Transcript of AE 1086 - 15 German Brands You May Pronounce Wrong

So, I was on the internet the other day working on my Australian accent.

That's a knife. That's a knife.

And something caught my eye in the suggestive videos. 15 German brands you pronounce wrong, German girl in America. I checked this video out, guys. And you know what I discovered? Germans can't pronounce German brands. They've been saying it wrong this whole time. So, as a fair dinkum Aussie, I thought I would set the record straight. Let's go.

Hey, have you seen my Adidas shoes? Your, what, shoes? Adidas, the brand. Oh, Adidas. Not sure. Maybe you've left them in the car. Oh, in your friends Volkswagen. Huh? Volkswagen, the car brand. It's a German car brand, you should know that. Oh, Volkswagen, okay.

All right. So, it is time to give this German girl some pronunciation lessons.

First one is Audi. Most Americans that I know pronounce it like I just said it, Au-dee. In German, we say Au-dii, Audi. And there's actually a funny story as to where this name came from...

It's Audi, mate. ow-dee.

...And of course, one of the most famous car brands in the world is this one. It's located in Stuttgart, Germany. I've heard Americans pronounce it Porsche or Por-shee...

Por-shee? Americans, what are you doing?

...German, we say Por-sche. So, there is like this short /e/ sound in the end.

That's not bad, Germans. You got that right. It's Porsche or Por-sche, Porsche or Por-sche. Good work. Didn't screw that one up.

This one sounded super funny to me when I first heard how people pronounce it in English. I actually used to drive one back in Germany...

Oh, la dee da.

...So, most Americans call this Mr-say-deez. In German, we pronounce it Ma-see-dis.

What? Ma-see-dis?

So, Mercedes versus ma-see-dis.

No, it's Mr-say-deez, Mercedes, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz.

This one simply has three letters, but of course, they're pronounced differently in English and in German. In English people say BMW. In German we say BMV because W is pronounced V in German...

But what do you say for V? BMV?

...And it stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke, which means Bavarian engine works.

This is BMW, and if you own a BMW, it's a Beamer that you own. A Beamer.

English speakers call this Vowlk-swa-gn. While in Germany, we usually just call it VW (German).

VW? No, this is Volkswagen, Volkswagen. And if you want to be an Aussie who sounds a little bit more German, you might say Volkswagen, but people would probably be like, what's your issue, dude? You're not German, you're Aussie. VW.

VW (German). VW (English). VW...

Yeah, you can use that, too. You could say VW, too, in Australia. VW, Volkswagen, VW, Volkswagen.

...Did go by the full name it would be pronounced folk-swaa-gen...

Folks? Where's the V, though? You're using an F. folk-swaa-gen? And the W's the V. Merde douxe.

Now, let's move on to something other than cars.

This is a good one. This is a good one. Both Americans and Germans are going to hate me.

So, this is one of the brands where when I heard Americans say this for the first time, I didn't understand at all what they were referring to because they usually pronounce it uh-dee-duhs...

Uh-dee-duhs?

...And in Germany, we say Ah-dee-dahs...

Ah-dee-dahs? It's A-duh-das, Adidas. The emphasis is on the first syllable, A-duh-das. And there's no E, Americans, uh-dee-duhs. Where's the E in this word? Uh-dee-duhs? It's A-duh-das.

...Super different. It's the second largest sportswear manufacturer in the world after Nike, and I don't think that a lot of people know that this is a German company...

No, I thought it was Australian.

...Shoes to alcohol, this is pronounced yee-ger-mai-ster in German, Jagermeister.

Yee-ger-mai-ster? This is yay-guh-mai-stuh, Jagermeister.

English speakers usually say yay-gr-mai-str, which is pretty much the same just with a pretty thick...

American English speakers, we would say yay-guh-mai-stuh, Jagermeister.

This is a German...

Man, this one's easy. I was there today, so I know how to pronounce Al-dee, Aldi.

In English, people usually pronounce this aal-dee...

Aal-dee? Nah, in Australia we'd pronounce it Al-dee, mate, Aldi.

...I've also heard Al-dee before, but I think most people say Aal-dee, or they also sometimes add an S that isn't there in the end and say Aal-dees.

Aal-dees? Belongs to Aldi, does it?

In Germany we just say Ahl-dee.

Ahl-dee. No, it's Aldi, mate. It's Al-dee. You don't even need to say the L, it's a dark L. You just say Aldi.

Nivea is a German brand from Hamburg...

Nee-vee-a. No, it's Ni-vee-uh, Nivea. The emphasis is on the first syllable. Ni-vee-uh, Nivea.

English native speakers usually say Ni-vee-uh, Nivea. In German we say Nee-vee-a, Nivea, so...

Far out, they've been saying it wrong this whole time. It's Ni-vee-uh, Nivea.

This is a German hair cosmetics brand...

This is an easy one. This is an easy one. Shwaatz-kof, Schwarzkopf.

...And that you can find all over the world pretty much. In German, we pronounce it Shvaatz-kopf...

Kopf? Nah, shwaatz-kof. Schwarzkopf, mate.

...Black head, Schwarzkopf. English native speakers usually pronounce it Shworz-kaaf or Shvaatz-kof or something along those lines...

Yeah. You got it. You got it. Schwarzkopf.

Deutsche Bank is the largest bank in Germany. Deutsche Bank also literally means German bank.

Nah, this is Doy-ch Bank, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bank.

This is a German manufacturer of high-end domestic appliances, and...

This is easy. This is meel, Miele.

...And it's not exactly pronounced wrong in English, but English native speakers usually say something like mee-la, mee-laa. So, it usually sounds more like an A in the end. Whereas in German we say mee-leh...

I'd just say meel. I'm probably getting that wrong anyway. Mee-leh, meel.

This is something that everyone knows and loves, so...

I have no idea what this is. I assume- I mean, they're gummy bears, but I don't know this brand. Haribo GoldBaren. Ooh, I can understand GoldBaron. Frisch, Fruchtig and Barig Gut. Nice.

Maybe not everyone knew that Haribo is actually German. We pronounce it Harr-i-boh, Haribo...

Yeah, I'd say Ha-ree-bow, Haribo, mate. Yeah, so there you go, guys. I mean, that was a bit of a piss take, I am mucking around. Go and check out German Girl in America's (*Feli from Germany) YouTube channel. And if you are learning Australian English, be sure to go and check out this video here. Thanks. See you next time!