Definitive pronunciation of kitchen-product brands

[Fat Guy]

Please help me with Bosch. I'm sure there are a lot of others to talk about.

[heidih]

Bosch is a German company so treat the "c" as silent. Pronounce "bosh" with the short o sound

[JAZ]

Miele is the one I'm unsure of. Is it "Mee-lay" or "Mee-luh"?

[Alcuin]

Miele is the one I'm unsure of. Is it "Mee-lay" or "Mee-luh"?

Another German word; it should be "Mee-luh." The accent's on the "ie" and the second "e" is close to a schwa sound.

[slkinsey]

Bosch = "boshe" (with an "o" as in "bow")

Miele = "mee-luh"

[heidih]

Miele is the one I'm unsure of. Is it "Mee-lay" or "Mee-luh"?

Another German word; it should be "Mee-luh." The accent's on the "ie" and the second "e" is close to a schwa sound.

Yes - kind of like a quick "eh" at the end

[ScoopKW]

Bosch = "boshe" (with an "o" as in "bow")

Miele = "mee-luh"

Wouldn't that be "Bösche" if using the long "o"

[heidih]

Bosch = "boshe" (with an "o" as in "bow")

Miele = "mee-luh"

A long o in Bosch????? Reference?

[Alcuin]

The "ö" in German (o with an umlaut) doesn't mean a vowel is long. It's a different sound than "o" long or short. It's hard to explain but the vowel is between an "o" sound which you make with the back of the mouth and an "e" that you make with the front of the mouth. Because its an "o" sound that wants to be an "e" sound, you purse your lips a bit as if you were going to make an "r" sound. So the "ö" actually sounds a bit more like an "e" than an "o." Very confusing stuff: easy to hear, hard to imagine unless you're already familiar.

[Fat Guy]

I have heard a lot of people pronounce Bosch with a long "o." I was wondering if that's correct. Glad to see there is not a quick consensus. I did a quick search on YouTube and found what seems to be a Bosch corporate video with the short "o" -- Bosch rhyming with "wash." I wonder if that's definitive.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BoschHome#p/a/u/2/YUQrWTt74nU

[heidih]

I have heard a lot of people pronounce Bosch with a long "o." I was wondering if that's correct. Glad to see there is not a quick consensus. I did a quick search on YouTube and found what seems to be a Bosch corporate video with the short "o" -- Bosch rhyming with "wash." I wonder if that's definitive.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BoschHome#p/a/u/2/YUQrWTt74nU

Well that is an American voice making it more like an "aw" as in law but correct versus making it sound like "o" in Obama (one of the examples in the long & short kid dictionary). I like the one in this link. Same idea, just spoken more quickly and not drawn out.

[annabelle]

Doesn't miele mean honey?

[heidih]

Doesn't miele mean honey?

Honig = honey in German and it is a German manufacturer I believe

Google say Miele is honey in Italian

[JAZ]

Doesn't miele mean honey?

It does in French, and it's pronounced mee-ELL. But as I found when I started working for a company that sold the company's appliances, the French pronunciation of "miele" and the German pronunciation of "miele" have no similarity.

[FrogPrincesse]

Actually, in French, honey is MIEL (no 'e' at the end)

[Alcuin]

I have heard a lot of people pronounce Bosch with a long "o." I was wondering if that's correct. Glad to see there is not a quick consensus. I did a quick search on YouTube and found what seems to be a Bosch corporate video with the short "o" -- Bosch rhyming with "wash." I wonder if that's definitive.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BoschHome#p/a/u/2/YUQrWTt74nU

Well that is an American voice making it more like an "aw" as in law but correct versus making it sound like "o" in Obama (one of the examples in the long & short kid dictionary). I like the one in this link. Same idea, just spoken more quickly and not drawn out.

The thing is that there are so many vowel sounds that its impossible to be definitive, and sometimes its really hard to tell one from the other. So is Bosch pronounced like that "a" in "father" or the "aw" in "law" or the "o" in "hot"? These are all different sounds, but a lot of times its hard to tell the difference between them unless you are really working at it. My understanding of German pronunciation is that it would be the "o" in "hot" expressed as a short vowel but lengthened by position in front of a consonant cluster. But who cares when its hard to tell the difference? As long as you're not saying it like the "o" in "ghost" I think you're fine.

This is a totally different thing that mispronouncing Fernet Branca and dropping the "t" despite the fact that its an Italian word or pronouncing "Cynar" like "sigh-nar" when its supposed to be "chee-nar." Doing those things makes you look like you don't know what you're talking about. Pronouncing Bosch like "Bawsh" is no big deal compared to that.

[Country]

Around forty five years ago I worked on foreign cars, including Mercedes and other German cars which had/have Bosch ignition and electric systems. It was always pronounced like "wash" only with a "b".

[heidih]

mispronouncing Fernet Branca and dropping the "t" despite the fact that its an Italian word or pronouncing "Cynar" like "sigh-nar" when its supposed to be "chee-nar." Doing those things makes you look like you don't know what you're talking about. Pronouncing Bosch like "Bawsh" is no big deal compared to that.

Completely agree

[threestars]

Keep them coming guys! I'm having problems with brand pronunciation as well. Good stuff!

[Fat Guy]

A few more I'd like to nail down:

Staub

Berndes

Mauviel

Bourgeat

Laguiole

[FrogPrincesse]

Mauviel = moh-veeyell

Bourgeat = boorjah

Laguiole = lah-yole

[nickrey]

Staub = Shtob in German, Stoob in French.

Listen here.

[slkinsey]

I think Alcuin makes a salient point... In opera, we are often heard throwing around various words and titles of works that come from non-native languages. The point is not necessarily, I think, to use these words in an every day (which is to say non-performing) context with perfect original-language pronunciation, but rather to employ a pronunciation that is a reasonably faithful English language approximation. This keeps yon from sounding like a rube on the one hand for referring to Puccini's famous opera "La bow-heem" but also from sounding precious and pedantic for always calling Verdi's opera "rrrrrrrrreeegohlayttttttoh."

It's also a bit hard to give accurate pronunciations in "English spelling" because we have so many different ways of pronouncing things. Clearly I was off in giving my example of "bow" above. On second consideration, "bawsh" is probably as good approximation of "Bosh" as there is, the main point being that you move through the vowel rather quickly. It would probably be better to write these things out in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Moving on...

Nickrey is off on both of his suggested pronunciations for "Staub."

In French, "au" signifies closed "o" as in "boat" (unless followed by the letter "r" in which case it signifies the open "o" sound as in "rot"). Thus, "Staub" in French = "stobe." Since it is a French company, this approximation would seem appropriate.

In German, "au" signifies the diphthong "ow" (as in, "ouch I stubbed my toe"). So the German company "Braun" is pronounced as "brown" and not as "brawn." If Staub were a German company, it would be pronounced "sht-ow-b" (due the peculiarities of English spelling, it is actually impossible to spell this out in English-equivalent without separating the phonemes with dashes).

It's always tricky when there is a product from one country/language that seems to have a name from another country/language. I will agree with those to whom "Staub" seems German, even though it is a French company. I have a similar cognitive dissonance with the vermouth Perucchi -- which seems Italian, in which case it would be pronounced "peh-roo-kkee." But, as it turns out, it is a Spanish product pronounced "peh-roo-chee."

Berndes is a German company = "bearn-duhs"

Bourgeat is French = "boor-zha" ("boor" having the same vowel sound as "pool")

Mauviel is French = "mow-vyel"

Laguiole is French - "lah-yawll"

Syllabic stress is tricky in French, as the way it is actually stressed in speech is often completely the opposite from the way it is "supposed" to be stressed. For example, many French speakers would say "bonjour" whereas a French composer would set this word with the emphasis on the second syllable as "bonjour" because the stress is "supposed" to be on that syllable. Many people would say that French words don't actually have a stressed syllable in and of themselves, but rather only in the context of the sentence.

Edited September 23, 2011 by slkinsey (log)

[emannths]

Just fyi, Google Translate has very accurate pronunciations of just about anything. Just type in your word, make sure the language is of origin is set correctly, and click the speaker button.

[Taboni]

Seems we've been down this road before?

Oh No OTTO!