Hi everyone! Today, I’m talking about Brand names that are challenging to say!
The world today is completely interconnected, with people able to connect and travel faster than ever. Within this connected world is an economy with an endless number of brands and individuals that are buying, trading, and selling any number of goods or services!
In today’s lesson, I want to go through a few unique sectors with famous brands that might be difficult to pronounce! I’ll provide the correct pronunciation, and also the American pronunciation! Let’s practice speaking together!
Alright, let’s get after it!
Let’s start today with Luxury clothing companies! Many of the following brands are European, and many of those are French, which are notorious for having words written differently than they are pronounced!
Louis Vuitton
American: Loo-ee Va-tahn
Proper: Loo-EE Vwee-ton (Swollwing the n)
Chanel
American: Shuh-nel
Proper: Shah-nel
Givenchy
American: Ga-vin-she
Proper: Zhee-von-she
Balenciaga
American:Buh-len-cee-ah-ga
Proper: Ba-len-cee-ah-ga
Yves Saint Laurent
American: eevs say-nt Luh-rent
Proper: Eve San Lo-rah (Difficult because we don’t have these sounds in English)
Burberry
American: Ber-ber-ee
Proper: Beh-beh-ry
Hermès
American: Air-mez
Proper: Er-mes
Apparel Brands
Now that we have talked about some luxury clothing, let’s talk about some apparel brands that are more mainstream! And to begin, I want to help with Fjallraven, which means Arctic fox in Swedish!
Fjallraven
American: Fee-yal-rah-vin
Proper: Fee-yal-rah-vin
Nike
American: Ny-key
Proper: Ny-key
Adidas
American: Uh-dee-does
Proper: ah-dee-dass
Polo ralph lauren
American:Po-low Ralf Lor-in
Proper: Pol-low Ralf Lor-in
Cars and Electronics
The final group will be a couple of popular vehicles and electronic companies that I’ve noticed mispronounced while traveling! And We will begin with 2 cell phone brands from China!
Xiaomi
American: Show-me (-show like in shower)
Proper: She-ow-me
Huawei
American: Wah-way
Proper: Whaw-way
And just to mention a few popular car companies! And I am purposely avoiding brands that you wouldn’t commonly find in the USA!
Chevrolet: American car company!
American: Chev-ro-lay
Proper: Chev-ro-lay
Hyundai: South Korean Car maker!
American: Hun-day
Proper: Hun-day (there is a slight difference, but it is basically this!)
Toyota: Japanese car manufacturer!
American: Toy-oda
Proper: Toy-o-ta (falling intonation on the single ‘o’)
Chrysler: American car that is changing its name to Stellantis in 2021
American: Cry-slur
Proper: Cry-slur
Final Thoughts
So that wraps up today’s English lesson! Do you have questions about these brand names? What’s the most interesting brand name from your country!? Let me know in the comments below! And if you want extra English learning, sent directly to your inbox, click HERE! I hope you enjoyed learning today! And if you’d like to continue on your English journey, check out one of these other fun lessons HERE!
