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08/12/2005 04:00:04 AM · #51 |
Originally posted by jansku:
In Finnish it's pronounced like "knee-con" but with a short "knee". More like "nekon" maybe. The more I think of it "n-eye-con" sounds the US way, and so, as my english is 20% British (taught as school) and 80% Hollywood , it would be my choice for english pronounciation. |
Its Japanese. GO check out Nikon's website for their corporate HISTORY section. some cut n paste below:
1917 Three of Japan's leading optical manufacturers merge to form a comprehensive, fully integrated optical company known as Nippon Kogaku K.K. |
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08/12/2005 04:20:02 AM · #52 |
| Yes it most definitely is Japanese, I'm just not 100% sure if you should say things with their native language (if that's the correct term to use with this) or your own language. If it's the former then it's something I don't know, if it's the latter it's "n-eye-con" in American English. But I'm not native in either English or Japanese, heh, so my opinions are pretty worthless anyway. :) |
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08/12/2005 04:37:10 AM · #53 |
Originally posted by jansku:
Yes it most definitely is Japanese, I'm just not 100% sure if you should say things with their native language (if that's the correct term to use with this) or your own language. If it's the former then it's something I don't know, if it's the latter it's "n-eye-con" in American English. But I'm not native in either English or Japanese, heh, so my opinions are pretty worthless anyway. :) |
Yeah, I guess they have a drunk to help them create the "english" name for their company, haha. Its the same way you pronounce Nippon Paint (another Japanese company) which is knee-pon paint and not n-eye-pon paint. Also, the same applies to their language, Nihongo. |
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08/12/2005 05:25:07 AM · #54 |
Ummm....don't the Japanese call their country "Nippon"?
I'm still not changing my pronunciation from Japan to Nippon (unless I'm speaking Japanese). |
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08/12/2005 06:20:47 AM · #55 |
I pronounce is Nick On too but I have no idea why... just sounds right in my head...
Message edited by author 2005-08-12 06:22:20.
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08/12/2005 07:38:46 AM · #56 |
I have never heard anyone say anything but Nigh-kahn. But what do I know? For all the stupid, jingoistic, prideful qualities of us Americans, we usually can get pronunciations right- or at least we seem to know what the correct pronunciation is...even if we don't use it/
maybe because the USA is so multi-cultural in origin/ that being said;
at least for us, Jaguar is a 2 syllable word.
Question: what word does every Harvard graduate pronounce wrong?
Ans.the word wrong.
Oh yeah; and since most- or at least a great number- of those "Knee-cons" are sold in the USA, I'm sure the Japanese don't care how we pronounce it. Maybe... Guy-gee-con?(ph.)
Message edited by author 2005-08-12 07:43:02. |
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08/12/2005 08:29:04 AM · #57 |
Originally posted by blindjustice:
For all the stupid, jingoistic, prideful qualities of us Americans, we usually can get pronunciations right- or at least we seem to know what the correct pronunciation is... |
Nikon.
Iraq.
Tomato.
Yoghurt.
Aluminium.
I rest my case ;-)
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08/12/2005 09:28:30 AM · #58 |
Originally posted by ganders:
Originally posted by blindjustice:
For all the stupid, jingoistic, prideful qualities of us Americans, we usually can get pronunciations right- or at least we seem to know what the correct pronunciation is... |
Nikon.
Iraq.
Tomato.
Yoghurt.
Aluminium.
I rest my case ;-) |
oh you mean like.....
Nikon (long i)
Iraq (long i and a hard k)
Tomato (as in toe may toe, long vowels each)
Yogurt (as in yo gurt, long o - gurt rymes with hurt)
Aluminum (ah loom min num)
Sounds perfectly normal (ie correct) to me ;-]
[of course I was an English lit major (concentrating on Arthurian literature), with a philosophy minor, so what do I know]
Message edited by author 2005-08-12 13:07:00. |
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08/12/2005 09:33:25 AM · #59 |
Originally posted by jbsmithana:
My guess is you wont be arrested, fined, slapped, ridiculed or anything else by pronouncing it either way. Hey, we say toe-mate-toe and they say toe-maht-toe. |
I say toe-may-da. He He! (southern accent) |
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08/12/2005 11:49:59 AM · #60 |
Okay, the only time I have ever heard it pronounced Knee-Con was by a Bostonian- he was one of my profs (oh so many years ago). He also had an odd way of giving the finger, but that is probably for another thread (on another site). I am in a very parenthetical mood today (At least I think I am).
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08/12/2005 11:56:50 AM · #61 |
My many Japanese friends reliably inform me it's exactly how we've always pronounced it here in UK
Nick-on
I can see how knee-kon may have been confused though. If you slightly shorten the 'knee' and remove any 'y' sounds from it you do get something that sounds like Nick-on
Anyway, officially from many independent Japanese people it's 'Nick-on' |
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12/10/2006 12:57:23 AM · #62 |
It's actually Nick-on, not Nyke-on! I've heard Englishmen and Japanese people pronouncing as Nick-on...If we think logically, even then it will turn out as Nick-on... First of all, it's a Japanese brand name... and when they use Latin script, they use it logically... i.e. when they write something pronounced as "K-eye", they write as "Kai"... In the case of "Kee", it is written as "Ki"
If the correct pronounciation were "Nyke-on", they would have written it as "NAIKON"
Nyke-on is somewhat like a globally accepted distortion!
Message edited by author 2006-12-10 01:02:08. |
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12/10/2006 03:45:11 PM · #63 |
Originally posted by blindjustice:
I have never heard anyone say anything but Nigh-kahn. But what do I know? For all the stupid, jingoistic, prideful qualities of us Americans, we usually can get pronunciations right- or at least we seem to know what the correct pronunciation is...even if we don't use it/ |
ROFLMAO!
Originally posted by blindjustice:
maybe because the USA is so multi-cultural in origin |
Not sure if you're being serious now, or not. But the USA (despite any "melting pot" claims) is not as multicultural as a number of other countries, particularly Canada and (despite the best efforts of our current government) Australia.
And to get back on topic... in Australia I've heard Nick-on (99%) and Nye-kon (1%) - for the latter, think the same sound as Nigh but maybe a little shorter.
Message edited by author 2006-12-10 15:54:18. |
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12/10/2006 03:51:41 PM · #64 |
Originally posted by mavrik:
I've always heard n-eye kon.
FWIW |
Me too, but a British aquaintance of mine pronounces it Knee-kon |
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12/10/2006 04:00:05 PM · #65 |
| I'd pronounce it Nick-on, but I prefer my Can-on. |
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12/10/2006 04:00:59 PM · #66 |
First time I heard "n-eye kon" was in Canada, and I think it's a North American accent... (sometimes you'll never know how to say the "i" - as "eye" or as "knee", but that's besides the point).
All this trouble could be avoided if everybody would use Canon... but then should we say Ka-non or Kay-non?
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12/10/2006 04:16:34 PM · #67 |
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:
Originally posted by mavrik:
I've always heard n-eye kon.
FWIW |
Me too, but a British aquaintance of mine pronounces it Knee-kon |
As a Brit it is Nee-kon, as in Nicky, although I pronounce Nike as "N-aye-k" or even "N-aye-kee".
Too many years working between the UK and the US I guess... |
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12/10/2006 05:27:34 PM · #68 |
Where Nippon Kogaku is the company, and given that "Nippon" refers to the Japanese country/people, and that's definitely a short "i" as in your dog "nips" your fingers playfully, it only makes sense that the short "i" is how to sound the Nikon name. Nevertheless, in America it's almost universally "Nigh-kon", and you get weird looks in stores if you pronounce it any other way.
R.
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12/10/2006 05:40:11 PM · #69 |
Originally posted by Flash:
oh you mean like.....
Nikon (long i)
Iraq (long i and a hard k)
Tomato (as in toe may toe, long vowels each)
Yogurt (as in yo gurt, long o - gurt rymes with hurt)
Aluminum (ah loom min num)
Sounds perfectly normal (ie correct) to me ;-]
[of course I was an English lit major (concentrating on Arthurian literature), with a philosophy minor, so what do I know] |
how about Herb? |
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12/10/2006 05:40:37 PM · #70 |
Originally posted by Flash:
Originally posted by ganders:
[quote=blindjustice]For all the stupid, jingoistic, prideful qualities of us Americans, we usually can get pronunciations right- or at least we seem to know what the correct pronunciation is... |
Nikon.
Iraq.
Tomato.
Yoghurt.
Aluminium. |
Nucular.
Oh, and Nick-on is how I pronounce it. |
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12/10/2006 05:45:23 PM · #71 |
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
Where Nippon Kogaku is the company, and given that "Nippon" refers to the Japanese country/people, and that's definitely a short "i" as in your dog "nips" your fingers playfully, it only makes sense that the short "i" is how to sound the Nikon name. Nevertheless, in America it's almost universally "Nigh-kon", and you get weird looks in stores if you pronounce it any other way.
R. |
Actually, the correct pronunciation of Nippon Kogaku is Knee-Pohn Koh-gah-koo. Japanese was my major in college, and I worked at the Embassy of Japan for several years in DC. Nikon is a Japanese company, and in Japan it would be pronounced Knee-cone. Incidentally, noraneko, my name on this site, means 'stray cat' in Japanese. |
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09/08/2007 08:28:25 PM · #72 |
It's a Japanese word and in this neck of the woods we like to respect the original pronunciation of the mother country. It's not Nye-kaaan and it's not Knee-kon either.
It's Nick-ohn, with a very short 'i' and an 'on' that tails off, becoming nasal (as in French nasal vowels).
Can you honestly imagine a Japanese saying 'Nye-kaaan' - it's pure Americanisation, as in many other mispronounced place names, Eye-rak, and to cap it all 'Stooot-guarrt' for the city that the Germans call Stuttgart.
pgp566:-)
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09/08/2007 08:32:35 PM · #73 |
| Dude, it's dusty in here. Where do people find these things? |
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09/08/2007 08:37:13 PM · #74 |
| Check with smardaz, whose vocabulary includes orthoepy, i.e. the correct pronunciation of words. |
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09/08/2007 08:38:58 PM · #75 |
Paul Simon says he's "got a Nigh-kon camera."
And by the way, my last name, "Lehmann" is pronounced "Lee-men", but even the loudspeaker blokes in Schipol got it wrong and you'd think they would know! ;-)
Message edited by author 2007-09-08 20:41:08.
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