. . . but HYOON-day in the rest of the world?
So, why is Hyundai pronounced HUN-day in the USA . . .
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. . . but HYOON-day in the rest of the world?
cfz2882
Well-known member
might be the "hyundai rhymes with sunday" ads when these first showed up on our shhores in '86 
When that company first came to Australia (1985 or 86?) they had an advertising slogan "Say Hi to Hyundai" where it was pronounced High - oon - dye. It was imported by an Australian company, Bond Corp. (We won't go there...)
At some stage (probably when the owner of Bond Corp fell from favour, to put it mildly) Hyundai in Korea took over distribution of their cars in Australia, and at that point their advertising changed to pronouncing the name more or less correctly - Hyoon-day.
The USA generally pronounces foreign car brand names more accurately (compared to to how they are pronounced in their home market) than Australia does, so why USA mangles Hyundai into Hunday is beyond me.
For example, the US pronounced Mazda and Datsun and Nissan much more like the correct Japanese pronunciation than we Aussies ever did.
When we arrived in USA for a vacation in 2015, we tried to mainly avoid driving (wrong side of the road and all that). We hired a small car from Vegas to Flagstaff, via Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon. We had booked a Ford Focus but when we arrived at Vegas airport and went to the rental desk, we were told we had been allocated a Hunday. I thought it might have been Honda being strangely pronounced, when I asked her to explain more, she said it was a "Hunday Elaaantra" which I realized was a Hyundai Elantra. (we say it with a flat A, like the A in can or man or plan.) I have driven an Elantra and not liked it, so I asked if they had anything else - she said they only had a Juddah... From the expression on her face it was clear she didn't recommend the Juddah, but again I had no idea what it was. Eventually, after a couple of attempts, she got us to understand it was a VW Juddah.... Yes, a Jetta. We hired it and it was lovely. I liked it so much that two years later I bought an equivalent here - a Golf wagon.
Again another odd thing - in USA (at least at that time) there was Golf hatchback, and Jetta sedan or Wagon. In Australia, we had Golf Hatch or Wagon, and Jetta sedan. The Jetta Wagon in USA is exactly the same car as Golf wagon in Australia.
And here is a link to a UK ad for "that car brand" which makes a little fun of how the UK has mispronounced the brand name in the past, and how to say it properly...
At some stage (probably when the owner of Bond Corp fell from favour, to put it mildly) Hyundai in Korea took over distribution of their cars in Australia, and at that point their advertising changed to pronouncing the name more or less correctly - Hyoon-day.
The USA generally pronounces foreign car brand names more accurately (compared to to how they are pronounced in their home market) than Australia does, so why USA mangles Hyundai into Hunday is beyond me.
For example, the US pronounced Mazda and Datsun and Nissan much more like the correct Japanese pronunciation than we Aussies ever did.
When we arrived in USA for a vacation in 2015, we tried to mainly avoid driving (wrong side of the road and all that). We hired a small car from Vegas to Flagstaff, via Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon. We had booked a Ford Focus but when we arrived at Vegas airport and went to the rental desk, we were told we had been allocated a Hunday. I thought it might have been Honda being strangely pronounced, when I asked her to explain more, she said it was a "Hunday Elaaantra" which I realized was a Hyundai Elantra. (we say it with a flat A, like the A in can or man or plan.) I have driven an Elantra and not liked it, so I asked if they had anything else - she said they only had a Juddah... From the expression on her face it was clear she didn't recommend the Juddah, but again I had no idea what it was. Eventually, after a couple of attempts, she got us to understand it was a VW Juddah.... Yes, a Jetta. We hired it and it was lovely. I liked it so much that two years later I bought an equivalent here - a Golf wagon.
Again another odd thing - in USA (at least at that time) there was Golf hatchback, and Jetta sedan or Wagon. In Australia, we had Golf Hatch or Wagon, and Jetta sedan. The Jetta Wagon in USA is exactly the same car as Golf wagon in Australia.
And here is a link to a UK ad for "that car brand" which makes a little fun of how the UK has mispronounced the brand name in the past, and how to say it properly...
other car brands mispronounced...
One that gets under my skin (because I love them) is Citroën.
In Australia, back when I owned one (a GS 1220 convertisseur) they were pronounced Sit-Rone. I didn't know any better and said it myself. BTW it was a fabulous little car, a 1.2 litre flat four, air cooled, that amazing hydraulic suspension with hydraulic powered brakes - not power-assisted brakes, but actually brakes operated by hydraulic pressure from the engine-driven hydraulic pump. The "convertisseur" in its name meant it had a manual transmission with no clutch pedal, it had a torque converter with a hydraulic clutch inside it, you just changed gears with the stick shift when required, when you moved the gear lever it declutched automatically. Any way, that's a diversion from the name...
I watch some classic car videos from the UK and they seem to say Sit-Run. But the spelling of the name itself tells us how to say it... because the dots over the E have a meaning, in French. The two dots over the E in Citroën means "pronounce the letter underneath these dots separately." So it is Sit-Ro-En. 3 syllables. SIT-RO-EN.
VW group owns another brand that would be unfamiliar to most Americans - it is SEAT. (<span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo.) </span></span>It actually started out in the 1950s as a Spanish brand making Fiats under license, but was eventually bought out by VW. They have unique styling but have VW group mechanical components. They were sold here for a brief period in the 1990s, but didn't really catch on. People often pronounced it like the word "seat" or said "See-It." For a while they had ads that told us how to say the brand name - Say it "Say At." Unfortunately the Aussie public didn't want to be lectured on how to say the brand, and the ads told us nothing about the cars themselves, so sales were dismal. after maybe three years (?) of bad sales, the brand disappeared from Australia.
When VW group wanted to bring another of their brands back to Australia, they didn't get too fussed about how we pronounced it, they were more concerned to make sure we bought the cars. Aussies generally mispronounce the Czech brand Škoda as Skoda. The little v-shaped mark on the S makes it pronounced like an SH in English, so it is pronounced Shkoda correctly, but you never hear that in Australia. (Except maybe from Czech people.) VW group don't care, and Škodas/Skodas have become very popular here. My partner drives one and it is a great little car.
Goodness me, look at the time! I'll stop raving on about cars and go to bed.
One that gets under my skin (because I love them) is Citroën.
In Australia, back when I owned one (a GS 1220 convertisseur) they were pronounced Sit-Rone. I didn't know any better and said it myself. BTW it was a fabulous little car, a 1.2 litre flat four, air cooled, that amazing hydraulic suspension with hydraulic powered brakes - not power-assisted brakes, but actually brakes operated by hydraulic pressure from the engine-driven hydraulic pump. The "convertisseur" in its name meant it had a manual transmission with no clutch pedal, it had a torque converter with a hydraulic clutch inside it, you just changed gears with the stick shift when required, when you moved the gear lever it declutched automatically. Any way, that's a diversion from the name...
I watch some classic car videos from the UK and they seem to say Sit-Run. But the spelling of the name itself tells us how to say it... because the dots over the E have a meaning, in French. The two dots over the E in Citroën means "pronounce the letter underneath these dots separately." So it is Sit-Ro-En. 3 syllables. SIT-RO-EN.
VW group owns another brand that would be unfamiliar to most Americans - it is SEAT. (<span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo.) </span></span>It actually started out in the 1950s as a Spanish brand making Fiats under license, but was eventually bought out by VW. They have unique styling but have VW group mechanical components. They were sold here for a brief period in the 1990s, but didn't really catch on. People often pronounced it like the word "seat" or said "See-It." For a while they had ads that told us how to say the brand name - Say it "Say At." Unfortunately the Aussie public didn't want to be lectured on how to say the brand, and the ads told us nothing about the cars themselves, so sales were dismal. after maybe three years (?) of bad sales, the brand disappeared from Australia.
When VW group wanted to bring another of their brands back to Australia, they didn't get too fussed about how we pronounced it, they were more concerned to make sure we bought the cars. Aussies generally mispronounce the Czech brand Škoda as Skoda. The little v-shaped mark on the S makes it pronounced like an SH in English, so it is pronounced Shkoda correctly, but you never hear that in Australia. (Except maybe from Czech people.) VW group don't care, and Škodas/Skodas have become very popular here. My partner drives one and it is a great little car.
Goodness me, look at the time! I'll stop raving on about cars and go to bed.
Hi Chris,
Just a small correction on the pronounciation of the name Citroën. The French (and also the Dutch) pronounce it as SI-TRO-EN. The T belongs to the second syllable.
André Citroën was of Dutch origin. His last name was originally Citroen (Dutch for lemon...).
More about the name and about his family tree here>
https://en.geneastar.org/genealogy/citroenandr/andre-citroen
Just a small correction on the pronounciation of the name Citroën. The French (and also the Dutch) pronounce it as SI-TRO-EN. The T belongs to the second syllable.
André Citroën was of Dutch origin. His last name was originally Citroen (Dutch for lemon...).
More about the name and about his family tree here>
https://en.geneastar.org/genealogy/citroenandr/andre-citroen
VW vacillates from time to time . . .
. . . between FOLKS-vah-gen (hard g) and VOLKS-wag-en.
Can’t keep up sometimes.
. . . between FOLKS-vah-gen (hard g) and VOLKS-wag-en.
Can’t keep up sometimes.
Hi Louis.
Yes you are absolutely right. It should be Si-Tro-En. I was a bit sloppy in my description.
I had previously read that the family name was originally Limoenman in NL but changed to Citroen, your linked article explains why. Thanks for posting that.
I am mad about 3 car brands: Simca, Citroën (until the takeover by Peugeot) and the BMC/Leyland group cars. I have a "thing" for cars that were made by companies where the engineers were given preference over the accountants. They made some fabulous (but deeply flawed) cars.
I used to own a Simca 1100 Special, they were never sold new in Australia but my car was imported by Chrysler Australia as an evaluation car, to see if they wanted to sell the model here. They also imported a Mitsubishi Galant and that was the model they chose, so my little orphan Simca was sold off. The engineers preferred the Simca but the accountants and marketers chose the Mitsubishi. When we moved to a rural area and I wouldn't have a garage to store it in, I gave my Simca to a Simca collector in northern Australia, he still owns it and is planing to restore it...one day... Australia did manufacture Simca Arondes under licence in the 1950s and 1960s, then the Simca 180 / Chrysler 2 Litre was made here, slightly modified styling, and badged here as Chrysler Centura. They even had Australian-made Chrysler 3 and 4 litre, Hemi 6 cylinder engines available in them, they were a rocket. The 2 litre Simca engine, the "large" engine option in Europe, was the "small" engine option in Australia.
[this post was last edited: 9/29/2023-21:03]
Yes you are absolutely right. It should be Si-Tro-En. I was a bit sloppy in my description.
I had previously read that the family name was originally Limoenman in NL but changed to Citroen, your linked article explains why. Thanks for posting that.
I am mad about 3 car brands: Simca, Citroën (until the takeover by Peugeot) and the BMC/Leyland group cars. I have a "thing" for cars that were made by companies where the engineers were given preference over the accountants. They made some fabulous (but deeply flawed) cars.
I used to own a Simca 1100 Special, they were never sold new in Australia but my car was imported by Chrysler Australia as an evaluation car, to see if they wanted to sell the model here. They also imported a Mitsubishi Galant and that was the model they chose, so my little orphan Simca was sold off. The engineers preferred the Simca but the accountants and marketers chose the Mitsubishi. When we moved to a rural area and I wouldn't have a garage to store it in, I gave my Simca to a Simca collector in northern Australia, he still owns it and is planing to restore it...one day... Australia did manufacture Simca Arondes under licence in the 1950s and 1960s, then the Simca 180 / Chrysler 2 Litre was made here, slightly modified styling, and badged here as Chrysler Centura. They even had Australian-made Chrysler 3 and 4 litre, Hemi 6 cylinder engines available in them, they were a rocket. The 2 litre Simca engine, the "large" engine option in Europe, was the "small" engine option in Australia.
[this post was last edited: 9/29/2023-21:03]
The grandfather of one of my friends had a Simca when we were kids. It was black, and an early 60's model.
My grandfather a whole range of cars in his life. When he turned 18 in 1924 he bought a used Citroën Type A two seater. There was a picture of him with I think my grandmother in it. Don't know who has that picture. From the sixties I remember an Austin Seven and an Austin Glider. Later he had a few Ford Cortina's. After the last Cortina he got a Simca 1100. His was a GLS from 1972 in white so an older model than the Special. After the Simca he had two Fiat 127's and his last car was a Nissan Micra. A pity I never asked him about the cars after the Citroën Type A.
Then there's the old American Jeep brand "Willys" which should be pronounced "Willis" rather than the more commonly heard "Will-eez".
Japanese names
Citroën and Bic
Yes, they made a car styled after a Bic pen...
<blockquote>
Special edition cars are sort of inherently strange things, especially ones that tie in with unrelated brands. I get the general thinking: by teaming up with some established brand or product, you can pull in devotées of both camps, and then sell more cars, and everyone wins. Usually, the brands that are paired up with are ones that actually do have some sort of following, like those designer-signature cars, such as AMC’s Gucci Hornet or Volkswagen’s Etienne Aigner Edition Cabriolet or even the Nautica Edition Mercury Villager. [Ed Note: Or the Grand Cherokee Orvis edition. -DT]. One thing all of these very different special edition/brand tie-in cars have in common is that the partner brands were relatively high-end, and imparted a sense of quality or status or exclusivity.
That could be why none of these companies thought to reach out to a company that made, say, disposable plastic products so cheap and ubiquitous that they’re almost invisible in everyday life. You know, products so valueless that they’re one of the few commercial items in modern society people routinely and absent-mindedly steal without any guilt or repercussions. Products like, say, disposable pens. Well, most carmakers avoided this kind of tie-in, but not all. Not, for example, Citroën, who, in 1998, proudly gave unto the world the Citroën Saxo Bic.
</blockquote>
www.theautopian.com
Yes, they made a car styled after a Bic pen...
<blockquote>
Special edition cars are sort of inherently strange things, especially ones that tie in with unrelated brands. I get the general thinking: by teaming up with some established brand or product, you can pull in devotées of both camps, and then sell more cars, and everyone wins. Usually, the brands that are paired up with are ones that actually do have some sort of following, like those designer-signature cars, such as AMC’s Gucci Hornet or Volkswagen’s Etienne Aigner Edition Cabriolet or even the Nautica Edition Mercury Villager. [Ed Note: Or the Grand Cherokee Orvis edition. -DT]. One thing all of these very different special edition/brand tie-in cars have in common is that the partner brands were relatively high-end, and imparted a sense of quality or status or exclusivity.
That could be why none of these companies thought to reach out to a company that made, say, disposable plastic products so cheap and ubiquitous that they’re almost invisible in everyday life. You know, products so valueless that they’re one of the few commercial items in modern society people routinely and absent-mindedly steal without any guilt or repercussions. Products like, say, disposable pens. Well, most carmakers avoided this kind of tie-in, but not all. Not, for example, Citroën, who, in 1998, proudly gave unto the world the Citroën Saxo Bic.
</blockquote>
Citroën Built A Special Edition Car Based On A Disposable Pen And It Just Makes No Sense - The Autopian
Special edition cars are sort of inherently strange things, especially ones that tie in with unrelated brands. I get the general thinking: by teaming up with some established brand or product, you can pull in devotées of both camps, and then sell more cars, and everyone wins. Usually, the brands...
www.theautopian.com
I’m not sure how we pronounce it relative to the U.S., but here’s an Irish review:
Peugeot here isn’t pronounced the same as the U.K. “Per Jo” either, including by Peugeot Ireland itself (wait for end of ad).
Peugeot here isn’t pronounced the same as the U.K. “Per Jo” either, including by Peugeot Ireland itself (wait for end of ad).
I'm wondering too why when this make made it to the states I remember it being pronounced Hyun-DIE...
Now maybe with that earlier pronunciation sounding too much like a reference to death, that's how and why of late these ads on it I keep hearing it pronounced Hyun-DAY, as in Sunday or Sundae...
We had these Hyundai tote bags that I thought were ugly and of course promoting a car I did not like or appreciate let alone owned...
And as soon as saw this lady and her three kids who carrying those Hyundai bags and I'm sure they owned a Ford then I definitely got rid of ours--as in I threw those suckers away!
-- Dave
Now maybe with that earlier pronunciation sounding too much like a reference to death, that's how and why of late these ads on it I keep hearing it pronounced Hyun-DAY, as in Sunday or Sundae...
We had these Hyundai tote bags that I thought were ugly and of course promoting a car I did not like or appreciate let alone owned...
And as soon as saw this lady and her three kids who carrying those Hyundai bags and I'm sure they owned a Ford then I definitely got rid of ours--as in I threw those suckers away!
-- Dave
