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Before we go any further, let's say the name right!

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#22
I've always wondered if car brands were purposely chosen to have multiple pronunciations, because there are so many like that: A'cyura vs. Acyu'ra, Maahzda vs. Mazda, Owdie vs. Awdie, Porsh vs. Porshuh, Jagyuar vs. Jagwar, Nihssan vs. Neesan, Mitsubihshi vs. Mitsubeeshi and of course Hun-day vs. Hie-un-day vs. Hoon-day vs. Hyoonday vs. who knows... Maybe making people choose a pronunciation somehow makes it more memorable. I'm not saying Tesla picked the name for this reason, and the others probably all have a "correct" pronunciation, but it's probably not bad marketing to have ambiguous pronunciation. People talk about it; this thread being a prime example!
 
#26
woof said:
In listening to Elon, he pronounces it "TEZZ-LA", which seems to be unique to him.
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I believe this is a British English pronunciation, certainly widespread beyond the US border.

Given all the confusion, and because "Nikola", while easy to pronounce, doesn't make a great car moniker, let's go with "Mr. T", and our first advertising spokesperson is a given. "Gassing up? Pity the fool!"
 
#27
Dee-suls are TRAINS, dee-zuls are CARS.

Never realized I said the word both ways until you spelled out the two pronunciations!

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The British say it Jag-you-are, and I'm happy to do the same. OTOH most of the time I just say Jag. Still have my high school car, a '64 Sting Ray convertible, and I son't mind if people abbreviate Corvette to 'Vette.

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Actually Hyundai is Hyoon-die. I'm sure their American ad agency decided if Americans couldn't say it, they might not buy it.
 
#30
ItsNotAboutTheMoney said:
Exactly. Porsch is short for Porsche. I don't get why anyone would think the e should be silent.

Yes, we Brits say 'Jag-yoo-uh, which is "wrong", but so is jagwahr and jag-yoo-ahr, since it's from Portuguese from Tupi and the j in Portuguese is a zh. Pronounce it zha-'gwar, and the r depends on where the Portuguese speaker is from, which leaves a lot of potential for being a pretentious place-dropper.
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'Porsch' is not short for 'Porsche'. Not in any way, shape, or form. It's a mispronunciation of Ferdinand Porsche's name. It's a Western thing that caught some traction. When I hear it, I tend to correct the person. The same happens when I'm at the Porsche dealer and hear someone mispronouncing the word.

Back to Tesla, I definitely hear Telsa. It cracks me up. I tell them that's like calling Chipotle, Chipolte. One is a word, and one is not. And I'll be pronouncing it Tess-luh for the rest of my life.
 
#32
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Ahso
 
#33
AnOutsider said:
Plus, Teshla sounds like you're drunk or Sean Connery.
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Or both. I'm not sure it's a bad thing though.

"It's a Teshla high. Shut up! I just got done supersharshing. Honey, you're drivinsh."

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Sometimes fewer syllables helps. I've heard only one pronunciation of "Ford." I think the one syllable thing is another reason why "Porsch" is common.
 
#34
With regard to "Tesla". There is also the SI -unit Tesla (magnetic field strength) which is just as an important reference. So Tesla is both the surname of Nikola Tesla (pronounced Teshla) and the unit Tesla (which I believe convention and dictionaries has it is pronounced Tesla in all languages I know). I would be interested to know how a Serbian says the unit Tesla. Or for that matter how a serb would read the Tesla logo.
 
#36
Johan said:
With regard to "Tesla". There is also the SI -unit Tesla (magnetic field strength) which is just as an important reference. So Tesla is both the surname of Nikola Tesla (pronounced Teshla) and the unit Tesla (which I believe convention and dictionaries has it is pronounced Tesla in all languages I know). I would be interested to know how a Serbian says the unit Tesla. Or for that matter how a serb would read the Tesla logo.
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Serbian Alphabet and Pronunciation
 
#37
JimmyAZ said:
'Porsch' is not short for 'Porsche'. Not in any way, shape, or form. It's a mispronunciation of Ferdinand Porsche's name. It's a Western thing that caught some traction. When I hear it, I tend to correct the person. The same happens when I'm at the Porsche dealer and hear someone mispronouncing the word.

Back to Tesla, I definitely hear Telsa. It cracks me up. I tell them that's like calling Chipotle, Chipolte. One is a word, and one is not. And I'll be pronouncing it Tess-luh for the rest of my life.
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It is short for it in the UK. But maybe I'm just crediting people with more knowledge than they have.

On the subject of names, I couldn't help but think of Mike Birbiglia's joke:


I'm Italian... Sometimes people come up to me and they'll be like, 'In Italy, it's pronounced 'Bir-Bee-Lya.' And I'm like, 'In America, you're annoying.'

(The Americanization of the Italian gl has always pained my ears. English is so adaptable generally. Fortunately I think that the world is shrinking and nowadays w just use best native approximation instead of radically changing pronunciation.
 
#38
ItsNotAboutTheMoney said:
It is short for it in the UK. But maybe I'm just crediting people with more knowledge than they have.

On the subject of names, I couldn't help but think of Mike Birbiglia's joke:


I'm Italian... Sometimes people come up to me and they'll be like, 'In Italy, it's pronounced 'Bir-Bee-Lya.' And I'm like, 'In America, you're annoying.'

(The Americanization of the Italian gl has always pained my ears. English is so adaptable generally. Fortunately I think that the world is shrinking and nowadays w just use best native approximation instead of radically changing pronunciation.
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I love Birbiglia! That guy is an AWESOME comedian. I know quite a few names of people here in Phoenix, AZ, that are definitely Italian in nature and are pronounced so different than what I'd expect. I didn't realize just how many differences there were in pronunciation between the U.S. and the U.K. Words like Nike, Nissan, Oil of Olay, Jaguar, Porsche, Hyundai, Celica, Adidas, etc (the list is quite long!).
How Do You Say ?: British vs. American Brand Pronunciations | Mind The Gap | BBC America

I think there are good arguments on both sides of the pond. I always try to pronounce it in the native language it came from. Sometimes I fail miserably.
 
#40
Johan said:
With regard to "Tesla". There is also the SI -unit Tesla (magnetic field strength) which is just as an important reference. So Tesla is both the surname of Nikola Tesla (pronounced Teshla) and the unit Tesla (which I believe convention and dictionaries has it is pronounced Tesla in all languages I know). I would be interested to know how a Serbian says the unit Tesla. Or for that matter how a serb would read the Tesla logo.
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https://youtu.be/cZPb7LXM8qs

I hope the link works for you guys.
It is a documentary made by Serbian National Television.
In first 40 seconds they pronounce the word Tesla twice, that is how the serbs, croats and bosnians say it so i guess that is the correct way because it is a word taken from our language.

If there are more questions, i am a native speaker (and so is Mitrovic, i think)

Best regards.
 
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