How do you pronounce Nikon in your part of the world?

Haha! Thought it was time to brake that dam.. (or should I have chosen a more neehilistic approach..?)

brake = break (my goodness.. non native speaker but, well..)

I guess i call it nykkon. (idk why)

I don't get too worked up over how people pronounce things. So very often local pronunciations are closely tied to local dialects and speech patterns, rather than original pronunciations. I challenge anyone not from Utah to pronounce "Tooele". (It was really fun to watch the 2002 winter Olympics and listen to mangled pronunciations of local place names.) It gets even more weird in places where native place names have been adopted, but heavily anglicized, such as in the Upper Midwest, Alaska, and Hawai'i. For me, my dad said "Nykawn" and gave me my first SLR (a Nikkormat EL), so I'll go with that. I always appreciate Andrew's astute use of vocabulary and application of grammar. It is refreshing break from my coworkers' text-message-inspired melange of non-punctuated and nearly indecipherable web-speak. :p I will also note that proper use of language was one of the criteria that resulted in my nuclear physicist wife consenting to marry me. And Professor Henry Higgins was very clear that the English alphabet is "...from A to Zed." Edited September 6, 2018 by DavidTriplett

This topic got me to thinking, how does everyone pronounce "Nikkor." I carry over the "NY" from Ny-kon and always pronounced it Ny-core. It wasn't until years later that it dawned on me that in standard American English pronunciation, Nikkor should be pronounced Nick-cor.

Thank you, Dave. I do always worry that everyone else would be happier if I hadn't learned to type quickly. :-) I was interested to see some of the place names north of Vancouver on my recent trip ("Txwn7us" springs to mind). I grew up near Broome (pronounced "broom"), Hoxne (pronounced "hocksen" - I was once driving through when "how do you spell Hoxne" came up on a radio quiz), Costessey ("cossy") and, of course, Wymondham - but that's a common-enough name that I hope people can pronounce it. I assume the Scots are perpetually

about tourists pronouncing "Edinburgh" as "edinburg" rather than "edinborough".

 

Have we mentioned the plan for improving English spelling yet?

 

Vincent: Interesting - I think I'd always assumed Americans would say "Nye-core", but I'm not sure I've ever heard one say it! I certainly say "Nick-ore".

 

A co-worker tried to push back on my pronunciation of Linux earlier today. Sigh.

OK, found the way Nikon company pronounces it: Nikon (link)

 

Nikkor (link) is less conclusive (the Japanese way demonstrates two different ways to pronouce it).

Edited September 6, 2018 by Mary Doo

OK, found the way Nikon company pronounces it:

Thank you, Mary! (Now I'll just have to accept that I'm wrong, as always and indiscriminately asserted by my teenage daughters.)

What about how to pronounce Nikonos?

Thank you, Mary! (Now I'll just have to accept that I'm wrong, as always and indiscriminately asserted by my teenage daughters.)

 

But that would stop an interesting (to me) discussion!

 

Thanks, Mary. Although I maintain that the way "Nikon" pronounces it isn't the way their subsidiaries pronounce it. I'm near enough to Nikon UK that I could ask, if you like. :-)

 

I hear the "knee"; I should have expected, but wasn't ready for, the Japanese accent of the "kon" - which to my ear doesn't fully enunciate the final "n" (so it's almost, but not quite, "knee-koh"). Not that I have perfect BBC "received pronunciation" myself.

 

On that note, when I learnt French at school, I asked a relative (who grew up in France and spoke the language what I'd call "natively") why the French don't pronounce the ends of words. He had no idea what I was talking about, but I maintain that they often don't. Having said that, I've been told I speak French with a Norfolk accent (which is weird, because I don't speak English with a Norfolk accent, and can't even say "have you got a loight, boy?" properly) - so I shouldn't really throw stones.

 

I did one explain to a cunning linguist (as he puts it) friend that I try to pronounce most letters as closely as I can to how they're spelled. For example, I form the "f" in "French" by pressing my lower lip to my upper teeth and breathing around it, but I try to pronounce the "ph" in "photograph" by blowing between my lips (an aspirated "p" noise). I'm not sure he believed me, because I probably vary a little (especially with the "ph" at the end of "photograph" because my lips are naturally apart because of the "a"), and the audible difference is extremely subtle...

What about how to pronounce Nikonos?

 

That's easy, Ny-koh-nohs, with the accent on the middle syllable LOL.

What about how to pronounce Nikonos?

Not sure, but here are some options: Nikonos (link).

But that would stop an interesting (to me) discussion!

 

Thanks, Mary. Although I maintain that the way "Nikon" pronounces it isn't the way their subsidiaries pronounce it. I'm near enough to Nikon UK that I could ask, if you like. :)

I like the way Nikon says it. But are you ready to walk into B&H and ask to see the Nikon Zed camera?

What about how to pronounce Nikonos?

Nikonos has, to my ear, the appearance of a Greek application, but I've not been able to find anything specific to confirm. Maybe it's simply my knowledge that the original name was Calypso Nikonos, after the Greek sea nymph. I was, however, once the proud, if abbreviated owner of a Nikonos IV-A system. (A sad story for another day.)

I will also note that proper use of language was one of the criteria that resulted in my nuclear physicist wife's consenting to marry me.

Fixed that for you. ;)

I should have expected, but wasn't ready for, the Japanese accent of the "kon" - which to my ear doesn't fully enunciate the final "n"

Yes, it's similar to, but not the same as, the way the French pronounce the letters "on" at the end of a word (e.g., "Dijon").

Nikkor (link) is less conclusive (the Japanese way demonstrates two different ways to pronouce it).

I think that's because the Japanese have no native words that end with an r, so they don't really have an established way of pronouncing words that do. Sometimes they will add a Japanese u sound (which sounds like the u in "put" as Americans say it) after the r. Other times, they will suppress the r.

Nikonos, a small Greek island where Canon cameras mysteriously throw themselves in the sea and drown.......:-(

I like the way Nikon says it. But are you ready to walk into B&H and ask to see the Nikon Zed camera?

Works for me and everyone else in Canada--even in Québec.

Y'all missed a turn on Nikonos -- Link https://www.casualphotophile.com/2018/04/17/nikon-nikonos-retrospective-review-film-camera-blog/

As a translator/linguist, I think it's important to remember that languages (all of them) are inherently arbitrary. Thus, spelling and pronunciation of any particular language can vary from place to place and from time to time.

Nikon Corporation (株式会社ニコン Kabushiki-gaisha Nikon)

In Japanese, people say (more or less) "knee-kwan", but in English-speaking countries, there are two main pronunciations, "knee-con" (UK) and "nigh-con" (US).

 

We see a similar distinction between British and American English for the name Putin. Americans say "poo-tin"; Brits say "pew-tin".

 

So, for Putin, the Americans are closer to the Russian pronunciation and for Nikon, the Brits are closer to the Japanese pronunciation.

 

All language choices are matters of established usage--which over time often changes.

 

A survey conducted in the US asked: “How do you pronounce marry / merry / Mary?”

1. All 3 are the same (56.88%)
   
2. All 3 are different (17.34%)
   
3. Mary and merry are the same; marry is different (8.97%)
   
4. Merry and marry are the same; Mary is different (0.96%)
   
5. Mary and marry are the same; merry is different (15.84%)
   

Often the difference is regional. None of those pronunciations is wrong.

If you're going to say the name right, the pronunciation of the second vowel is important too. It should not be pronounced as in the word "on". The correct way to pronounce that "o" is like the middle part of a long "o" in American English. I fear there is no word in American English that contains this sound, although there may be in some British dialects. The closest I can come up with is the word "or", but with the "r" removed. Imagine, if you can, saying "or" but stopping short of the "er" sound at the end. That's roughly how the "o" in Nikon sounds when a Japanese person says it, but the length of the vowel is quite short.

 

As I learned from watching baseball games (with imported players), Japanese names have no accent.

That is, no stressed syllable. Uniform stress through the whole name.

 

So, also not NEE-kon nor nee-KON, just nee-kon.

Another photosite, name of which also begins in P had a straight from Nikon post on this very subject yesterday.

That's easy, Ny-koh-nohs, with the accent on the middle syllable LOL.

 

I wouldn't know but I had a couple of the Nikonos V one in olive green and one in orange.

Another photosite, name of which also begins in P had a straight from Nikon post on this very subject yesterday.

Don't know photo site you talk about, but what did they say?