How to pronounce "Nikon" (1 Viewer)

[RJM]

As for Nikon, I've heard Japanese checking in for a flight talking about their "N-eye-kons" but also their "Nih-kor" lenses. Apparently the double consanant after the vowel makes is short when translated to American/English. But then.....toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe....

I suspect you either overheard an Asian you thought was Japanese or a clever Japanese using the "American" pronuciation so he could be understood.

The Japanese language is syllabic and as such spelling mistakes are rare if not impossible (though there are hundreds of characters that can be misread!). Nikon (knee-kon) is written in Japanese with 3 characters representing ni-ko-n. The American pronunciation would require to be written as n-a-i-ko-n, which is nonsensical in Japanese.

The US education system just inparts the use of long vowels while most of the world uses short vowels. Even the Brits get it almost right with nik-kon but put their characteristic accent on it.

happy new year!
Rick

 

[Bubbs]

29.12.09 'How to pronounce the word Nikon'....20 POSTS.

1.12.09. ILLEGAL HUNTING AND TRAPPING IN EUROPE.....0 POSTS.

15.12.09. JOIN SPRING WATCH MALTA TO FIGHT AGAINST ILLEGAL BIRD HUNTING.....0 POSTS.

Need I say more?

John.

 

[brocknroller]

...

The US education system just inparts the use of long vowels while most of the world uses short vowels....

happy new year!
Rick

Not on all words...

Happy New Year! to you too, Reek.

 

[NWBirder]

29.12.09 'How to pronounce the word Nikon'....20 POSTS.

1.12.09. ILLEGAL HUNTING AND TRAPPING IN EUROPE.....0 POSTS.

15.12.09. JOIN SPRING WATCH MALTA TO FIGHT AGAINST ILLEGAL BIRD HUNTING.....0 POSTS.

Need I say more?

John.

it tells how many pairs of Nikon are in circulation.

 

[Kevin Purcell]

22 posts.

Of course not everyone reads every post on the board. And how many of us on the the same continent

The "EU regulations" comes to mind in this case ... Malta are part of the EU and they're killing birds that are heading to the other parts of the EU. That's the only way to fix the Maltese hunt with the equivalent of a European Migratory Bird Treaty (like the one that works very well in North America for the past ... almost 100 years). Shame doesn't seem to have worked on the Maltese.

 

[spyglass]

Well Rick, they had Japanese passports, names like Yamaguchi, Fukuchi, etc, were speaking Japanese among themselves before their checkin, and 2 of the 4 younger exchange students (we have lots of them in my area) had just gotten new cameras, one an Olympus Digital and the other a Nikon D30 (I think.....this was over a yr ago) and were apparently exchanging opinions. Over my many years w/American Airlines, I've had the privilege of meeting at least a couple of folks (and seen passports) from virtually every nation on the globe (except N Korea, Somalia and the tiny Euro protectorates, i.e., Andorra, San Marino & Monaco) and can tell Japanese from Chinese from Koreans and Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodians, Thai, Burmese, Mongolians, Malaysian, Indonesian....et al.

 

[James Bean]

Since 'Nikon' is an abbreviation of 'Nippon Kogaku' with an 'n' on the end, it would seem appropriate to say 'Nikkon', unless 'Nippon' is pronounced 'Neepon' in which case 'Nikon' is 'Neekon' (like the 'Mekon' in Dan Dare, for those familiar with UK 1950s Eagle Comics). Incidentally, Canon started out as 'Kwanon' in the 1930s and initially used lenses made by Nikon, a bit of history which Canon might nowadays prefer to conveniently overlook...

 

[RJM]

... unless 'Nippon' is pronounced 'Neepon' in which case 'Nikon' is 'Neekon'

Geez, how many times does this need to be affirmed!? Yes, that is correct JAPANESE pronunciation of Nippon and Nikon.

Both the American English and Queen's English pronunciations mentioned are somewhat "off". Because of the syllabic nature of the Japanese language, if you used any other pronunciation other than the Japanese you would get puzzled looks from the natives here 50% of the time.

Rick

 

[fugl]

This appears to be going on forever. The ”correct” pronunciation of words of foreign origin in English is entirely a matter of convention (it’s “Paris”, after all, not “Paree”). “Nye-kon” is how almost everybody pronounces it in the States, so that’s the “correct” pronunciation in American English.

 

[James Bean]

Okey dokey, don't get your Nikkors in a twist. I was just putting in my two cents' worth. Happy Noo Year!

 

[BAK-4]

In Italy, most people say "Nikon" or "Canon". In USA or UK is a very hard question, because the writing and pronunciation are very often different. The same question regards the ancient Latin words: in Italy we say "plus" (correct) or "curriculum" (correct), in USA or UK most people say "plas" or "carrickiulum". Another question is the pronunciation of the "W" word: for instance, Walther is "Uolter" in english and "Valter" in german.
In my opinion, is a question difficult to resolve unambiguously.
Ciao.
Vincenzo

 

[Birdshot]

I was a working news photographer from the early 1970s through the 1990s, I used Nikon equipment and had a good bit of dealings with Nikon Professional Services in the USA. Everyone I met or spoke with at NPS during that period, including Japanese technicians, pronounced it "Nye-kon", emphasis on the first syllable. I am aware that it is variously pronounced "Nick-kon" and "Knee-kon" in some areas.

When in Rome....

(I switched to Canons and Leicas some time ago.)

 

[ceasar]

If you eakspay igpay atinlay you will find that it is actually pronounced ikonnlay!:smoke:
Bob

 

[John Dracon]

ND Hunter - I gave up a long time ago trying to pronounce non-English words - neither the tongue nor the ear is up to it. We English speaking people can't agree on standard pronunciations - consider the word" either" pronounced two distinctly different ways. So I adhere to the poets, "a rose by any other name is still a rose." John

 

[brocknroller]

Ashton Kutcher says Neye-con, so I think that pretty much settles it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOsDFBgFiQs

Quch chu' DIS!

 

[NDhunter]

Here is a blast from the past. How to pronounce Nikon.

Is there more to learn on this topic ?

Jerry

 

[tenex]

Learn? As in what's "correct"? Spelling and pronunciation are more highly correlated in some languages (German) than others (English). They vary and evolve even within one language, between regions of a nation, or even a city. Languages have different characteristic pronunciation; transliteration from non-Roman characters varies (Peking, Beijing; Svarovskii, Svarovskiy...). If you went around saying "Neekon", "Einshtein", "Nayandertal" in Noo Yawk you'd get very strange looks. If Einstein's parents had passed through Ellis Island his name would have been Ienstien. I wonder why Americans don't say "Leeca". It's all highly arbitrary.

(I did always wonder why they spelled Nikkor[mat] with two k's though...)

 

[GeorgeL]

(I did always wonder why they spelled Nikkor[mat] with two k's though...)

I had a Nikomat while I lived in Japan. The exports were Nikkormat

 

[NDhunter]

Bringing an old thread to the top. Leica was discussed earlier. Any thoughts, and has anything changed?
Jerry

 

[Ignatius]

That is plausible. If all three were Jewish then it is likely that they spoke Yiddish, an Eastern Germanic language.

Bob

Yiddish is actually a western Germanic language, together with English, Afrikaans, Dutch, German and Friesian as well as Scots.