Why can't Brits pronounce Ikea properly?

estebanrey

estebanrey

estebanrey

Soldato
Joined
8 Mar 2007
Posts
10,938
I often find my fellow Brits lambaste Americans for saying things like "Eye-Rack" (Iraq) or "Eye-ran" (Iran), yet hear those same people say "Eye-key-ah".

The correct (Swedish) pronunciation is 'Ickier' [e-ke-ahhh], as in that cake is icky, but that one is 'ickier'.
 
Last edited:
I often my fellow Brits lambaste also

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future.
 
jh30uk said:
Because it is not English :confused:
Click to expand...

Funny then how we seem to take the time to learn how to pronounce French words correctly though. People call him Thierry "Onree" and not the English, how it's spelt 'Henry'. People say "Reno" and not 'Ren-alt' again taking note of the dialect it was meant for.

But we only seem to do this with French and not other languages.
 
estebanrey said:
I often find my fellow Brits lambaste Americans for saying things like "Eye-Rack" (Iraq) or "Eye-ran" (Iran), yet hear those same people say "Eye-key-ah".

The correct (Swedish) pronunciation is 'Ickier' [e-ke-ahhh], as in that cake is icky, but that one is 'ickier'.
Click to expand...

because its advertised as I kea here because the marketing people think an association with Ickyness isn't that clever
 
Skeeter said:
Hang on, isn't it marketed over here as being pronounced "Eye-Kea"?
Click to expand...
I thought so too but the adverts on ikea youtube channel say ee..kea...

As to why we say eye kea probably because phonetically it would be said that way... not to mention it's basically 4 random(ish) letters put together and not an actual word.

The name is made up of the initials of our founder, Ingvar Kamprad and the first letters of the farm, Elmtaryd and the village Agunnaryd in southern Sweden where he grew up.
Click to expand...
You've also got the same issues when it comes to nike (nyk..EEE)and porsche (porsh uh or porsh A). The 'correct' ways are in the brackets yet people often say Nyke (ignoring the last e) and Porsh....

I'm at the stage where I don't care as long as I know what they're on about :)

Oh and I say Eye-kea.....
 
I have never actually heard is pronounced like "ickier" until that advert above :S pretty much everyone I know and the few ads I've actually paid any attention to all pronounce it eye-key-ah.
 
Pestilence said:
I'm more concerned with why Brits can't seem to pronounce Spanish foods properly, like Jalapeño or Paella.
Click to expand...

Its clearly the Spanish who pronounce it wrong :P

I find it kind of amusing (don't actually care how its pronounced) the people who get snobby about people not pronouncing it as if with a h but don't get the accent right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom