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Voltswagen of America

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Re: Voltswagen of America

#181

Post by titzer »

sillyquiet wrote: post #72
minxomat wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they grew tired of Americans pronouncing it wrong (most V are still pronounced as F, Vettel, Volkswagen etc.) ;-) Edit: This German apologizes for an attempt at a humorous / sarcastic comment and will revert to work-machine state at once. Beep boop.

Americans are pronouncing it perfectly correctly as most of us speak English and not German.

Does it bother you when Germans say "zis"? German has no "th" sound, so "zis" is what they start with before they practice. It's similarly grating to Germans to hear their language mispronounced by others.

And yet, English has an "f" sound. German has an extremely consistent spelling and essentially all "v"s are pronounced as "f". We share (the latin) alphabet, and English has absolutely no authority, given how inconsistent it is.

Given that, I will say the voiced "V" when speaking English and the unvoiced, as necessary, speaking German.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#183

Post by dunefox »

zwieback wrote: post #122
jeromenerf wrote: post #114

Pronunciation is no longer “folks wagen” but “faults wagen”. The classic German ironic sense of humor.

"V" can be randomly soft or hard, "Volk" is pronounced like "Folk" but "Volt" like "Wolt". THere's no real equivalent sound in English, I think. But, yeah, I've owned several VWs and electrical wiring is usually faulty so I'll go with Faultswagen as well.

> but "Volt" like "Wolt".

Not really, it would be pronounced like the v in Vincent, not Wincent.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#184

Post by reaperducer »

tchalla wrote: post #137
sillyquiet wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans are pronouncing it perfectly correctly as most of us speak English and not German.

It is respectful to at least attempt to pronounce names from different cultures. In many cases, I totally understand it is difficult. In those cases, an attempt is great. In this case, the syllable F exists in Latin and I don't see why it. I must say, I have seen many many times a lack of interest to even attempt to pronounce of even write a name properly. One example which comes to my mind is Ghandi instead of Gandh…

It is respectful to at least attempt to pronounce names from different cultures

In many cases, it is unnecessary and only makes the speaker look foolish.

"Hyundai" is pronounces its own brand name differently in American and Korean TV commercials. Is Hyundai being disrespectful to Koreans?

The goal is to communicate. Making communication more difficult is the opposite of the goal.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#185

Post by mlyle »

tchalla wrote: post #137
sillyquiet wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans are pronouncing it perfectly correctly as most of us speak English and not German.

It is respectful to at least attempt to pronounce names from different cultures. In many cases, I totally understand it is difficult. In those cases, an attempt is great. In this case, the syllable F exists in Latin and I don't see why it. I must say, I have seen many many times a lack of interest to even attempt to pronounce of even write a name properly. One example which comes to my mind is Ghandi instead of Gandh…

In practice, if a name has a common pronunciation within English, you show respect by using that pronunciation when speaking to native English speakers.

Otherwise you just cause confusion. The adapted names have their own history.

If you insist on saying København and not Copenhagen, you get to have a little pretentious discussion explaining what you meant to every person you talk to. Ditto for Folks-vagen.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#186

Post by gaoshan »

milkytron wrote: post #177
gaoshan wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I have seen VW had a sort of genuine reckoning with the whole diesel issue. They have reinvented themselves, shed cruft, cut all fuel vehicle development and completely devoted themselves to an electric future (vehicles, batteries, chargers). They have turned things around wholesale and are now producing amazing, relatively affordable electric vehicles (their new id.4 SUV will debut in the US for just a lit…

It's going to take a lot more than going completely EV for me to for me to believe they have changed. Of course they went to EVs, it's the market. Of course they changed course, they were dealing with one of their worst scandals of all time. Of course they say they've changed, but how can we really trust them anymore?

Given where they are today would they need to do to cause you to believe they have changed?

Re: Voltswagen of America

#187

Post by milkytron »

kbos87 wrote: post #179

I previously owned a VW, but swore on my life that I'd never buy another one after the emissions cheating scandal. There are plenty of reasons why a VW likely wont be my next choice, but I'm softening my stance a bit. What they did was absolutely reprehensible, but I later learned that the more accurate story is that they bore the brunt of media attention for something that nearly every auto manufacturer was later fo…

Same boat here, I had a VW and sold it about a year and half ago. I will not be buying one again, they've lost me.

But also, I don't really appreciate what any of the car manufacturers have been doing (location tracking, internet connectivity, subscription services, etc). Since I sold the VW, I haven't bought a car, and am currently without a car. I don't plan on buying one anytime in the near future.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#188

Post by reaperducer »

minxomat wrote: post #25
MattGaiser wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mistake? Look at all the coverage they are getting when they would otherwise be lost in a crowd.

Maybe they grew tired of Americans pronouncing it wrong (most V are still pronounced as F, Vettel, Volkswagen etc.) ;-) Edit: This German apologizes for an attempt at a humorous / sarcastic comment and will revert to work-machine state at once. Beep boop.

Maybe they grew tired of Americans pronouncing it wrong

Americans learned how to pronounce "Volkswagen" from 50 years of Volkswagen's own advertising. They didn't just make it up on their own.

Re: Voltswagen of America

#189

Post by [deleted] »

maverwa wrote: post #130
samblr wrote: post #92

Volkswagen to Voltswagen By having 'Volts' can they can grow market share ? Can anybody think of a similar name change that worked before ?

Long Island Iced Tea, or Long Blockchain, comes to mind: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-21/crypto-cr...

[deleted]

Re: Voltswagen of America

#190

Post by NullPrefix »

sillyquiet wrote: post #72
minxomat wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they grew tired of Americans pronouncing it wrong (most V are still pronounced as F, Vettel, Volkswagen etc.) ;-) Edit: This German apologizes for an attempt at a humorous / sarcastic comment and will revert to work-machine state at once. Beep boop.

Americans are pronouncing it perfectly correctly as most of us speak English and not German.

How to pronounce jalapeno?
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