The obsession with luxury and sports cars goes past wordings and pronunciations, especially so, if you’re a gearhead with the knowledge of technicalities when it comes to cars. Car enthusiasts are very particular about the brand they drive. Be it, horse-power, mileage or any other detail. Howbeit, how’d you react if you find out you’ve been pronouncing these car brands wrong all along?
Sounds like a bummer, eh?
Whether it be the race clubs of America, car hub of UK or the luxury car rentals in Dubai, pronouncing words wrong is an embarrassment worldwide. Nevertheless, there’s always a room for learning. Let’s start with some common kingly brands that you’re probably pronouncing wrong.
Porsche:
Did you just say ‘Porsh’ or ‘Porshi’? Either way, you’re wrong. Ferdinand Porsche, the guy who started Porsche and who it was named after, pronounced his family name Porsha. In English the Porsh pronunciation isn’t exactly wrong, but it isn’t the original pronunciation either as the word is German.
There two syllables in Porsche — “Por” and “Shuh.” Put them together and you get Porsche.
Pronunciation: [ˈpɔʁʃə], POR-Shuh.
Audi.
Very popular car brand- thanks to its style and luxury. BUT… very frequently mispronounced brand. Audi comes from a German origin and is most prominent among many luxury car rentals in Dubai, Singapore and France.
You’re probably pronouncing it Aw-di or Ao-di, but if you’re trying to sound exactly like the Germans-the right pronunciation is Ow-dee (where ow as in ouch and dee).
Pronunciation: [ˈʔaʊ̯diː, Ow-dee.
Volkswagen.
Another German brand, commonly mispronounced. Here’s a fun-fact, there’s a huge possibility that you’re not even pronouncing the word “wagen” right.
You might be pronouncing this as Volz-wagon or volks-wagen, which is very wrong. The Germans would pronounce it as Ffolks-vah-gun. The ‘v’ makes an ‘ff’ sound.
Pronunciation: [ˈfɔlksˌvaːɡn̩], Ffolks-vah-gun.
Alfa- Romeo.
You’ll always hear people pronouncing it Alfa- Rome-oo- as in Romeo and Juliet.
Know this, the car brand is of Italian origin. So, this means the ‘Romeo’ word should be pronounced as ‘RO-MEY-OH’. Interesting, yes?
Pronunciation: [ˈalfa roˈmɛːo]), Alfah- RO- MEY- OH’.
Lancia.
Not such a popular brand, though. However, if you’re looking to rent a car in Dubai- this might show up in the fleet.
A lot of people make up ‘CIYA’ sound at the end of this brand, which obviously, is a wrong practice. The right pronunciation is Lan-Cha, two syllables here. Again, an Italian word.
Pronunciation: [ˈlantʃa], Lan-Cha.
These are commonly mispronounced car brands. Do check Wikipedia Sources for better idea of how to pronounce these words. These pronunciations may vary from place to place- however, keeping these variations aside, we should stick to the origin of the name. Above compiled list is based on the origins which make them most appropriate by default.