America. Post WW2, they often wanted to hide the German origins by giving them -Anglican- Anglo names/pronunciations.
This is very true. Even German sounding town and family names willingly changed during WW2. The roots were not forgotten but rather the people choose to change to more patriotic sounding "American" names so it was clear who they stood with. America still has German festivals and discusses the German roots of towns and people but the official name changes, mostly, stayed changed.
There are two smaller brands also founded by brothers, this time for hiking, ski? and mountain boots: Hanwag and Lowa (Hans and Lorenz Wagner). I also find funny that Berghaus is a british brand but Jack Wolfskin is German. And they both have these names for marketing reasons. In the 1960s Austrian, German, Swiss brands dominated mountaineering gear and in the 80s English names were cool in Germany.
At first, he actually wanted to call his company “Ruda” but since his nickname was “Puma”, which sounded better and was associated with the dynamics of the animal puma (or cougar in the US), he named it “Puma”. 😊
And? What do you DO now? Come and live five years in Germany! Learn German that way. Lose that American accent. That is the whole thing. And I know it is not easy, I live SIXTY miles from Germany, but you need to talk German all day long, for weeks, before you start thinking in German. Translating things inside your head? No. It should get automatic. That means you gotta know all the words, it takes years. So, get out of your USA, please. Find a job in Germany. Do you REALLY love history?
You have brought a tear of joy to an old man's heart. As a child, my parents hosted a young exchange student form Germany attending the University of Miami back in the early 70's. She altruistically spent her weekends sharing her culture with my family and I. Manu years later, I was afforded an opportunity to travel through Europe on a bicycling tour and visited her home town of Cologne. It was through her generosity and spirit, that I was able to even dare to attempt pronouncing street names or menu items. I did OK and was never made made to feel ashamed. The Villagers appreciated my attempts and made me to feel welcomed for the effort. Here I am more than 30 years late watching YOUR videos and getting that very same comforting feeling. Thank you .
As someone living in Cologne, I'm glad that you enjoyed your stay. Some things can be quite hard to pronounce and the local accent often doesn't make things easier for foreigners. Though we are happy to welcome people from all cultures and show them our city. I appreciate people trying to learn my language and only practice helps to get better
@R. Schowiada71 after rereading my post, I can see where clarification would be advantageous. By no means did I intend offense. I was actually referring to the outlying areas where the presumption of being able to communicate in English would be pretentious. ☺ Happy Noel. 🦈🧜♂️🎄
I was a student in Germany in the 1970s, where I learned to speak German. When I returned, I always, and still do, pronounce German brand names like Germans do. What I really appreciated about this video was the backgrounds of the names and companies. Thanks so much; this was fun.
My parents always pronounced "Volkswagen" properly (the German way), so I learned that from a very young age. But for whatever stupid reason, I have acquiesced to pronouncing it the American way (the wrong way), I suppose mostly because I would get blank stares from my friends when I pronounced it properly.
Thing is, in Germany I might try to pronounce brands as a German would. Because it aids in communication and it’s good manners. In America, frankly, doing so is at best making communicating with others more difficult. At worst it’s pretentious.
This video blew me away. There were so many companies that were German that i didn't realize, like Aldi, Adidas, Puma, Trader Joe's, Porsche. Thank you for sharing. I've always been interested in the origin of different things.
Here in the UK Lidl used to pronounce their name as "Leedl." This had no effect on us Brits who stubbornly prononnced it "Lid -l" as in "lid.". Lidl took notice and now use the UK pronunciation even to the extent that one of their slogans is "Lidl on price, big on quality."
Coming from Europe myself and used to the "European" pronunciation, people here in the US often ask me why I pronounce Siemens with a "z" rather than an "s" as it's normally pronounced in the US.
@@linanutshell Was Pedro meint ist stimmhaftes s und stimmloses S stimmhaft wie in dem Wort Summen... Stimmlos wie in dem Wort Wasser... Merke: steht dass es am Anfang eines Wortes ist es praktisch immer stimmhaft...
@@souhridyobose4362 Well sorry dude, I didn't catch that but good on you for picking me up on that. Felicia and I feel so much better now. thanks mate.🤣
She is like natural born German and American same time....her both languages sounds perfect...i have noticed that at very first example she made....awesome...
Americans are sometimes unfamiliar with the number of people in our small world who fluently speak 2-4 languages...I feel sad our world has turned upside down like it has and adversely affected the educations, careers, travel opportunities of so many wonderful young people. It’s nice you get a small taste of it on UA-cam watching this pretty and engaging girl.
@@KRYMauL its close to Frisian a side language in the Netherlands for the Friesland/Groningen province there are variations of that language in German and Denmark with the Frisian Island group. But German and English are still very different in Grammar and Spelling and dont get me started on pronounciation. im dutch btw, the country with highest proficiancy in English that isnt a native speaker.
It's not flawless. Don't go giving everyone gold medals for participation. There's at least a tenth of a second drag as she swiitches accents. At least! It's cute AF.
@@psmaria23 Here is a bit of advice for you. Lighten up, Nancy. When people say absurd and silly things, its often to get you to think specifically about them. Several of the things that she does remarkably, astonishingly well multiple times in the same sentence. Have you actually thought about her phonology and phonological completeness and nativity? Just for shits and giggles, obviously.
@@ryhk3293 well, I was admiring her accent and pronunciation anything beyond that I do not know. As a bilingual, I cannot be as eloquent or coherent. It was a simple observation/listen of her speech. My brain doesn’t know anything more sorry. Lol
The reason Americans pronounce most of these brands the way they do is because the companies themselves pronounce it that way in their own advertising.
Right, we just don't know because they are always pronounced a certain way and we of course are not going to question it "is that really how it is pronounced??"🤦♀️
So, back in 1990, a young woman named Petra from West Germany came to live with us for a year on a student exchange program. She was from the Hanover area and she was one of the most special beautiful wonderful human beings I've ever met. The things you post are so much like the conversations we had back then - and I remember Oct 3, 1990, she was living with us and it was so exciting and special to have a German in my home when the unification happened. This entire video made me laugh and get super nostalgic for those days. I will always adore Germany and though I speak not a word of German, the language makes me smile. (I got a D- in German and the professor told me he'd only give me that if I didn't sign up for the next semester!) regardless, thank you so much Felicia. your channel is a bright spot in a dark world. YOU rock.
schön das ich deinen Kanal entdeckt habe. Mein Englisch ist grottig, aber es macht Spaß dir zuzuhören und manches kommt in Erinnerung aus dem englisch-Unterricht der schon lange her ist.
If you want to hear more about it check out the podcast Business Wars season 2 is all about Adidas vs Puma. It’s a really good podcast. I highly recommend it.
Additionally they're not just brothers, but they operate from the same small town and when they first started out, they split the town in Adidas/Puma workers according to which side of the river that runs through the town they live in. So one side sided with Adidas, whilst the other sided with Puma.
@@minamckenzie4070 What is a Point? Unless u have time machine and stop him doing that. If not DROP THAT SHIT ALL READY FOR FUCK SAKE. IM FUCKED OFF WITH IDIOTS LUKE U KEEP BRINGING SHIT LIKE THAT UP!! It happened there is fuck all u or I can do bout it. IT WAS MORE THEN 75 YEARS AGO. AND ANYWAY I LIKE ADIDAS.
@@TT-rz5td we learn a lot about the English language in school. I would say, approximately 80% of Germans with Abitur (highest education degree of our school systems) will speak English with a very good grammar. But the pronounciation is obviously very difficult to us, so we‘re very far away from being perfect 😜
As many other commenters have pointed out, it’s not so much Americans pronouncing the names wrong. It was the German companies “Americanizing” their names for marketing purposes. They came us with those Americanized pronunciations themselves to give their brands more appeal in the US market. You’re right in that it’s not proper German pronunciation. But it was those German companies themselves that came up with the “American names” for their products and companies here. You make a point but you don’t know the history behind those mispronunciations. I worked for Mercedes for many years here in the US. When the German bosses came here if you used the German pronunciation of Mercedes, you were chastised severely! They wanted the pronunciation on this side of the Atlantic to be what you hear Americans say. They would say to us, “You are now German?” It was quite embarrassing to say the least. So, there’s a reason beyond American ignorance of the German language for the American pronunciation of those names. And it’s all about the $$$.
They use the "American" pronunciation in the whole anglophone world. I live in South Africa. Nivea is very popular here, the "American" pronunciation is used in advertisements. Afrikaans speakers use closer to the German pronunciation of adidas, Volkswagen and Jägermeißter in speech. We also say "Audi" the German way because we "understand" the "au" sound from German given names in our heritage. Once again, advertisements which are exclusively in English nowadays in South African pronounces it "Ohdi".
@@lisaniemand5593 Couple that with regional accents and you've got a recipe for disaster, my grandma for example is 78 years old she has what I call an Okie accent from the state of Oklahoma she will never pronounce any of these words the same as even the commercials, I'd assume the same could be said for elderly people across the Anglophone world.
I was going to say, I've spent a good amount of time overseas and not once has anyone said mercedes like her. I've driven hundreds of miles on the autobahn in a mercedes with germans in the car and not one ever said it like that. Maybe they were just patronizing me
@@Kstorm88 I used to live in Germany and she pronounced it correctly but most Germans know English and will usually pronounce the words as an American would. This is unless you ask them to pronounce it the way they normally would. The only one that's difference was Volks Wagon as I was always told that it was Wolks Vagon where the pronunciation of the V and W are switched in German. I'm Asian and it's like Sriracha to me. Americans pronounce it with an R sound and even the owner said it's with an R. However, it's named after Si Racha, Thailand in which the R is an L sound so every southern Asian person I know, including myself, pronounce it as See Lacha.
Mercedes is shit. They used to be good now they just fall apart. If you're gonna be an idiot and buy a "luxury" car at least buy a Lexus. It might last you a while.
@@richardnedbalek1968 XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD *WHEEZE* *WHEEZ* OMAGAD YOU MAKE ME FULL OF PAIN DUE TO OVER-LAUGHING AND OVER-BREATHING XDDDD HOLY F- XDDDD HAHAHAHA When you said that they last forever
My grandparents are from Germany... I have spent my life correcting the way they say most of these brand names... 😂😂😂 no wonder they laughed at me the whole time! 😂😂😂
It's always neat to hear the change in dialectal tone (?) for a multilingual individual from their native language to another language. It almost sounds like two different people speaking when you pronounce the words differently.
This is exactly what I was thinking when I was watching this video. If they wanted us to say it a certain way it would be pronounced that way in the commercial. A good example of this is the laundry detergent Persil, it annoys my wife how they say it in the commercials here because back home in England where she is from it's said completely different. Apparently it's also a German brand.
You're quite right. Often a marketing team will want the brand to feel comfortable for consumers in a new locale and part of that will be being comfortable to pronounce. The exception can be when the "exoticism" of the brand is part of the marketing, usually for "premium" products - indeed a fake "foreign" name can be used just for that, as in Häagen-Dazs. Mind it doesn't explain the difference in pronunciation between US and UK for the trainer brands Adidas and (US brand) Nike. In the UK we pronounce the former the German way, but Nike "incorrectly" to rhyme with "like" (or did when I was a trainer buyer in the 80s - we might have caught up by now).
Commercials can fix what they broke, though. When I was kid, many moons ago, everyone in England pronounced Nestlé like the English word 'nestles,' thanks to the Milkybar adverts. At some point (possibly in the 90s) the adverts started pronouncing it correctly, and the public followed not long after.
I love this video. So much wonderful information included. Not just a pronunciation lesson, but also a cultural and historical lesson. Thank you for sharing.
@@loop5720 speaking German is not very hard. Some of the words are similar to English. Just like here in the US they have regional ways to pronounce words. Like tomato, potato... My favorite is the different ways ham is pronounced all over Germany.
@@ajalicea1091 - The similarity is because the Northern European languages are based on the German language, whereas the Southern European languages are based on Latin. For example, the Volkswagen means People's car, which comes from Folk's Wagon. Dr. Porsche want to produce a car that average people could afford, therefore it was the People's Car. If you say "Merc" to an American he will think that you are talking about a Mercury, a division of the Fix Or Repair Daily company. BMW was the first bike to use opposed cylinders (like the Beetle) and an enclosed drive line like a car, instead of an oily chain.
Me trying to pronounce correctly “Volkswagen” , Americans: “ don’t act like a German” 🤦♂️ me as Latino: teaching Americans how to pronounce correctly “Murciélago” (Lamborghini) , Americans : you’re wrong ! In America we have a different pronunciation😂😂😂😂💪🏻🇺🇸
As an Italian, I was *so* sure Nivea and Miele were Italian! Nivea just... Sounds Italian to me, while "Miele" is an actual word in Italian and it means "honey" 😂
Eric Klassen- Maybe not in your presence, but I doubt they’ve never had crosswords with each other when you’re not there. That is part of human nature. Unless your sons are robots, raised by robots I press X to doubt. Parents always see their children with rose tinted glasses. That’s why parents stand by their children even if they commit murder.
Nothing to do with pronunciation, but a funny story: On my first trip to Germany, one evening I decided to walk around the the city. I knew the main road that my hotel was on, so I noted the cross street. It was “Einbahnstraße”. On my way back, after several Liters of beer I noticed that almost ever side street was named “Einbahnstraße”. I did find my way back...eventually!
I was with a British tank crew in Germany. One of our tanks went missing, the Squadron leader kept asking him for a location and an ETA. After a number of exchanges he reported would be rejoining the squadron soon. He just needed to locate a town on the map, it must have been a large city as it was signposted everywhere, he explained. The name of this mythical town? Einbahnstraße, or in English, One Way Street😎
My first time in Germany, I went into a cafe to get coffee. This was my first interaction with a native German speaker in the wild, and I had only studied German for two years, so I suddenly got really nervous before ordering (I was also 16, so not good at handling nerves yet). I wound up forgetting all my vocabulary on the spot and saying something incoherent. I decided to describe what I wanted, and somehow settled on saying I wanted something like "einen Papierkorb von Kaffee." I have no idea why my brain came up with that nugget, but I had basically just said I wanted a paper basket of coffee. The girl behind the counter gave me a totally bemused look, and i got entirely flustered and bailed out of the cafe with no coffee whatsoever.
Vielen Dank! Ich habe in Deutschland gewohnt ungefähr 23 Jahre alles zusammen, und meine Sprache ist ein bisschen schlecht!😁Your video is absolutely perfect for English speakers who mispronounce German words! I thoroughly enjoyed your cheerful disposition and your willingness to share/teach. Best of luck
An English merchant ship sends out an SOS distress call..."We're sinking! I repeat we're sinking!" A German ship in the area responds to the distress call, "Ja...Unt vat are you sinking about?"
I bought a Miele vacuum 21 years ago and it's still going strong. I've tried to kill it but it won't die. The other day, I used it as a shop vac and cleaned my garage; it still works even after nails, screws, and staples.
Mine went strong right until the moment I went on Holiday and left my keys with my brother to keep an eye on my house. Took a couple of days upon return to finally figure out that vacuum had disappeared. Not impressed.
I'm English, I don't speak German, but got every single German pronunciation right. I have already patted myself on the back and massaged my massive ego!
@@rockmcdwayne1710 no problemo,i used to disagree with people quite often people like new modern music where girls sings with boy's voice, i dont ! 80's is were magic lives people running like crazy to live in big town and they like it, i dont ! nature is running through my blood, towns are big prisons, people were never supposed to live in towns its not normal and natural environment for any living being, thats why humanity went nuts people like drinking alcohol, i dont ! fresh juice is the best thing ! i am not 2m tall because i consumed alcohol people like fat cars which looks more like a tank than a car, with ugly lines, i dont ! to me beautiful car is like a beautiful girl it must have hot lines ! no one likes fat girls, why you should like fat cars ? for example Paul Walker had a lot of money and he was a very smart guy no doubt, why he was driving toyota supra ? because he had a good taste thats why ! i had money to buy new mazda 6, but i didnt, because its ugly like hell, its just too much, it looks like a tank, fat ugly tank ! so i bought mazda 6 older version from 2007 and its amazing, its not so advanced vehicle like new mazda but at least it looks like a car instead of looking like a tank
That is because Americans are pronouncing them according to our alphabet and the English language. However I feel if they are going to use foreign products, stores etc. they should use the original pronunciation.
As a spaniard I think Mercedes is a bit tricky, because it's a spanish girl name. Mercedes means 'gnade' or 'mercy'. The complete name is María de las Mercedes. This name was carried by one of our queens, and the pronunciation is also different.
That is true, but it is still a German company and the worker at Daimler probably pronounced her name wrong too. So the Brand name is still correct as it's said in Germany
@@agusovando haha yes and no... Brands are made names.. So yes if you have a friend who is called Mercedes and I in German would pronounce it with the German pronunciation , then I would say it wrong.. But if my German friend is called Mercedes than the German pronunciation is correct for this name.. It depends on who is the giver of the name, he can decide what it's supposed to sound like. Cause people give names not necessarily cause they relate to a specific origin. So just because a queen or god was called this way in a specific country, does not mean they choose this name because of it... So if the name giver want to call their kid a specific way and write it in a specific way they can and their pronunciation will be correct regardless of the history of the nams, even if it sounds wrong to others
Not only in the USA, I'm South American, a spanish speaker, and everytime I try to correct the pronunciation of English, German, french, etc words to other people, they think I'm being an elitist retard, or a wannabe that hates his own country... At first that kind of mentality was infuriating for me, but now, it only makes me sad....
@@innerarts4091 No es lo mismo amigo. El alemán y el inglés comparten las mismas raíces, además de que los angloparlantes, al ser USA un país multicultural, han acogido muchísimos términos de otros idiomas, los cuales se han vuelto parte del lenguaje cotidiano. En cambio, en Latinoamérica realmente no hay necesidad de decir esas palabras con su acento y pronunciacion exactas, por lo cual la gente seguramente te toma como un tipo pretencioso. Quizá hasta presumido
After I studied German in college, I would pronounce “Schwarzkopf” properly and all my friends would look at me weird like. “Who says it like that?” Ha! Jokes on them 😉 Thanks for the vindication! 🙌🏼
I guess I'm out of it, because the only "Schwarzkopf"s I know are either the late German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf or the US general Normal Schwarzkopf Jr. (both with of course the German pronunciation).
I would pronounce Schwarzkopf as something like ['ʃʋɑʁtskɔpf], while in this video I hear ['ʃvaɐtskʰɔpf]. My pronunciation would have a Dutch accent, but may not be misunderstood by Germans.
I’m from Norway, and you can really see how similar our language are because I would pronounce all the these brands and words almost exactly the same way you did 😁
It's not unusual for native English speakers to have difficulty pronouncing English properly, so it should be no surprise they struggle with other languages.
I'm from Germany and I was almost half a year in Norway and I have to say our words and pronunciations are pretty close to each other. Best example: "lærling" and "Lehrling"
Currently learning German but being a Geordie ( from the north east of England) it’s a great help for pronunciation and accent. We have a strong Anglo Saxon history. Great video❤
"Miele means quality." 100% Absolutely agree! My mother had a Miele washing machine for over 20 years. Most reliable thing she ever owned. Not like other brands nowadays where their warranties expect them to break within 3 - 8 years. If ever I can't find a Miele, my next option is generally Bosch. Glad to know I was pronouncing most of these correctly. Mercedes-Benz was a surprise.
In Germany, you say "Nur Miele, Miiele, sagt die Tante, die alle Waschminen kannte", "only Miele, Miele, said the lady who knew all washing machines"...
Just blew my mind because I always knew Volkswagen meant “People’s car” but I never realized Volks is pronounced like Folks which has got to be where the very common American word of “Folks” comes from. Holy crap, it was always there staring me in the face.
Yes, I can relate to that about how certain letters are pronounced. Living in Germany back in the 80's it took a while to learn to pronounce the letter "W" like the "V" and to pronounce the letter "S" like the letter "Z", It will take a little time but practice makes perfect.
Except that you pronounce the "l" in "Volks" whereas in "folks" it's silent. But yes, it seemed fairly obvious to me that they'd come from the same root, given that both are part of the same language family.
I’m sure you’ve done this, but your accent in this video is pretty amazing. But now, 3.5 years later, incredible. I will never record myself speaking German so you will always be the accent champion.
In pennsylvania we have an ethnic group called the "pennsylvania dutch". They're not actually dutch, they're german...but when they said "deutsch" all the americans heard "dutch" and thats what they've been called since.
@@milos.pavlovic Erm, that’s not totally correct. It’s true, we Slovenians call them Nemci because Germany is translated into: Nemčija. “Nem” means deaf but “Nemci” only means Germans. If it were “Nemi” - then that would mean deaf.
People from “all social classes” wouldn’t drive BMWs in Germany either, maybe that’s an impression she got from growing up in Germany’s #1 wealthy region Munich lol. BMW is still considered a high-end brand for cars in Germany as well. Not as luxurious as Porsche, but pretty much only people from the upper middle class or higher drive those. Sorry for the nitpick. 😇
🤔 i‘m sure I know just as many working class people who drive a used BMW as people who drive a VW or Opel 😀 same with Audi and sometimes Mercedes A-Klasse. As she said, these brands build cars which are considered luxury but they also have models for working class people.
I also know lots of people from really low income classes that drive big and extremely expensive cars. They put all their money in these "status symbols" only that they aren' t status symbols any longer since they do not represent the status their owners have in the society.
@@evas.5127 So if enough lower middle class citizen save their money to buy used Porsches, these vehicles are no longer luxury cars? Please learn how to use your brain!
Oh, Ja. The main location of both of them is in a small town called "Herzogenaurach" (probably sounds very harsh to foreigners, it's typical), I grew up only a few kilometers away from there. In a nearby city called "Erlangen" and in normal springs you can visit the Volksfest "Bergkirchweih". It's a very popular party.
@Nitin Kataria so in your opinion, what requirements does somebody has to fulfill so that you would allow him to call himself a German, or an American, or a Canadian?
Years ago, a German coworker told me that Haribo was a German brand. She also told me that the ones available in the US weren’t the same as the ones available in Germany. At one point, her brother who still lives in Germany came to the US to visit her, and brought the German version of the Haribo candies. My coworker was absolutely right. They aren’t the same. They are WAY BETTER! The ones from Germany are produced in Germany but the ones in the US say on the package that they are produced in Turkey. What the heck Haribo? We want the good ones in the US! 😂
@1yellowdaffodil Corporations always adjust taste to fit the standard likes of a specific target group. This is why you get same brands tasting slightly different in different countries. Americans like extrenes, so everything is more salty or sweet as a standard. Chocolate in the usa seems to be of lower standard than in europe for some reason and the taste of ready made food products are a lot harsher.
Thank you for teaching some of these pronunciations. I have been using correct pronunciation for a few of the automotive brands, though I like learning the more German dictation such as “BMV”. Thanks :)
@Tim Haverland Rudolf Dassler refused to let their nephews work in the factory as necessary workers in WWII because he was bitter over being conscripted in 1914 while his younger brother Adolf (born 1900) got to stay home as an apprentice until the very last months of WWI. The two nephews died on the Eastern Front in WWII. Their mother and the oldest brother sided with Rudolf. Their sister Marie, mother of the nephews, sided with Adi, who tried to keep them out of the war.
Strangely enough because of the Afrikaans language in South Africa being so close in pronunciation to a lot of German words our pronunciations of most of the brands you covered is pretty spot on and very close to the way they would be pronounced in German 😊
I'm just random Portuguese guy, who works at Bosch, analyzing instrument clusters from BMW vehicles, wearing Adidas, flying on business trips through Lufthansa, buying groceries and Haribo gums at Lidl and drinking a lot of Erdinger weissbeer. European countries are very "germanized" these days. 😅
To everyone saying she’s encountered some strange American pronunciations....she says at the beginning of the video that she’s in Cincinnati, and as an Ohioan I can confirm that most people here have absolutely no idea how to pronounce their own language. Much less foreign languages.
Don't compare the entire country to 2 po dunk states in the country. Majority of us aren't stupid and we speak correct english. If it was meant to be pronounced the same over here, then the US commercials we see wouldn't pronounce them the way Americans do.
Taylor Williamson can you show me where exactly in my comment I compare the entire American population to two po dunk states? You can’t because I didn’t. As an Ohioan, I was simply confirming some of the mispronunciations discussed in the video, which is where this german lass says she resides in America. There were multiple comments saying “wow never heard people pronounce XYZ that way!” when I in fact have, probably because this gal and I live hours apart from each other. Never once claimed anyone was stupid, either. Not knowing how to pronounce some words in a very complex language here and there is not an indicator of someones overall intellect lmao. That comment was mostly a goof anyway, it’s good to laugh at yourself and where you hail from once in awhile. Goofball.
The pronunciation of words in dictionaries is often governed by popular usage rather than their original pronunciation. This phenomenon occurs because language is dynamic and constantly evolving. Here are a few key points to explain this: 1. Language Evolution: Over time, the way people pronounce words changes due to various factors such as regional accents, cultural influences, and social trends. Dictionaries aim to reflect the current, most commonly accepted pronunciations to remain relevant and useful¹. 2. Descriptive vs. Prescriptive: Modern dictionaries tend to be descriptive rather than prescriptive. This means they describe how language is actually used by speakers rather than prescribing how it should be used. As a result, they document the pronunciations that are most widely accepted and used⁴. 3. Phonetic Shifts: Phonetic shifts, such as the Great Vowel Shift in English, have historically altered the pronunciation of many words. These shifts are driven by changes in the way people speak over generations³. 4. Influence of Media and Technology: With the rise of media and technology, pronunciations can spread and become standardized more quickly. For example, the pronunciation of certain words may change due to their frequent use in television, movies, and online platforms². 5. User Feedback Some dictionaries, like Merriam-Webster, incorporate user feedback and linguistic research to update pronunciations. This ensures that the dictionary remains a reliable resource for contemporary language use⁵. Source: Bing, 9/17/2024 (1) Merriam-Webster: America's Most Trusted Dictionary. www.merriam-webster.com/. (2) Guide to Pronunciation - Merriam-Webster. www.merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/static/pdf/help/guide-to-pronunciation.pdf. (3) Pronunciation Guide (English/Academic Dictionaries). www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/about/english/pronunciation_english. (4) The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary - Carnegie Mellon University. www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/cmudict. (5) How to Use the Dictionary - Merriam-Webster. www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/how-to-use-the-dictionary.
Nivea was the one that irked me. When I heard the english pronunciation I immediately jumped to all the ads I hear for the brand with that pronunciation. When paying somone to say your name why wouldn't you make sure they say it correctly.
Brits can't even do English right. They changed it to belittle poor people and dropped the R on many words, added the H sound to herb. Just to prove they are all just as snobby as the wealthy. Yikes bud.
ItsACryin Shame you mean Americans dropped the h. English was the mother language. More to the point we question why Americans can’t prounounce t,s unless the are at the start of the word. They can’t say in ternet .....It’s An Tony Robbins not anth ony Let’s compromise and call him Tony Robbins. He is awesome as in ,more some ,not as in possum ROFLOL.
It's funny, my friends and I in the US always poke fun at the way our immigrant (Spanish speaking) parents pronounce Aldi, only to realize they have been pronouncing it correctly this whole time 😂....Actually most of these brands are more correctly pronounced by native Spanish speakers
Du bringst unsere Sprache und Mentalität übelst toll und authentisch rüber! Das ist echt ein großer Gewinn, für alle, die "deutsch" lernen oder verstehen wollen. Super schade, dass du jetzt in den USA bist, aber du bist trotzdem ne Wucht! Bleib weiter so! Danke für deine Videos!!
Um noch hinzuzufügen, dass die Reihenfolge der bayerischen Farben bei 6:48 min. verkehrt herum genannt werden, aber das wissen sowieso nur wenige. Die bayerische Fahne ist weiß-blau, nicht blau-weiß. ;-)
@@trommeltom175 ja gut das leute aus Bayern die farben andersrum nennen weiß schätze ich außerhalb aus Bayern kaum einer und wenn sogar sie es falsch sagt obwohl sie aus München kommt
As a Pole, I can say that we pronounce this name almost exactly like you do (apart from the accent of course), for example we pronounce the letter "w" in the same way as Germans, which is the biggest difference compared to Americans.
This was a very fun and interesting video; I enjoyed it very much! I wasn't too shocked by the pronunciations, but it was very helpful to hear a native German speaker say them. I WAS shocked at how many companies there are that I didn't know were German or had German roots. This is especially true for Trader Joe's and Puma. The historical context of how the companies all began, and how some of them split, was really fascinating.
That's what my comment was. Her issue is with how the companies have taught americans how to pronounce the product. Because that's how they pronounce them on the commercials. Minus Audi And porsche That's just people who can't read or something. Its clearly por scha And Oudi Even the commercials say it that way. Some of her complaints are nit picky. But it was still an interesting and educational video.
Yes, but companies usually do it to gain a better foothold in the market, e.g. if the customer cannot pronounce the word, he is more likely to buy a different product. Here in Europe, for example, all the Korean car brands, Samsung and some others are pronounced differently than their real names.
@@UrbanSipfly Hey ding dong by the way, how exactly would adding an extra punctuation mark to the word “will” and changing one letter make “we’ll” SHORT for that? How, prey tell, is turning a 4 character word into a 5 character word SHORT for anything? (Oh, and when I say “prey tell” that has nothing to do with when you PRAY in church. Like when you PRAY that God will give you a second brain cell to keep the one you have right now company? These are words that are pronounced the same but they mean different things. They’re called homonyms, but that’s 4th grade language arts so I’ll let you get there on your own pace in about 25 years. You drooling, mouth-breathing imbecile.
@@UrbanSipfly I’ll be interested to see if you wanna (Want To) continue the conversation. Oh and for the record “I’ll” is a contraction for “I WILL”, it doesn’t (Does Not) imply that either of us suffers from any sort of disease. Y’know (You Know) just to make sure we’re (We Are) clear on my use of the mother fucking English language 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Fascinating, thanks for sharing. I have already watched some of your productions about WWII and they were great. I'm amazed by your English speaking skills since you are a German-born girl-it is so good. Congratulations. Best. Joe.
we have 2 VWs in the household. Now with all the Covid- caused "curbside pickup", I'm considering buying something American, like an F-150 or a Mustang. Something the Americans understand when I tell them what car I am in :-)
Glad I took German for 4 years in high school, as learning a new language was not just that, but you also learned about that language customs, culture, and history.
As a norwegian, I already pronounced every brand correctly or very similar to how the germans say it. So I guess this video is more like a reminder to me that german and norwegian is in fact very alike, as I can also understand most of what germans are saying when they speak casually
Not to mention written dutch. Its also very similar. Norwegian is branched of germanic, same as germany, so it is no wonder it shares a lot of the same words and that norwegians can understand a lot of german. I also natively pronounce the words "correctly" :)
Germany and the Nordics are like = 🤝 Germany is kinda part of the Nordic countries
3 роки тому+1
@@Jan-wi3xx, it’s not in my opinion as human rights are worse in Germany. The languages are similar as they are Germanic (English and Afrikaans are too).
I just noticed in this video how good you are at pronouncing the different "a" vowel sounds like Americans do! I think for most non native speakers that is among the hardest things for them to pickup and get right, and one of the most obvious giveaways. But you do it perfectly. Nice job! 👍
Adidas was a big learn for me. I had been told since I was a child that the company name was an acronym. (All Day I Dream About Sports). Since It was an english acronym, I assumed it was an American or British company (Honestly I thought it was American since our country is so obsessed with sports)
As a Russian native gotta say we pronounce most of the German brand names correctly. The trade and cultural ties are pretty tight and Schwarzkopf, Henkel, Nivea, Miele etc are part of our lives. Makes me laugh how franco- and anglophone Canadians pronounce them.
Colloquialisms, local dialects are in every country. Correct, schlect...if it is fascinating to scrutinize others pronunciations major in linguistics and be of some use - To tell someone from a different country they are pronouncing a word or brand name you say differently in the country of origin is nonsensical to me as I am fairly certain there are to some degree variations of pronunciation even in the country of origin - depending upon region. You get what I am saying. You can easily teach how it is said in Munich without calling someone else, “wrong” like the American pronunciation of the name Tolkien is often as “kien” is pronounced in England-since Tolkien is an English author who wrote during the war- a war that was the cause of many name changes -like my grandmas from Reich to Rich pronunciation or Drumph to Trump-simply because people hid all German association for at least a generation during which time the new name took root. Countries near Germany prefer to speak English or French with Germans just because it is customary not to speak German - I’ll feelings - understandably lasted at least a generation or 2. These things make the study of the fluidity of language fascinating. Right/wrong- is incorrect in my opinion- but I am wrong a lot- your generation is full of people -especially in the US who don’t know history at all- or who are strongly motivated to delete or change it without understanding.
Same case here with people in Serbia, we really pronounce all of these accurately. I thought it is because back in 60ties (and ever since) lots of Serbs went to Germany to work for couple of months/years (gastarbeit). They would usually come back home with gifts and proper pronounciation of the brands, which spreaded all over the population? Any similarities with Russia?
@@majastrbac1136 I've heard of working in foreign countries having been a thing in Yugoslavia and to some extent still a thing in those countries but I would expect that all of the USSR would have been completely separated from any western country, and I can't imagine that Soviets going to East Germany for work could have been that common - I would have thought more likely to be the other way around?
No accent? It might not be the strongest accent in the world, but she clearly has a German accent. The reason you can’t detect it has more to do with your lack of familiarity with the subtleties of various foreign accents.
At the risk of being an annoying pedant, but since you mentioned good English, you can’t be “seriously shook”. You can be seriously shaken, or seriously shaken up, though. Yeah.. I know how annoying I’m being. I apologise.
But her intonation, although clear, is obviously American, not (British) English. You will find that many Europeans switch languages seamlessly, and Germans tend to be very good at it.
I thought they were French because I saw some French haribo advert on some SBS 3D video a few years ago. Before that I didn't think about where they are from.
Very fun. I studied German in high school and uni and while my knowledge of the language is academic, not conversational, I did learn (from Germans) how the language is pronounced. There is a German company called Molotow that makes art supplies. It depends very much on your language background how you would approach pronounce this as a word (not a proper noun), but the first thing I learned about German pronunciation is that "W" is invariably pronounced "V" AND Molotow is a German company so it seems to me it should have a "V" sound at the end. I have only heard it said MolotoV ONE time. I always hear Molotow like towing your car. But I don't get to talk to German speakers that often. Now, if you are talking about a Molotov cocktail explosive, named for a Russian and spelled with a V, that's always pronounced MolotoV in North America. I get it, but this disconnect makes me a little nuts. German is spoken by A LOT of people and the W/V thing is not an obscure rule. Please tell me if I am wrong about this! Anyway, fun video. I didn't know Adidas is German! And if I ever learned the correct pronunciation of Mercedes, I forgot it!
It's important to note that the "American" pronunciations are how the companies advertise their names in America. Post WW2, they often wanted to hide the German origins by giving them -Anglican- Anglo names/pronunciations.
This is very true. Even German sounding town and family names willingly changed during WW2. The roots were not forgotten but rather the people choose to change to more patriotic sounding "American" names so it was clear who they stood with. America still has German festivals and discusses the German roots of towns and people but the official name changes, mostly, stayed changed.
Because there was a lot of discrimination against Germans based on stereotypes and the war.
@@BigSmallTravel I wonder why?
@@briangulley6027 if you know what "krautbashing" means you will understand
chrysler & astor & einstein & wernher von Braun . some do, some don't. hermann oberth was born in Romania
Omg you use time stamps. My German need of structure and order is so satisfied right now
Besser so min jung
@@lequrage1084 Monsch, de Cherlä chaa dr verstoo? 🤭
haha das dachte ich mir auch xD
Love your Profile picture😍😅
Ordnung muss sein.
Adolf Dassler = Adidas
Rudolph Dassler = Puma
I still think it should be called Rudidas :D
@Dragon lol
There are two smaller brands also founded by brothers, this time for hiking, ski? and mountain boots: Hanwag and Lowa (Hans and Lorenz Wagner). I also find funny that Berghaus is a british brand but Jack Wolfskin is German. And they both have these names for marketing reasons. In the 1960s Austrian, German, Swiss brands dominated mountaineering gear and in the 80s English names were cool in Germany.
At first, he actually wanted to call his company “Ruda” but since his nickname was “Puma”, which sounded better and was associated with the dynamics of the animal puma (or cougar in the US), he named it “Puma”. 😊
😂😂😂
PUMA was called RUDA before
I say all of these correctly, but then I am a pretentious prick.
Same here. But likely my dad using the correct pronunciation
Nice self awareness
Makes sense, I am too, so I pronounce them correctly too lol.
I love that you add a bit of historical perspective & background information.
I was gonna say the same thing!!
This is what I love about language and etymology. Language is history!
I agree with @richardda
And? What do you DO now? Come and live five years in Germany! Learn German that way. Lose that American accent. That is the whole thing.
And I know it is not easy, I live SIXTY miles from Germany, but you need to talk German all day long, for weeks, before you start thinking in German. Translating things inside your head? No. It should get automatic. That means you gotta know all the words, it takes years. So, get out of your USA, please. Find a job in Germany. Do you REALLY love history?
BMW, MERCEDES AND AUDI are concidered expensive cars in Germany and are NOT "driven by people of all classes"
You have brought a tear of joy to an old man's heart. As a child, my parents hosted a young exchange student form Germany attending the University of Miami back in the early 70's. She altruistically spent her weekends sharing her culture with my family and I. Manu years later, I was afforded an opportunity to travel through Europe on a bicycling tour and visited her home town of Cologne. It was through her generosity and spirit, that I was able to even dare to attempt pronouncing street names or menu items. I did OK and was never made made to feel ashamed. The Villagers appreciated my attempts and made me to feel welcomed for the effort. Here I am more than 30 years late watching YOUR videos and getting that very same comforting feeling. Thank you .
As someone living in Cologne, I'm glad that you enjoyed your stay. Some things can be quite hard to pronounce and the local accent often doesn't make things easier for foreigners. Though we are happy to welcome people from all cultures and show them our city. I appreciate people trying to learn my language and only practice helps to get better
@R. Schowiada71 after rereading my post, I can see where clarification would be advantageous. By no means did I intend offense. I was actually referring to the outlying areas where the presumption of being able to communicate in English would be pretentious. ☺ Happy Noel. 🦈🧜♂️🎄
* "with my family and ME".
I was a student in Germany in the 1970s, where I learned to speak German. When I returned, I always, and still do, pronounce German brand names like Germans do. What I really appreciated about this video was the backgrounds of the names and companies.
Thanks so much; this was fun.
My parents always pronounced "Volkswagen" properly (the German way), so I learned that from a very young age. But for whatever stupid reason, I have acquiesced to pronouncing it the American way (the wrong way), I suppose mostly because I would get blank stares from my friends when I pronounced it properly.
Thing is, in Germany I might try to pronounce brands as a German would. Because it aids in communication and it’s good manners.
In America, frankly, doing so is at best making communicating with others more difficult. At worst it’s pretentious.
I think you forgot Bosch. Unless I missed it. That was great information. Things like that interest me. Thanks. Keep it up.
lived in Austria in childhood... thanks for this fun!
I do that and people laugh 😂
This video blew me away. There were so many companies that were German that i didn't realize, like Aldi, Adidas, Puma, Trader Joe's, Porsche. Thank you for sharing. I've always been interested in the origin of different things.
A better translation for HORCH would be HEAR.
Trader Joe’s was founded in the US, it wasbought in 1989 by Theo Albrecht. Aldi Nord.
Here in the UK Lidl used to pronounce their name as "Leedl." This had no effect on us Brits who stubbornly prononnced it "Lid -l" as in "lid.". Lidl took notice and now use the UK pronunciation even to the extent that one of their slogans is "Lidl on price, big on quality."
Wow, I've never met anyone that didn't know Porsche is a German brand especially with their connection to Volkswagen. 😮
My Mum was born in Germany, and my grandparents always corrected my pronunciation. You warmed my heart. I miss them so much! 🇨🇦❤️
My mom was born in Munich, too. I understand. I miss her so much!
@@lorieburtt592 thank you. This comment helped me today. Can’t explain it. Grateful. 🙏😊
Coming from Europe myself and used to the "European" pronunciation, people here in the US often ask me why I pronounce Siemens with a "z" rather than an "s" as it's normally pronounced in the US.
@@pvsantos999 siemens is pronounced with an s too in german😂
@@linanutshell Was Pedro meint ist stimmhaftes s und stimmloses S
stimmhaft wie in dem Wort Summen...
Stimmlos wie in dem Wort Wasser...
Merke: steht dass es am Anfang eines Wortes ist es praktisch immer stimmhaft...
I like how German Girl in America gives the history not just the pronunciation. Clear, fun and quick moving too. Well done!
Bruh she has a name. Its Felicia
@@souhridyobose4362 Well sorry dude, I didn't catch that but good on you for picking me up on that. Felicia and I feel so much better now. thanks mate.🤣
@@flibbinflah22 LMAO ... as a fellow Aus lad, I feel you need to add a tag so people understand how to read your thank you comment ; )
@@wonsworld61 Old American Meemaw got the sarcasm just fine w/o the tag. Just sayin. 👍🏻✌🏻🖖🏻
@Beau-Angelo Simon You shouldn't make assumptions. I watched the video. If I hadn't why would I write what I did?
Listening to her go so perfectly back and forth between languages is pretty cool.
She is like natural born German and American same time....her both languages sounds perfect...i have noticed that at very first example she made....awesome...
@@Gagibit Y'all know that English is a Germanic language right?
Pretty much any bilingual person can do this.
Americans are sometimes unfamiliar with the number of people in our small world who fluently speak 2-4 languages...I feel sad our world has turned upside down like it has and adversely affected the educations, careers, travel opportunities of so many wonderful young people. It’s nice you get a small taste of it on UA-cam watching this pretty and engaging girl.
@@KRYMauL its close to Frisian a side language in the Netherlands for the Friesland/Groningen province there are variations of that language in German and Denmark with the Frisian Island group. But German and English are still very different in Grammar and Spelling and dont get me started on pronounciation.
im dutch btw, the country with highest proficiancy in English that isnt a native speaker.
Beautiful English, and beautiful German... the editing is awesome... thank you!
The way she flawlessly switches from English to German pronunciation.
It's not flawless. Don't go giving everyone gold medals for participation.
There's at least a tenth of a second drag as she swiitches accents. At least! It's cute AF.
@@ryhk3293 l don’t even know how to respond to this unnecessary comment. You have a great day now ☺️
@@ryhk3293 omg man, 0.1 second switch difference! Failure! Smh...
@@psmaria23 Here is a bit of advice for you. Lighten up, Nancy. When people say absurd and silly things, its often to get you to think specifically about them. Several of the things that she does remarkably, astonishingly well multiple times in the same sentence. Have you actually thought about her phonology and phonological completeness and nativity? Just for shits and giggles, obviously.
@@ryhk3293 well, I was admiring her accent and pronunciation anything beyond that I do not know. As a bilingual, I cannot be as eloquent or coherent. It was a simple observation/listen of her speech. My brain doesn’t know anything more sorry. Lol
The reason Americans pronounce most of these brands the way they do is because the companies themselves pronounce it that way in their own advertising.
Right, we just don't know because they are always pronounced a certain way and we of course are not going to question it "is that really how it is pronounced??"🤦♀️
Exactly! Although I do pronounce Audi the correct way.
@@evilborg Same!
evilborg I’ve actually never heard anyone pronounce it the way she says Americans do.
most Americans pronounce these brands correctly for American English. These products exist in Englush and are advertised in it.
So, back in 1990, a young woman named Petra from West Germany came to live with us for a year on a student exchange program. She was from the Hanover area and she was one of the most special beautiful wonderful human beings I've ever met. The things you post are so much like the conversations we had back then - and I remember Oct 3, 1990, she was living with us and it was so exciting and special to have a German in my home when the unification happened. This entire video made me laugh and get super nostalgic for those days. I will always adore Germany and though I speak not a word of German, the language makes me smile. (I got a D- in German and the professor told me he'd only give me that if I didn't sign up for the next semester!)
regardless, thank you so much Felicia. your channel is a bright spot in a dark world. YOU rock.
Sympathy grade 😂, same here
@@JasmineReiki don’t worry though I still knew the swear words - I’m not a monster
@@poetman123 , I only know Spanish swear words
schön das ich deinen Kanal entdeckt habe. Mein Englisch ist grottig, aber es macht Spaß dir zuzuhören und manches kommt in Erinnerung aus dem englisch-Unterricht der schon lange her ist.
I didn’t know Adidas and Puma were competing companies owned by brothers.
Yup, and the brother that started Adidas sided with the Nazis
If you want to hear more about it check out the podcast Business Wars season 2 is all about Adidas vs Puma. It’s a really good podcast. I highly recommend it.
Additionally they're not just brothers, but they operate from the same small town and when they first started out, they split the town in Adidas/Puma workers according to which side of the river that runs through the town they live in. So one side sided with Adidas, whilst the other sided with Puma.
Or Aldi and Trader Joe!
@@minamckenzie4070
What is a Point?
Unless u have time machine and stop him doing that.
If not DROP THAT SHIT ALL READY FOR FUCK SAKE.
IM FUCKED OFF WITH IDIOTS LUKE U KEEP BRINGING SHIT LIKE THAT UP!!
It happened there is fuck all u or I can do bout it.
IT WAS MORE THEN 75 YEARS AGO.
AND ANYWAY I LIKE ADIDAS.
Your English is better than some people who have lived here their entire life.
Must be a German thing; my mom is German. In my half century here on earth, I have never seen or heard her make a spelling or grammar error.
It's called, Learning.
English is a Germanic language with a lot of similarities.
@@TT-rz5td we learn a lot about the English language in school. I would say, approximately 80% of Germans with Abitur (highest education degree of our school systems) will speak English with a very good grammar. But the pronounciation is obviously very difficult to us, so we‘re very far away from being perfect 😜
@@iMin00 Stimmt. Ich habe 3 Verwandte in DE, die Englischlehrer sind.
As many other commenters have pointed out, it’s not so much Americans pronouncing the names wrong. It was the German companies “Americanizing” their names for marketing purposes. They came us with those Americanized pronunciations themselves to give their brands more appeal in the US market. You’re right in that it’s not proper German pronunciation. But it was those German companies themselves that came up with the “American names” for their products and companies here. You make a point but you don’t know the history behind those mispronunciations.
I worked for Mercedes for many years here in the US. When the German bosses came here if you used the German pronunciation of Mercedes, you were chastised severely! They wanted the pronunciation on this side of the Atlantic to be what you hear Americans say. They would say to us, “You are now German?” It was quite embarrassing to say the least. So, there’s a reason beyond American ignorance of the German language for the American pronunciation of those names. And it’s all about the $$$.
They use the "American" pronunciation in the whole anglophone world. I live in South Africa. Nivea is very popular here, the "American" pronunciation is used in advertisements. Afrikaans speakers use closer to the German pronunciation of adidas, Volkswagen and Jägermeißter in speech. We also say "Audi" the German way because we "understand" the "au" sound from German given names in our heritage. Once again, advertisements which are exclusively in English nowadays in South African pronounces it "Ohdi".
@@lisaniemand5593 Couple that with regional accents and you've got a recipe for disaster, my grandma for example is 78 years old she has what I call an Okie accent from the state of Oklahoma she will never pronounce any of these words the same as even the commercials, I'd assume the same could be said for elderly people across the Anglophone world.
I was going to say, I've spent a good amount of time overseas and not once has anyone said mercedes like her. I've driven hundreds of miles on the autobahn in a mercedes with germans in the car and not one ever said it like that. Maybe they were just patronizing me
@@Kstorm88 I used to live in Germany and she pronounced it correctly but most Germans know English and will usually pronounce the words as an American would. This is unless you ask them to pronounce it the way they normally would. The only one that's difference was Volks Wagon as I was always told that it was Wolks Vagon where the pronunciation of the V and W are switched in German. I'm Asian and it's like Sriracha to me. Americans pronounce it with an R sound and even the owner said it's with an R. However, it's named after Si Racha, Thailand in which the R is an L sound so every southern Asian person I know, including myself, pronounce it as See Lacha.
Well, that and there are subtle differences in how certain letters and syllables are emphasized. "Hot dog" vs the Bostonian "hawt dag" for instance.
I had no idea Haribo was German! Aldi and Adidas were also surprises. Thank you for the history along with the pronunciation!❤
americans pronounce it: mercedes
germans pronounce it: taxi
morecorethanjamiefoy yeah, same in South Korea! 🤣
Actually germans call it Rentnerauto
Mercedes is shit. They used to be good now they just fall apart. If you're gonna be an idiot and buy a "luxury" car at least buy a Lexus. It might last you a while.
@@The_Gallowglass lol you been buying fake cars or something?😂 Mercedes Cars last like forever
@@richardnedbalek1968 XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD *WHEEZE* *WHEEZ* OMAGAD YOU MAKE ME FULL OF PAIN DUE TO OVER-LAUGHING AND OVER-BREATHING XDDDD HOLY F- XDDDD HAHAHAHA
When you said that they last forever
My grandparents are from Germany... I have spent my life correcting the way they say most of these brand names... 😂😂😂 no wonder they laughed at me the whole time! 😂😂😂
😂😂😂😂
my folks are german too but they have been here so lone a lot of these they say english style
like Nivea cream
😂
Dumbass never go against grand parents from the old country!!! You’ll lose every time!!
@@spartalives these are fond memories made with my grandparents someone as feeble minded as yourself wouldn't understand😂
I once saw a T-Shirt that said “Porsche is a 2 syllable word”.
LMAO
so ist das richtig - thats right
@@LudusArtifex ist das so richtig?
@@_np7 what do you meen? was/wie meinst du das? da stehe ich ein kleines bischen auf dem schlauch.
@@LudusArtifex Por - sche 2 syllables and not "Porsch" mispronounced 1 syllable
It's always neat to hear the change in dialectal tone (?) for a multilingual individual from their native language to another language. It almost sounds like two different people speaking when you pronounce the words differently.
Feli: “pronounce it correctly!”
All other Germans: “we just don’t care about how you pronounce it as long as you buy the products.” 😄
Because money is the universal langauge 😂
😂😂😂 I’m not German, and this is true with all people.
🤣
So true 😉👍
I do care! So its not ture!
Unfassbar wie gut Du Englisch sprichst und Du so schnell zwischen deutsch und englisch wechseln kannst!
Vor allem wie sie vom deutschen zum amerikanischen Akzent wechselt
Das dachte ich mir auch....Hut ab...
As people have probably noted... we pronounce these brand names like we do because of the video and radio commercial ads that air here in America.
You have a point
Same here in Germany. I cringe everytime when people say Amazon in a very German way because that is how it was advertised.
This is exactly what I was thinking when I was watching this video. If they wanted us to say it a certain way it would be pronounced that way in the commercial. A good example of this is the laundry detergent Persil, it annoys my wife how they say it in the commercials here because back home in England where she is from it's said completely different. Apparently it's also a German brand.
You're quite right. Often a marketing team will want the brand to feel comfortable for consumers in a new locale and part of that will be being comfortable to pronounce.
The exception can be when the "exoticism" of the brand is part of the marketing, usually for "premium" products - indeed a fake "foreign" name can be used just for that, as in Häagen-Dazs.
Mind it doesn't explain the difference in pronunciation between US and UK for the trainer brands Adidas and (US brand) Nike. In the UK we pronounce the former the German way, but Nike "incorrectly" to rhyme with "like" (or did when I was a trainer buyer in the 80s - we might have caught up by now).
Commercials can fix what they broke, though. When I was kid, many moons ago, everyone in England pronounced Nestlé like the English word 'nestles,' thanks to the Milkybar adverts. At some point (possibly in the 90s) the adverts started pronouncing it correctly, and the public followed not long after.
Seeing that this video is 4 years old it's amazing to realize how much your English has improved over the years great job!!!
I love this video. So much wonderful information included. Not just a pronunciation lesson, but also a cultural and historical lesson. Thank you for sharing.
Yep, very detail it is! I hope to learn German next time
Yeah its good to learn the history
+
@@loop5720 speaking German is not very hard. Some of the words are similar to English. Just like here in the US they have regional ways to pronounce words. Like tomato, potato... My favorite is the different ways ham is pronounced all over Germany.
@@ajalicea1091 - The similarity is because the Northern European languages are based on the German language, whereas the Southern European languages are based on Latin.
For example, the Volkswagen means People's car, which comes from Folk's Wagon. Dr. Porsche want to produce a car that average people could afford, therefore it was the People's Car.
If you say "Merc" to an American he will think that you are talking about a Mercury, a division of the Fix Or Repair Daily company.
BMW was the first bike to use opposed cylinders (like the Beetle) and an enclosed drive line like a car, instead of an oily chain.
Your fluidity of moving between English and German is awesome!
*fluidity
@@kevinkelly1529 Thank you!
Really amazing, right?
I have learned that brothers usually dont get along in Germany.
Absolutely true! Grohe and Hans Grohe… :-)
Or in any country really when business is concerned.
Hahaha
😂😂😂
I’ve learned that I might have a thing for German speaking women...
Me trying to pronounce correctly “Volkswagen” , Americans: “ don’t act like a German” 🤦♂️ me as Latino: teaching Americans how to pronounce correctly “Murciélago” (Lamborghini) , Americans : you’re wrong ! In America we have a different pronunciation😂😂😂😂💪🏻🇺🇸
As an Italian, I was *so* sure Nivea and Miele were Italian! Nivea just... Sounds Italian to me, while "Miele" is an actual word in Italian and it means "honey" 😂
No German brand is as easy to say as Fa. Fa Fa Fa, German for Shampoo!
What about "testanera" we literally rebranded the company name 😅
@@jingle3330 oh that was another one! I was *so* sure it was Italian 😂
I thought Nivea was mexican, since it's so popular there
@@ChaoticBean794
I was talking to some japanses guys.
They were confident about Nivea is a japanese brand.
I’ve learned so much today, but mostly one thing... Germans brothers don’t get along 😅
Lol!
😂😂 facts!
@Eric Klassen Are they in business together
NOT TRUE! See Minatur Wunderland @ Hamburg, Germany >>> ua-cam.com/users/MiWuLaTV
Eric Klassen- Maybe not in your presence, but I doubt they’ve never had crosswords with each other when you’re not there. That is part of human nature. Unless your sons are robots, raised by robots I press X to doubt. Parents always see their children with rose tinted glasses. That’s why parents stand by their children even if they commit murder.
Nothing to do with pronunciation, but a funny story:
On my first trip to Germany, one evening I decided to walk around the the city. I knew the main road that my hotel was on, so I noted the cross street. It was “Einbahnstraße”. On my way back, after several Liters of beer I noticed that almost ever side street was named “Einbahnstraße”. I did find my way back...eventually!
Hahaha🤣
I assume you know this by now, but my German Smartass gene makes me feel the need to point out that Einbahnstraße means one way street.
The most common train station name found in Germany is "Nächster Halt"! Just take a ride and find out 😉
I was with a British tank crew in Germany. One of our tanks went missing, the Squadron leader kept asking him for a location and an ETA. After a number of exchanges he reported would be rejoining the squadron soon. He just needed to locate a town on the map, it must have been a large city as it was signposted everywhere, he explained. The name of this mythical town? Einbahnstraße, or in English, One Way Street😎
Same thing happened to me in France. I only paid attention to the word Rue.
My first time in Germany, I went into a cafe to get coffee. This was my first interaction with a native German speaker in the wild, and I had only studied German for two years, so I suddenly got really nervous before ordering (I was also 16, so not good at handling nerves yet). I wound up forgetting all my vocabulary on the spot and saying something incoherent. I decided to describe what I wanted, and somehow settled on saying I wanted something like "einen Papierkorb von Kaffee." I have no idea why my brain came up with that nugget, but I had basically just said I wanted a paper basket of coffee. The girl behind the counter gave me a totally bemused look, and i got entirely flustered and bailed out of the cafe with no coffee whatsoever.
Vielen Dank! Ich habe in Deutschland gewohnt ungefähr 23 Jahre alles zusammen, und meine Sprache ist ein bisschen schlecht!😁Your video is absolutely perfect for English speakers who mispronounce German words! I thoroughly enjoyed your cheerful disposition and your willingness to share/teach. Best of luck
Your Geman doesn't look bad to me
An English merchant ship sends out an SOS distress call..."We're sinking! I repeat we're sinking!"
A German ship in the area responds to the distress call, "Ja...Unt vat are you sinking about?"
HA! I get it!
Berlitz German coast guard commercial
@@Maria-vp1po Genau, zehr gut!
@@blackbway Top Kek!
@@michaelnoyola7971 wenn dann *sehr gut XD
I must say, I was pleasantly surprised that you included a bit of history, I love it.
I bought a Miele vacuum 21 years ago and it's still going strong. I've tried to kill it but it won't die. The other day, I used it as a shop vac and cleaned my garage; it still works even after nails, screws, and staples.
Mine just died, bought in 1997
@@suzannekazmiruk183 It's worth fixing it if you have vacuum cleaner store nearby. Then you can use it as a shop vac like me. 🤣
LOL I should probably use mine as a Shop-Vac to. I mostly use the upright Hoover for the house. Dragging around that canisters pain.
Mine went strong right until the moment I went on Holiday and left my keys with my brother to keep an eye on my house. Took a couple of days upon return to finally figure out that vacuum had disappeared. Not impressed.
@@cherrytraveller5915 I avoided that tragedy by gifting my brother his very own Miele vacuum.
It's always nice to speak correct enunciation of words. I appreciate your help.
I'm English, I don't speak German, but got every single German pronunciation right. I have already patted myself on the back and massaged my massive ego!
Fitting, with your last name!
Slick 👍🏽
Sieger means winner in German ;-)
Like that’s pretty awesome 👏 😎
Yoy liar you
I can not pronounce Mercedes correctly, because it's expensive.
Lol
😁🤭😆
expensive and super ugly car !
@@betmenizorahovice4843 I guess we have to disagree on that little detail.
@@rockmcdwayne1710 no problemo,i used to disagree with people quite often
people like new modern music where girls sings with boy's voice, i dont ! 80's is were magic lives
people running like crazy to live in big town and they like it, i dont ! nature is running through my blood, towns are big prisons, people were never supposed to live in towns its not normal and natural environment for any living being, thats why humanity went nuts
people like drinking alcohol, i dont ! fresh juice is the best thing ! i am not 2m tall because i consumed alcohol
people like fat cars which looks more like a tank than a car, with ugly lines, i dont ! to me beautiful car is like a beautiful girl it must have hot lines ! no one likes fat girls, why you should like fat cars ?
for example Paul Walker had a lot of money and he was a very smart guy no doubt, why he was driving toyota supra ?
because he had a good taste thats why !
i had money to buy new mazda 6, but i didnt, because its ugly like hell, its just too much, it looks like a tank, fat ugly tank !
so i bought mazda 6 older version from 2007 and its amazing, its not so advanced vehicle like new mazda but at least it looks like a car instead of looking like a tank
The reason why most of Americans say these wrong is bc thats the way they advertise them here!
I was thinking that too
I remember hearing USA radio ads for Warsteiner with the English W.
I was like, WTF?!
That is because Americans are pronouncing them according to our alphabet and the English language. However I feel if they are going to use foreign products, stores etc. they should use the original pronunciation.
That's what I was gonna say.
Let's fantasize for a moment of a parallel universe where Americans pay attention to correct pronunciations.
Fantastic! Very good video. Thanks for sharing!
As a spaniard I think Mercedes is a bit tricky, because it's a spanish girl name. Mercedes means 'gnade' or 'mercy'. The complete name is María de las Mercedes. This name was carried by one of our queens, and the pronunciation is also different.
That is true, but it is still a German company and the worker at Daimler probably pronounced her name wrong too. So the Brand name is still correct as it's said in Germany
@@d4-yeet688 Agreed, but I would say that makes it legitimate rather than correct, as it is indeed mispronounciated.
Names exist also in different countries that does not mean they are mispronounced..
@@Xxmitzii well… that’s the point of the video isn’t it? To compare “local” pronunciation with ones etymologically correct.
@@agusovando haha yes and no... Brands are made names.. So yes if you have a friend who is called Mercedes and I in German would pronounce it with the German pronunciation , then I would say it wrong.. But if my German friend is called Mercedes than the German pronunciation is correct for this name.. It depends on who is the giver of the name, he can decide what it's supposed to sound like. Cause people give names not necessarily cause they relate to a specific origin. So just because a queen or god was called this way in a specific country, does not mean they choose this name because of it... So if the name giver want to call their kid a specific way and write it in a specific way they can and their pronunciation will be correct regardless of the history of the nams, even if it sounds wrong to others
The problem with pronouncing words “correctly” here in America is that most people think you’re being idiotic and pretentious.
Facts 🤣 i pronounced Mozzarella correctly once and it was a MISTAKE
Not only in the USA, I'm South American, a spanish speaker, and everytime I try to correct the pronunciation of English, German, french, etc words to other people, they think I'm being an elitist retard, or a wannabe that hates his own country... At first that kind of mentality was infuriating for me, but now, it only makes me sad....
@@innerarts4091 No es lo mismo amigo. El alemán y el inglés comparten las mismas raíces, además de que los angloparlantes, al ser USA un país multicultural, han acogido muchísimos términos de otros idiomas, los cuales se han vuelto parte del lenguaje cotidiano. En cambio, en Latinoamérica realmente no hay necesidad de decir esas palabras con su acento y pronunciacion exactas, por lo cual la gente seguramente te toma como un tipo pretencioso. Quizá hasta presumido
I say gyro on purpose
Then you need to hang with a better class of people.
After I studied German in college, I would pronounce “Schwarzkopf” properly and all my friends would look at me weird like. “Who says it like that?” Ha! Jokes on them 😉 Thanks for the vindication! 🙌🏼
Who says it like that? Germans mate :)
I guess I'm out of it, because the only "Schwarzkopf"s I know are either the late German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf or the US general Normal Schwarzkopf Jr. (both with of course the German pronunciation).
I would pronounce Schwarzkopf as something like ['ʃʋɑʁtskɔpf], while in this video I hear ['ʃvaɐtskʰɔpf]. My pronunciation would have a Dutch accent, but may not be misunderstood by Germans.
@@bhami About Norman Schwarzkopf, in his briefings his family name was pronounced as ['ʃwɔɹtskɔf], that is, with a strong American English accent.
That's what I thought immediately: if you start pronouncing it the right way, no one around you will understand what you're talking about *lol
OMG! I think I stumbled upon a jewel! You are so informative and the historical perspective is simply awesome...Thank you Veli!
In China, the most popular way to talk about BMW is "bie mo wo" (别摸我), which also means "Don't Touch Me."
People here in South Africa call it a Beemer for short
Not only did I learn the pronunciations but I learned that a lot of the brands I use are German. WOW!! Thanks
Including porsche?
Funny. I'm actually German and didn't realise that all of them were german.😂
@@bosoudang No, not that one.
I’m from Norway, and you can really see how similar our language are because I would pronounce all the these brands and words almost exactly the same way you did 😁
Slavic languages as well.
It's not unusual for native English speakers to have difficulty pronouncing English properly, so it should be no surprise they struggle with other languages.
For the most part it is English which are different from everybody else :-) And French some times :-)
@@sam28600 Yeah, I agree :)
I'm from Germany and I was almost half a year in Norway and I have to say our words and pronunciations are pretty close to each other. Best example: "lærling" and "Lehrling"
Currently learning German but being a Geordie ( from the north east of England) it’s a great help for pronunciation and accent. We have a strong Anglo Saxon history. Great video❤
If these guys didn't have brothers then half these brands wouldn't exist.
German brothers don’t get along, that’s what I learned today !
Are you saying, that with out there being brothers, we'd be buying our groceries at Al's instead of Aldi?
@@DlokiD maybe it would be:
Trader Joe's diskont. ,🤔
😁😁😁
"Miele means quality."
100% Absolutely agree! My mother had a Miele washing machine for over 20 years. Most reliable thing she ever owned. Not like other brands nowadays where their warranties expect them to break within 3 - 8 years.
If ever I can't find a Miele, my next option is generally Bosch.
Glad to know I was pronouncing most of these correctly. Mercedes-Benz was a surprise.
In Germany, you say "Nur Miele, Miiele, sagt die Tante, die alle Waschminen kannte", "only Miele, Miele, said the lady who knew all washing machines"...
Miele in the kitchen is what a Porsche is like on the streets. Lasts long and is much expensive.
And here I was thinking "miele" meant honey 🇮🇹
If you take away the "e" at the end of miele its honey in French(miel)
Funny thing... Bosch is also a german brand ;-) founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart 1886
Just blew my mind because I always knew Volkswagen meant “People’s car” but I never realized Volks is pronounced like Folks which has got to be where the very common American word of “Folks” comes from. Holy crap, it was always there staring me in the face.
Yes, I can relate to that about how certain letters are pronounced. Living in Germany back in the 80's it took a while to learn to pronounce the letter "W" like the "V" and to pronounce the letter "S" like the letter "Z", It will take a little time but practice makes perfect.
You could call it Folks Wagon
@@theflyinggasmask that is the best way to think about it 😂😂😂
I'm not even American, and I know that for many years...
Folks, Volks. 🤔 It was obvious.
Except that you pronounce the "l" in "Volks" whereas in "folks" it's silent. But yes, it seemed fairly obvious to me that they'd come from the same root, given that both are part of the same language family.
I’m sure you’ve done this, but your accent in this video is pretty amazing. But now, 3.5 years later, incredible. I will never record myself speaking German so you will always be the accent champion.
In pennsylvania we have an ethnic group called the "pennsylvania dutch". They're not actually dutch, they're german...but when they said "deutsch" all the americans heard "dutch" and thats what they've been called since.
Some Slavs use the word Nemci for Germans, whose root "nem" literally means "mute". Literally translated to mute people.
@@milos.pavlovic Erm, that’s not totally correct. It’s true, we Slovenians call them Nemci because Germany is translated into: Nemčija. “Nem” means deaf but “Nemci” only means Germans. If it were “Nemi” - then that would mean deaf.
Well, the dutch are also called dutch because of the word deutsch.
The Germans and Dutch call the dutch Niederländer/Nederlander.
You mean they’re not Dutch?
I NEVER knew this!! 🤯
People from “all social classes” wouldn’t drive BMWs in Germany either, maybe that’s an impression she got from growing up in Germany’s #1 wealthy region Munich lol. BMW is still considered a high-end brand for cars in Germany as well. Not as luxurious as Porsche, but pretty much only people from the upper middle class or higher drive those.
Sorry for the nitpick. 😇
Danke! Ich habe extra die Kommentare durchgesucht, um zu sehen, ob ich die Einzige bin, die diesen Gedanken hatte.
🤔 i‘m sure I know just as many working class people who drive a used BMW as people who drive a VW or Opel 😀 same with Audi and sometimes Mercedes A-Klasse. As she said, these brands build cars which are considered luxury but they also have models for working class people.
@@66silvie You'reliving in a wealthy neighborhood? BMW and Mercedes-Benz are definitively cars for the upper middle class.
I also know lots of people from really low income classes that drive big and extremely expensive cars. They put all their money in these "status symbols" only that they aren' t status symbols any longer since they do not represent the status their owners have in the society.
@@evas.5127 So if enough lower middle class citizen save their money to buy used Porsches, these vehicles are no longer luxury cars? Please learn how to use your brain!
3:38 seconds is when it starts.
You're welcome.
Vielen danke
Ty!!!!!
tqsm!
Gosh I was wondering when this was gonna start, thanks!!
On and on, and on, and on, and on, and damn finally. Thank you!
This was some proper lesson into the world’s famous brands. Thank you for sharing 🙌🏽
American: "Can I have a shot of Jäger?"
German: "You heard it! Fire!"
That's not correct. It must be "He got shot by a Jäger"
@Lovuschka That's a good one! 🤣
that joke made no sense
"Can I have a shot of Hunter" ? Am I just stupid or did I miss the punchline? caus' that's one flawed joke and a half.
@@siegpasta No clue.
@@siegpasta If you translate this to German this means “Kann ich ein schuss vom Jäger haben”, which means “May I have a shot from the hunter”
I didn't know "Adidas and Puma" were German brands. I just learned something new. Thanks
Oh, Ja. The main location of both of them is in a small town called "Herzogenaurach" (probably sounds very harsh to foreigners, it's typical), I grew up only a few kilometers away from there. In a nearby city called "Erlangen" and in normal springs you can visit the Volksfest "Bergkirchweih". It's a very popular party.
I always thought Adidas was British for some reason.
@@jenskruetzfeldt6250 BTW, this is completely off-topic, but I saw that you live in Ohio. Have you ever been to German Village in Columbus?
Whoops, I apologize! You're correct, I responded to the wrong comment. :)
@@pabu8433 greetings from Erlangen. Unfortunately Bergkirchwei will not happen this year.
In Russian-speaking communities, we pronounce the brands almost exactly how German people do.
Same in Poland. :)
Same in Serbia. I think in most non English speaking countries people pronounced correctly
@@borkoniBG Stupid Americans:)
i think all of europe does (except uk) in Slovenia we pronounce them the same
good we still can rely on the eastern block
I worked for DB at one point in Cary, NC. Loved this video.
Everyone saying Nivea "wrong" was taught to say it "wrong" by Nivea's own advertising. Probably applies to most of these brands, actually...
In Hong Kong it be like 'NEEviah'
Same with Mercedes
In Latin Nivea means snow, and the v sounds like a w
@@kingbernie4303 nix, nivis. There's no nivea in Latin
@@1surfer12 Niveus -a -um is the adjective. It absolutely exists in Latin.
Me, 10 minutes into the video: "Wait, I'm German, why am I watching this???" 😅
Pretty girl
@Nitin Kataria yes I am originally
@Nitin Kataria I don't understand your 2nd sentence, please explain
@Nitin Kataria so in your opinion, what requirements does somebody has to fulfill so that you would allow him to call himself a German, or an American, or a Canadian?
German with a Chinese name? That doesn't make sense to me😅
Years ago, a German coworker told me that Haribo was a German brand. She also told me that the ones available in the US weren’t the same as the ones available in Germany. At one point, her brother who still lives in Germany came to the US to visit her, and brought the German version of the Haribo candies. My coworker was absolutely right. They aren’t the same. They are WAY BETTER! The ones from Germany are produced in Germany but the ones in the US say on the package that they are produced in Turkey. What the heck Haribo? We want the good ones in the US! 😂
As an Armenian, I boycott anything made in Turkey. I can add Haribo in the U.S. to my list.
@1yellowdaffodil
Corporations always adjust taste to fit the standard likes of a specific target group. This is why you get same brands tasting slightly different in different countries. Americans like extrenes, so everything is more salty or sweet as a standard. Chocolate in the usa seems to be of lower standard than in europe for some reason and the taste of ready made food products are a lot harsher.
Damn I always buy the German ones in Germany, because that is what we're usually doing in Germany
Nutella is different in different countries as well
@@a.s.h.a118 no!
Thank you for teaching some of these pronunciations. I have been using correct pronunciation for a few of the automotive brands, though I like learning the more German dictation such as “BMV”. Thanks :)
Nothing like a German Girl in America video to remind me to do my daily German lesson. Tschüss!
Also reminds me to do my daily english lesson. Have a good day!
Spoiler: Go into business with a German, just not your German brother!
Douglas Strother that seems to be the moral of the story. I’d never go into business with a relative anyway.
@Tim Haverland Rudolf Dassler refused to let their nephews work in the factory as necessary workers in WWII because he was bitter over being conscripted in 1914 while his younger brother Adolf (born 1900) got to stay home as an apprentice until the very last months of WWI. The two nephews died on the Eastern Front in WWII. Their mother and the oldest brother sided with Rudolf. Their sister Marie, mother of the nephews, sided with Adi, who tried to keep them out of the war.
Make sure you use the first two letters of your names as an acronym to name your company or premiere product also!
Strangely enough because of the Afrikaans language in South Africa being so close in pronunciation to a lot of German words our pronunciations of most of the brands you covered is pretty spot on and very close to the way they would be pronounced in German 😊
I agree!
Nothing strange. Afrikaans derives from Dutch. Dutch is coming from old Germanic. Try to guess.
Lol, in Poland all these names are pronounced correctly as well. Its just america that sucks in languages and geography.
@@TheMatpsyou are absolutely right.
I thought Dutch
Wonderful to hear the original German pronunciations. Great video! Looking forward to watching your other videos.
Wow, I love the way she smiles when she talks.
Do not expect this from a regular German 🤣
I'm just random Portuguese guy, who works at Bosch, analyzing instrument clusters from BMW vehicles, wearing Adidas, flying on business trips through Lufthansa, buying groceries and Haribo gums at Lidl and drinking a lot of Erdinger weissbeer.
European countries are very "germanized" these days. 😅
According to Rammstein, we're all living in Amerika.
I didn't realise that. In Germany I always feel like everything is Americanized TM (Made in China)...interesting.
😂
Hello Bosch colleague. I work at Bosch in Renningen / Germany
@@h.s.3273 I have been a couple of times nearby Renningen. Leonberg development centre.
Prost colleague, all the best🍻👍
To everyone saying she’s encountered some strange American pronunciations....she says at the beginning of the video that she’s in Cincinnati, and as an Ohioan I can confirm that most people here have absolutely no idea how to pronounce their own language. Much less foreign languages.
Sinsuhnattuh.
Same over here in Indiana lol
To be honest Cinci is more Kentucky than Ohio.
Don't compare the entire country to 2 po dunk states in the country. Majority of us aren't stupid and we speak correct english. If it was meant to be pronounced the same over here, then the US commercials we see wouldn't pronounce them the way Americans do.
Taylor Williamson can you show me where exactly in my comment I compare the entire American population to two po dunk states? You can’t because I didn’t. As an Ohioan, I was simply confirming some of the mispronunciations discussed in the video, which is where this german lass says she resides in America. There were multiple comments saying “wow never heard people pronounce XYZ that way!” when I in fact have, probably because this gal and I live hours apart from each other. Never once claimed anyone was stupid, either. Not knowing how to pronounce some words in a very complex language here and there is not an indicator of someones overall intellect lmao. That comment was mostly a goof anyway, it’s good to laugh at yourself and where you hail from once in awhile. Goofball.
The pronunciation of words in dictionaries is often governed by popular usage rather than their original pronunciation. This phenomenon occurs because language is dynamic and constantly evolving. Here are a few key points to explain this:
1. Language Evolution: Over time, the way people pronounce words changes due to various factors such as regional accents, cultural influences, and social trends. Dictionaries aim to reflect the current, most commonly accepted pronunciations to remain relevant and useful¹.
2. Descriptive vs. Prescriptive: Modern dictionaries tend to be descriptive rather than prescriptive. This means they describe how language is actually used by speakers rather than prescribing how it should be used. As a result, they document the pronunciations that are most widely accepted and used⁴.
3. Phonetic Shifts: Phonetic shifts, such as the Great Vowel Shift in English, have historically altered the pronunciation of many words. These shifts are driven by changes in the way people speak over generations³.
4. Influence of Media and Technology: With the rise of media and technology, pronunciations can spread and become standardized more quickly. For example, the pronunciation of certain words may change due to their frequent use in television, movies, and online platforms².
5. User Feedback Some dictionaries, like Merriam-Webster, incorporate user feedback and linguistic research to update pronunciations. This ensures that the dictionary remains a reliable resource for contemporary language use⁵.
Source: Bing, 9/17/2024
(1) Merriam-Webster: America's Most Trusted Dictionary. www.merriam-webster.com/.
(2) Guide to Pronunciation - Merriam-Webster. www.merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/static/pdf/help/guide-to-pronunciation.pdf.
(3) Pronunciation Guide (English/Academic Dictionaries). www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/about/english/pronunciation_english.
(4) The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary - Carnegie Mellon University. www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/cmudict.
(5) How to Use the Dictionary - Merriam-Webster. www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/how-to-use-the-dictionary.
Blame the commercials those companies show in the US. They are the reason Americans pronounce them that way.
If the companies pronounce there names that way in America, doesn’t that means it’s the proper way for Americans to pronounce those names.
Nivea was the one that irked me. When I heard the english pronunciation I immediately jumped to all the ads I hear for the brand with that pronunciation. When paying somone to say your name why wouldn't you make sure they say it correctly.
Exactly. Names get anglicanized, and not just from German. When was the last time Los Angeles was said "correctly" within an English conversation?
@@miknarf No.
@@firesurfer how so? Companies get to decide how their names are pronounced.
My German neighbor, a Mercedes owner, once told me that BMW stood for Bayerische Mist Wagon. I didn't get the joke at the time, but since learned.
hahahah in germany we would se "Ehrennachbar" xD no front an alle BMW Fahrer hahaha
@@steffensteffen2696 verwirrt doch die Leute nicht mit Jugendsprache.
There are more funny acronyms for BMW than you can shake a stick at, like "Bring My Wrenches."
We used to say BMW stood for "Box Moving on Wheels" in the old days when they were, in fact, very square and boxy shaped.
Always thought it means "Bei Mercedes weggeworfen"
I’m British hubby is American... I pronounce Adidas the German way... and he laughs... now I know I was correct all along
Yes, but can you pronounce "water" 😉
haha yep and here people always argue here with Aldi too and the pronouncing V and W ugh
Brits can't even do English right. They changed it to belittle poor people and dropped the R on many words, added the H sound to herb. Just to prove they are all just as snobby as the wealthy. Yikes bud.
ItsACryin Shame you mean Americans dropped the h. English was the mother language. More to the point we question why Americans can’t prounounce t,s unless the are at the start of the word. They can’t say in ternet .....It’s An Tony Robbins not anth ony Let’s compromise and call him Tony Robbins. He is awesome as in ,more some ,not as in possum ROFLOL.
@@robmcghie5248 nope, try to educate yourself bud. The h is silent and y'all decided to add it to prove you're uppity.
Thank you for helping me settle a long standing argument over the pronunciation of Adidas.
It's funny, my friends and I in the US always poke fun at the way our immigrant (Spanish speaking) parents pronounce Aldi, only to realize they have been pronouncing it correctly this whole time 😂....Actually most of these brands are more correctly pronounced by native Spanish speakers
This is hilarious 😂
Agree!! For example my parents have always pronounced Nivea correctly
Du bringst unsere Sprache und Mentalität übelst toll und authentisch rüber! Das ist echt ein großer Gewinn, für alle, die "deutsch" lernen oder verstehen wollen. Super schade, dass du jetzt in den USA bist, aber du bist trotzdem ne Wucht! Bleib weiter so! Danke für deine Videos!!
Um noch hinzuzufügen, dass die Reihenfolge der bayerischen Farben bei 6:48 min. verkehrt herum genannt werden, aber das wissen sowieso nur wenige. Die bayerische Fahne ist weiß-blau, nicht blau-weiß. ;-)
@@trommeltom175 ja gut das leute aus Bayern die farben andersrum nennen weiß schätze ich außerhalb aus Bayern kaum einer und wenn sogar sie es falsch sagt obwohl sie aus München kommt
@@trommeltom175Und Bayerisch ist auf Bayerisch Bairisch, aber du hast Bayerisch geschrieben.
@@shivavision23 Meinst Du Boarisch? Kommt immer auf den Standpunkt an, was im Baiuwarischen als korrekt angesehen wird. ;-)
As a Pole, I can say that we pronounce this name almost exactly like you do (apart from the accent of course), for example we pronounce the letter "w" in the same way as Germans, which is the biggest difference compared to Americans.
This was a very fun and interesting video; I enjoyed it very much! I wasn't too shocked by the pronunciations, but it was very helpful to hear a native German speaker say them. I WAS shocked at how many companies there are that I didn't know were German or had German roots. This is especially true for Trader Joe's and Puma. The historical context of how the companies all began, and how some of them split, was really fascinating.
It's the brand's own fault. Most of these brands advertise their own name mispronounced in commercials, I've always wondered why they do that.
That's what my comment was.
Her issue is with how the companies have taught americans how to pronounce the product. Because that's how they pronounce them on the commercials.
Minus
Audi
And porsche
That's just people who can't read or something. Its clearly por scha
And Oudi
Even the commercials say it that way. Some of her complaints are nit picky. But it was still an interesting and educational video.
Yes, but companies usually do it to gain a better foothold in the market, e.g. if the customer cannot pronounce the word, he is more likely to buy a different product.
Here in Europe, for example, all the Korean car brands, Samsung and some others are pronounced differently than their real names.
@@Janoip that's what I was gonna say
@@Janoip German isn't so different from English.
Haribo especially
Fun fact, if you call a Mercedes a “Merc” to an older American who’s into cars, we’ll look puzzled because we grew up with the Mercury brand
my boyfriend drives a mercury 😁
We'll is a contraction or abbreviation for "WE WILL".
We'll is not short for "WILL".
@@UrbanSipfly Congratulations, you corrected someone's correct use of "we'll!"
Enjoy your reward: looking and feeling like an idiot.
@@UrbanSipfly Hey ding dong by the way, how exactly would adding an extra punctuation mark to the word “will” and changing one letter make “we’ll” SHORT for that? How, prey tell, is turning a 4 character word into a 5 character word SHORT for anything?
(Oh, and when I say “prey tell” that has nothing to do with when you PRAY in church. Like when you PRAY that God will give you a second brain cell to keep the one you have right now company? These are words that are pronounced the same but they mean different things. They’re called homonyms, but that’s 4th grade language arts so I’ll let you get there on your own pace in about 25 years. You drooling, mouth-breathing imbecile.
@@UrbanSipfly I’ll be interested to see if you wanna (Want To) continue the conversation. Oh and for the record “I’ll” is a contraction for “I WILL”, it doesn’t (Does Not) imply that either of us suffers from any sort of disease. Y’know (You Know) just to make sure we’re (We Are) clear on my use of the mother fucking English language 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I love that you include so much history and information in this!
She has to make them long enough to let Google add commercials.
Fascinating, thanks for sharing. I have already watched some of your productions about WWII and they were great. I'm amazed by your English speaking skills since you are a German-born girl-it is so good. Congratulations. Best. Joe.
I recently bought my first VW. My wife rolls her eyes when I call it a "Fau-Vey", but laughs when I scream "Shport-Vahgen"!
is it a GTI?
@@huawafabe TDI. It used to be a cheater diesel. Now it's "fixed".
It's a 2012 Jetta
we have 2 VWs in the household. Now with all the Covid- caused "curbside pickup", I'm considering buying something American, like an F-150 or a Mustang. Something the Americans understand when I tell them what car I am in :-)
Glad I took German for 4 years in high school, as learning a new language was not just that, but you also learned about that language customs, culture, and history.
Me too - with the english language...😉
you dont learn a language, you live a language..
dont forget to practice by just watching tv in your second or third language..
As a norwegian, I already pronounced every brand correctly or very similar to how the germans say it. So I guess this video is more like a reminder to me that german and norwegian is in fact very alike, as I can also understand most of what germans are saying when they speak casually
Not to mention written dutch. Its also very similar. Norwegian is branched of germanic, same as germany, so it is no wonder it shares a lot of the same words and that norwegians can understand a lot of german. I also natively pronounce the words "correctly" :)
Kai, good for you. Now let's hear you pronounce Apple, Ford, Microsoft, Levi's, Nike and Ralph Lauren properly.
German, English, Norwegian and some other languages are all Germanic languages. Thats why these languages can be very similar.
Germany and the Nordics are like = 🤝
Germany is kinda part of the Nordic countries
@@Jan-wi3xx, it’s not in my opinion as human rights are worse in Germany. The languages are similar as they are Germanic (English and Afrikaans are too).
I just noticed in this video how good you are at pronouncing the different "a" vowel sounds like Americans do! I think for most non native speakers that is among the hardest things for them to pickup and get right, and one of the most obvious giveaways. But you do it perfectly. Nice job! 👍
The Puma/Adidas as well as the Trader Joe's/Aldi Nord connections blew my mind!
Thanks for the great video!
You're welcome!
Trader Joe's? more like *Traitor* Joe's!
Your channel is such a refresh! I am changing my mind about Germans youth :)
Adidas was a big learn for me. I had been told since I was a child that the company name was an acronym. (All Day I Dream About Sports). Since It was an english acronym, I assumed it was an American or British company (Honestly I thought it was American since our country is so obsessed with sports)
It’s “All day I Dream About Soccer”
As a Russian native gotta say we pronounce most of the German brand names correctly. The trade and cultural ties are pretty tight and Schwarzkopf, Henkel, Nivea, Miele etc are part of our lives.
Makes me laugh how franco- and anglophone Canadians pronounce them.
Different but not wrong is really a better way to approach world travel. That way you are not going to find yourself being an international boor
Colloquialisms, local dialects are in every country. Correct, schlect...if it is fascinating to scrutinize others pronunciations major in linguistics and be of some use -
To tell someone from a different country they are pronouncing a word or brand name you say differently in the country of origin is nonsensical to me as I am fairly certain there are to some degree variations of pronunciation even in the country of origin - depending upon region. You get what I am saying. You can easily teach how it is said in Munich without calling someone else, “wrong” like the American pronunciation of the name Tolkien is often as “kien” is pronounced in England-since Tolkien is an English author who wrote during the war- a war that was the cause of many name changes -like my grandmas from Reich to Rich pronunciation or Drumph to Trump-simply because people hid all German association for at least a generation during which time the new name took root.
Countries near Germany prefer to speak English or French with Germans just because it is customary not to speak German - I’ll feelings - understandably lasted at least a generation or 2. These things make the study of the fluidity of language fascinating. Right/wrong- is incorrect in my opinion- but I am wrong a lot- your generation is full of people -especially in the US who don’t know history at all- or who are strongly motivated to delete or change it without understanding.
Do they return the favor and pronounce Russian correctly?
Same case here with people in Serbia, we really pronounce all of these accurately. I thought it is because back in 60ties (and ever since) lots of Serbs went to Germany to work for couple of months/years (gastarbeit). They would usually come back home with gifts and proper pronounciation of the brands, which spreaded all over the population?
Any similarities with Russia?
@@majastrbac1136 I've heard of working in foreign countries having been a thing in Yugoslavia and to some extent still a thing in those countries but I would expect that all of the USSR would have been completely separated from any western country, and I can't imagine that Soviets going to East Germany for work could have been that common - I would have thought more likely to be the other way around?
Didn't know Adidas and Puma were German brands. And belongs to two brothers.
Thank you
Puma is a quechua word originating in Peru, So it seems kind of funny to have a German person telling us how it's pronounced
She didn’t say anything about Puma being mispronounced just that it was a German rival brand to Adidas.
Ya sientse señora
I knew Adidas was German, thought that Puma was either English or US.
@@LindaC616 🤣 ikr
proud peruvian here 💞
Love it! Thanks 😊
Love how german brand names are so literal - People's Car, Black Head, German Bank...
We don't need fancy names, we let the quality of our products do the speaking - and it's working quite well
VW = Volkswagen waw that sound cool name......FW = Folkswagon ....ummm that sound weird name
Well...of course?
how about
head and shoulders
bank of america
?
Generally, I find that Germans are more literally descriptive than Americans and Americans are more literally descriptive than the British. 😉👍🏻🤔
Your English is so perfect I would never be able to tell you’re German... you don’t have any accent 💁🏼♀️🙌🏼💗 I’m seriously shook
And yet, I feel incapable of making some of the sounds she does when speaking German.
No accent? It might not be the strongest accent in the world, but she clearly has a German accent. The reason you can’t detect it has more to do with your lack of familiarity with the subtleties of various foreign accents.
@@fordhouse8b exactly, there are definitely tells in the way she speaks that indicate where she's from.
At the risk of being an annoying pedant, but since you mentioned good English, you can’t be “seriously shook”. You can be seriously shaken, or seriously shaken up, though. Yeah.. I know how annoying I’m being. I apologise.
But her intonation, although clear, is obviously American, not (British) English. You will find that many Europeans switch languages seamlessly, and Germans tend to be very good at it.
For the longest time, I thought HARIBO was a Japanese brand.
My German teacher in high school in the 70s used Goldbären as prizes so I knew them as a German candy originally!
I thought it was Danish...went over to Denmark very often and always saw Haribo candy anywhere u go there ...
I thought they were French because I saw some French haribo advert on some SBS 3D video a few years ago. Before that I didn't think about where they are from.
Me too! Thought it was Japanese. 😂
My primary school told me they were French. We had them for our French Day!
Very fun. I studied German in high school and uni and while my knowledge of the language is academic, not conversational, I did learn (from Germans) how the language is pronounced. There is a German company called Molotow that makes art supplies. It depends very much on your language background how you would approach pronounce this as a word (not a proper noun), but the first thing I learned about German pronunciation is that "W" is invariably pronounced "V" AND Molotow is a German company so it seems to me it should have a "V" sound at the end. I have only heard it said MolotoV ONE time. I always hear Molotow like towing your car. But I don't get to talk to German speakers that often. Now, if you are talking about a Molotov cocktail explosive, named for a Russian and spelled with a V, that's always pronounced MolotoV in North America. I get it, but this disconnect makes me a little nuts. German is spoken by A LOT of people and the W/V thing is not an obscure rule. Please tell me if I am wrong about this! Anyway, fun video. I didn't know Adidas is German! And if I ever learned the correct pronunciation of Mercedes, I forgot it!