Brian Lawson wrote: > > Pronounced as in "Monday" - "Honday", or so my local car dealer tells me. > > Brian Lawson > IC PTG There's a Korean manpower company that decided to spell its name YOU ONE in English because the reading of those English words gives a very close approximation of the Korean pronunciation, which would ordinarily be transliterated as YU WON or similar. The Korean proper name Park was originally spelled that way for the British because their pronunciation of it (drawn out "a" but no "r") would also be very close to the Korean. Now Americans pronounce it with the "r" and mess up the original intent. If Hyundai Corporation had followed those examples they would have chosen the English words HEWN DIE. The company apparently made the decision when they entered the American market (I'm old enough to remember that) to compromise the pronunciation rather than the spelling. Although the spelling evokes the correct pronunciation if spoken phonetically, it has enough of a non-English look to make Americans struggle with it even though there are perfectly natural English words which reproduce the correct sounds. As a result, their ads were launched with the pronunciation HUN DEE, which has stuck. More than you wanted to know. Paul S. Larudee, RPT Richmond, CA
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