The way Brits pronounce Nissan makes me cringe

The way Brits pronounce Nissan makes me cringe

Author
Discussion

Smurfsarepeopletoo

863 posts

56 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
quotequote all
DOCG said:
I'm aware that the mispronunciation is very well established, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest considering that Nissan UK uses it in advertising (for obvious reasons).
Surely if Nissan UK use the same pronunciation as most of the UK do, then it is pronounced correctly, surely its then only pronounced incorrectly if you use the UK pronunciation in another country???

hyphen

26,262 posts

89 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
quotequote all
DOCG said:
I'm aware that the mispronunciation is very well established, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest considering that Nissan UK uses it in advertising (for obvious reasons).
Why didn't they spell it Nee san over here? If they spell it Nissan, we will say Nissan.

They didn't name the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wi did they. And so its pronounced wee and not we wink

Smurfsarepeopletoo

863 posts

56 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
quotequote all
DOCG said:
It's actually like Nees - ahn, with the emphasis on the first syllable.

Edited by DOCG on Thursday 18th June 10:24
Also, Listening to this video, it would appear its more like nee - sahn with the emphasis on the first syllable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l8xFCLB1m8

DOCG

Original Poster:

534 posts

53 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
quotequote all
hyphen said:
Why didn't they spell it Nee san over here? If they spell it Nissan, we will say Nissan.

They didn't name the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wi did they. And so its pronounced wee and not we wink
I don't know why, but the Japanese character of ? is always anglicised as "ni". In Japanese Nissan is written as either ?? or ???? depending on the alphabet used.

EDIT: Seems this site cannot support Japanese characters haha

sunbeam alpine

6,936 posts

187 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
quotequote all
Castrol for a knave said:
DOCG said:
Robb F said:
So you learnt some Japanese and need to find a way to let everyone know, so you've started pronouncing Nissan in a silly way to flex your superior knowledge.

Meanwhile everyone else is trying to avoid talking to you because they don't want a smug 5 minute lecture about how "Neesarn" is actually much closer to the Japanese pronunciation
It's actually like Nees - ahn, with the emphasis on the first syllable.

Edited by DOCG on Thursday 18th June 10:24
Are you Matt Berry?
No, because Matt Berry is really funny...

sparkyhx

4,143 posts

203 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
quotequote all
MXRod said:
It's pronounced Datsun , isn't it ?

Edited by MXRod on Thursday 18th June 10:22
LOL

Carbon Sasquatch

4,582 posts

63 months

Thursday 18th June 2020
quotequote all
Nothing surprising in this thread.....

The french can't pronounce Paris correctly either

It's always been the same with those foreigners.....

dean_asla

57 posts

45 months

Monday 22nd June 2020
quotequote all
I am now learning that the way I though Nissan was pronounced is totally wrong, I keep saying the British way to my colleagues and I get that blank look.

delta0

2,334 posts

105 months

Monday 22nd June 2020
quotequote all
Mazda/Matsuda

kev b

2,708 posts

165 months

Monday 22nd June 2020
quotequote all
Have you heard the Japanese pronunciation of Macdonalds or coffee?

Ozone

3,039 posts

186 months

Monday 22nd June 2020
quotequote all
Cyder said:
DOCG said:
It is so far from the Japanese pronunciation it is just awful.

I'm British myself but have learnt a bit of Japanese.
It's going to deeply upset you when you I tell you that everyone in the UK technical centre and production plants pronounce it the UK way too isn't it? And many of us speak an element of Japanese too. hehe

It'll make it even worse if I tell you that when I visit the Technical Centre in Japan they mispronounce English words. yikes
Worse than that, I used to speak to an Englishman who was on the Nissan Board of Directors in Japan and he pronounced it the English way! yikesyikes

InitialDave

11,854 posts

118 months

Monday 22nd June 2020
quotequote all
dean_asla said:
I am now learning that the way I though Nissan was pronounced is totally wrong, I keep saying the British way to my colleagues and I get that blank look.
It doesn't help that people will try to explain it by saying that in Japanese, the Ni of Nissan is a longer vowel. And then write it as "Nee-San", which to most western people would be pronounced like the word "knee".

But when writing Japanese in the western alphabet, adding additional vowels is simply extending the vowel sound, so "knee" would be equivalent to "nii" - a Monty Python style "ni", with a longer "i". Shrubbery not required.

A written "Nee", to people familiar with romanised Japanese, is not "knee", rather it is a vowel- extended "ne". "Ne" is pronounced "neh", and extending the vowel to "nee" is more like "nay" or "neigh".


Pommy

14,229 posts

215 months

Friday 10th July 2020
quotequote all
I'm in Australia.

We say Niss-an
My Nissan dealer says Niss-an
My Japanese co worker says Oarstrayeea.

No one's gives a st.


Pothole

34,367 posts

281 months

Friday 10th July 2020
quotequote all
DOCG said:
Wadeski said:
Pronunciation is interesting, isn't it?

Anglicized pronunciations of certain words makes you a total pleb, yet if you go around saying Paree and Barthelona you are a pompous ass. No consistency, or really, reason.
Very true, although I do err on the side of pronouncing foreign words the way they are in their language of origin.
Do you not see people cringing?