How do I pronounce..?

The English language is one of the most complex languages in the world to learn, and that’s without a whole host of internationally used tech terms and brand names that, honestly, we sometimes struggle to pronounce. We’ve crowd sourced some of the more complicated tech terms and found the correct pronunciation, which in some cases may be surprising. Read on to find out more.

How do I pronounce Xiaomi?

Xiaomi, the third biggest distributor of smartphones in the world has a surprisingly difficult name to pronounce – especially to us in the UK. The main issue is that there isn’t a wide range of English words that start with X, so when we come across one, we’re never too sure of its pronunciation. Even though it looks quite complex, Xiaomi is pretty easy to say: Shao-mee.

How do I pronounce Yosemite?

Yosemite, the nickname for Apple’s eleventh and most recent major desktop OS launch is also a name that catches us out. Apple has based the names of its recent OS releases on Californian landmarks, and Yosemite is no different – Yosemite is named after the 747,000-acre Yosemite National Park. While many Brits pronounce Yosemite “Yos-E-might”, it’s actually pronounced “Yoh-sem-it-ee”.

How do I pronounce Qi?

Qi, the popular form of wireless charging is one that personally caught us out. For a while, we pronounced it “Q.I” like the game show – it was only recently pointed out to us that its actually pronounced Chi, which roughly translates to natural energy, life force or energy flow. Definitely the right name to choose for a wireless charger!

How do I pronounce Huawei?

Huawei is a Chinese networking and telecommunications equipment company. It also holds the record for being the largest telecommunications equipment maker in the world, beating Ericsson back in 2012. Apparently it doesn’t matter how successful you are because people still aren’t sure how to pronounce Huawei, with most sounding like the Geordie slang word “howay”. In reality it couldn’t be any more different, with the correct pronunciation being “Wah-way”.

How do I pronounce Asus?

Asus, the Taiwan based computer hardware company has quite a good reputation over here in the UK, so you’d expect us to be able to pronounce it correctly, right? Nope. Most people when asked how to say Asus will pronounce it “Ay-sus”, whereas the correct pronunciation is in fact “Ay-Zeus”.

How do I pronounce Cyan?

Yes, Cyan is on the list. For those of you that are unsure of what Cyan is, it’s a greenish-blue colour that forms part of the CMYK colour model in colour printing. The correct pronunciation for Cyan is “Sy-an”.

How do I pronounce Meme?

The term Meme is defined by Wikipedia as “an activity, concept, catchphrase or piece of media which spreads, often as mimicry, from person to person via the Internet.” Memes are a huge part of modern day Internet culture, from the Harlem Shake to planking – but most people pronounce the term incorrectly. Contrary to its spelling, meme isn’t pronounced “me-me” but instead is pronounced “meem”, derived from the Ancient Greek word “mimeme”, which translates to “imitated thing”.

How do I pronounce OS X?

Apple’s Mac OS, OS X is a bit of a red herring. While many people assume that it’s pronounced “OS X”, the X isn’t actually “X”. Instead, it’s the Roman numeral for ten, making the correct pronunciation of OS X “OS Ten,” which makes sense when you realise that the current OS X release is 10.10.2.

How do I pronounce Bose?

Bose, the US based audio equipment specialist is another simple looking name that people tend to get wrong, though it’s not a huge error to make. Looking at the word Bose, you’d expect it to be pronounced the same way that it’s spelt, but apparently not. Instead of pronouncing “Bo-ce” as most people do, the correct pronunciation is “Bo-ze,” with an emphasis on the (non-existent) Z.

How do I pronounce Analytics?

Analytics is another word that people are unsure of. Analytics is the discovery and communication of meaningful patterns in data, usually broken down and displayed in the form of graphs. The correct pronunciation of analytics is “ana-lit-icks”.

How do I pronounce Patent?

A patent, for those who don’t know, is a set of rights granted by a country to an inventor, in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an idea or invention. Patent is an interesting word because us Brits pronounce it differently to how it’s pronounced in the US. Whereas in the US, it’s pronounced “Pat-ent” we prefer to put more emphasis on the “a”, which means that we pronounce patent as “Pai-tent.”

How do I pronounce Cache?

In computing, a cache is a component that stores data so that the next time you request the data, it can be served quicker – it’s mostly used by web browsers to increase browser performance. Many people interpret cache as a French word and pronounce it accordingly, usually “ca-che”. This is in fact incorrect, with the correct pronunciation being “cash”.

How do I pronounce Adobe?

Adobe is the hugely popular computer software company responsible for Photoshop and the PDF format, but yet people still get the company name wrong. Although many people pronounce it correctly, “Ado-bee”, others pronounce it without the “E” as “Ad-ob”.

How do I pronounce Tag Heuer?

Popular Swiss manufacturer Tag Heuer is a brand name that catches out many people. The name comes from an abbreviation of “Techniques d’Avant Garde” and the surname Heuer, afterEdouard Heuer, the founder of the company. Most people assume that “Heuer” is pronounced “Hu-er” but in reality, the correct pronunciation of Tag Heuer is “Tag-hoy-yur”.

How do I pronounce LaCie?

LaCie, which translates from French to “the company”, is a computer hardware manufacturer that concentrates its efforts on hard drives, flash drives and computer monitors. Due to its French origin, it’s not pronounced like the name “Lacie” but instead “Lah-see” with extra emphasis on the “C”.

How do I pronounce Linux?

Linux is a free and popular open source OS alternative to Windows and Mac. It has a fairly straightforward name; named after its creator Linus Torvalds, everyone assumed was pronounced “Lin-ux”. That was until an interview with Torvalds in 2006 revealed that he prefers the pronunciation “Lih-nix”. “…I don’t really care how people pronounce my name, but Linux is always Lih-nix.”

How do I pronounce Nokia?

Even though Nokia is a worldwide brand, the Finnish company says that most of the world pronounces it wrong. Whereas us Brits (and many others around the world) pronounce Nokia as “Nock-eea”, the official pronunciation of the phone manufacturer is in fact “No-kee-ah”.

How do I pronounce GIF?

GIF, the hugely popular image format is another word that causes a lot of debate. Many people around the world pronounce it as “Gif” – and why wouldn’t you? That’s exactly how it’s spelt. The issue is that it isn’t the official pronouncing according to its inventor, Steven Wilhite, who put the Internet and the Oxford English Dictionary in their places when he announced that it’s actually pronounced “Jif”.