While many of the same brands exist in different countries, the pronunciation of all of them is somewhat different.
To demonstrate how differently a word can be pronounced, six different people from Europe and America discussed how they say different words.
Someone representing Germany, Italy, France, Italy, Sweden, Spain and the United States all shared how certain makes and brands of luxury cars were said in their home countries
While most people in English pronounce the Swedish furniture store giant Ikea as ‘Eye-key-ah’ – in European countries different vowels are elongated.
Six women from different countries around the world compared their pronunciations of popular brand names to reveal the correct way to say them
The pronunciation of Ikea and Zara were the two brands with the most shocking pronunciation
According to Hanna, from Sweden, the store is not pronounced as we think, explaining that the Swedes say: ‘Eh-kay-ah.’
“We pronounce the ‘E’ very hard and long,” Hanna explained. “But when I speak English, I always pronounce it ‘eye-key-ah.’
The girls from France, Germany, Spain and Italy agreed, and the only person who pronounces the name differently is Virginia, from the United States.
The next shocking pronunciation was Spanish clothing brand Zara, with Spanish-speaker Carol revealing that it is actually said with a ‘th’ sound instead of ‘Z’.
“It’s actually called ‘th-er-ra,'” Carol explained.
As for Germany and Italy, they pronounce the Z much harder, with Germany putting more emphasis on the ‘a’, making it sound like ‘za-ah-ra’.
French was similar to the English pronunciation, just with the Z running a little more into the rest of the word.
In the meantime. Swedish speakers say that Z and an S- almost sounded like ‘Sora’.
Jessica (pictured) from Germany said Volkswagen was pronounced ‘fau-vey’ or ‘people’s car’ in her home country
While most people in English pronounce the Swedish furniture giant Ikea as ‘Eye-key-ah’ – in European countries different vowels are elongated
Jessica (left) from Germany observed that the French pronunciation was closest to how it is said in her home country
The German car Audi was next, pronounced ‘ow-dee’ in German, English, Spanish and Italian – only the French pronounce it slightly differently as ‘oodi’
Next were cars, where the European countries had different names for a car – which the ones pointed out are
In Germany you say auto, in Sweden; car, Spanish; coche (short-eh), while the Italians have many words using auto or automobile, but the most common is macchina (mack-in-a) and the French use auto, automobile or voiture (vort-chure).
The group then compared how the popular German car brands, starting with the luxury car, Mercedes-Benz.
In Germany, according to Jessica, you say ‘mert-say-dez-bends’ with a slightly shorter ‘Mer’ at the beginning of the world.
“We pronounce the Z very hard,” she explained. “So Z is almost set.”
In Sweden, the ‘ced’ changes to a ‘sh’ sound – making it sound like ‘mer-shay-dees-bends’, while the Spanish say ‘Mer-they-des-bends’, Italians say ‘mer-chay – dees-bends’, and the French simply say: ‘Mercedes.’
Another German car was on the way – BMW – or Bayerische Motoren Werke.
“In English we just saw BMW,” laughed Virginia from the US.
Many of the other countries said they pronounce the ‘W’ with a ‘V’ making it ‘BMV’.
The Volkswagen was next, which Jessica from Germany said was pronounced ‘fau-vey’ or ‘people’s car’ in her home country.
In Sweden it is pronounced with a softer ‘s’ – ‘volt-wagon’, in Spain it is ‘vols-wagon’ – where the ‘V’ almost sounds like a ‘B’, the Italians say ‘volt-wagon’ – with a ‘V’ sounds ‘W’ – and the French look like Germans – with a softer ‘V’.
“I think the most similar is probably French,” Jessica said, while Vittoria from Italy noted that Italians don’t use the letter “K” much – making their pronunciation of Volkswagen very different.
In Germany the Z is harder and they say ‘mert-say-dez-bends’ with a slightly shorter ‘Mer’ at the beginning of the word
Lamborghini was said the same way in all countries – with some slightly elongated vowels – while in France it was said more like ‘lom-bor-geen-ee’
The German car Audi was next, which is pronounced ‘ow-dee’ in German, English, Spanish and Italian – only the French pronounce it slightly differently as ‘oodi’.
Porsche was next, pronounced as ‘poor-shay’ in Germany.
The Swedes also say ‘poor-shay’, while Americans, Italians and Spaniards pronounce the luxury car as ‘poor-sh’.
Italian car Ferrari was pronounced the same all around, except for the European’s ability to roll their ‘r’s and the slight exaggeration of the ‘I’ at the end of the word.
While Fiat was more or less said the same all round – ‘fee-at’ – there were some differences in the Italian brand Maserati.
In Germany the ‘S’ sound has a harder ‘Z’ which is the same in Italian, in Sweden it is a softer ‘S’ which the French and Spanish also use.
Lamborghini was said the same way in all countries – with some slightly elongated vowels – while in France it was said more like ‘lom-bor-geen-ee’.
Volvo was also said somewhat alike, with the two ‘O’s’ said slightly differently in Swedish.
“The first ‘O’ is more like the ‘oar’ sound,” Hanna explained. ‘The last ‘O’ is a bit like ‘oo’.’
Bugatti – often pronounced ‘boo·gaa·tee’ – was again said the same except in French, where ‘gaa’ was replaced by ‘gee’, making it ‘boo-gee-tee.’