car names pronunciation

Japanese cars - suzuki, toyota, daihatsu etc. - , they are all japanese brand names. The cars however, like Ignis, Prius, Swift are often foreign-named which they themselves can't pronounce. On the japanese wikipedia they say for example suzuki suifuto in katakana.

Why do they make cars they can't pronounce?

Every renault car has a french name and every opel a german one...

Because the car names sound good to them.

Why do they make cars they can't pronounce?

Funny question, basically its a matter of perspective. Its not these names can't be pronounced in Japanese (they obviously can), its that they may not have the same pronunciation as a "native" speaker might say them. Food for thought, have you considered that the correct name is Suifuto and Puriasu and that you are the one pronouncing them strangely?

But yes, it is a common practice to name cars with names of foreign (or at least foreign sounding) origin. Pretty much all car makers engage in to some degree, especially for cars that are destined for foreign markets.

Every renault car has a french name and every opel a german one...

Only if you don't count their cars with names that are of non french/german origin...

Renault has cars named Twingo and Kangoo. Nothing French about these names! same with the old Juvaquatre..also called Juva 4..

Actually Twingo, Kangoo and Juvaquatre are perfectly french! Peugeot has a few exceptions, Boxer and Partner, and VW has Beetle, which isn't german.

All fiat cars are italian, all seat cars are spanish. Panda is pronounced the same in italian and spanish.

I'm familiar with German and French, if you don't believe me you can try it out with google translate.

If you were japanese you wouldn't give your child a foreign name, would you? Maybe Jo(h)n but not Richard or Sylvia!

And Opel and Renault are for international markets too...

Because the car names sound good to them.


I haven't thought of that but that must be it! It just had to be some cultural issue. Just like the japanese people wearing english t-shirts. Daihatsu Charade (syare-do) might just sound more fancy!

Thank you all for your thoughts on this one it has bothered me for quite some time!

Here is an isolated unique market for Japanese speakers only that's also called as "Galapagos".
In Japan, Japanese cell phones are called "Galapagos Keitai".
In Japanese songs, there are funny Engrish.
In short, that's that, I think.

All fiat cars are italian, all seat cars are spanish. Panda is pronounced the same in italian and spanish.

Again such sweeping generalizations are bound to be untrue. Fiat has several cars with non-italian names.

But now we are getting into the realm of loan words, which are obviously more common within the romance languages, but Japan also borrows quite a few words as well.

And don't forget that a lot of names are simply made up, and are often meant to seem like they came from a certain language.

If you were japanese you wouldn't give your child a foreign name, would you? Maybe Jo(h)n but not Richard or Sylvia!

Its a not an uncommon practice, and probably similar to westerners that name their children with names from outside their cultural heritage. Also there are a lot of names that sound like they have foreign origins but are actually Japanese.

And Opel and Renault are for international markets too...

Which is why they use a lot of foreign sounding names for their cars as well. I think the more you look into it you'll realize that its more of a general car makers' practice than a Japanese car makers' practice.

Sure Twingo, Kangoo and Juvaquatre can be pronounced by a French person..but they are NOT French words at all and don't mean anything to a French person..

unlike names of French cars like Caravelle, Clio, Vedette...

hmmm, how about the Aston Martin Rapide. Sounds sexy, but in french it just means "the fast". meh... - would they change the name of it in france?

Well renault kangoo is pronounced in french. That makes me think it is a french name, whether it is made up or not. If you try to pronounce kangoo in english or german it sounds entirely different and people would correct you.

On the other hand suzuki is pronounced in english and people would correct you if you say it in japanese.

Do people who study japanese pronounce suzuki in japanese? And what's even more interesting, if you say alto or swift the english way to a japanese person (who is not familiar with english) instead of aruto or suifuto, would they immediately know what you're talking about? Would they think your pronunciation is 'off'?

On the other hand suzuki is pronounced in english and people would correct you if you say it in japanese.

You're getting pronunciation and intonation mixed up. Suzuki is pronounced in English just as it is pronounced in Japanese, its the intonations that may be different.

Do people who study japanese pronounce suzuki in japanese?

They'll generally start applying the correct intonations, but then may revert when talking to a non-japanese speaker to increase comprehension.

And what's even more interesting, if you say alto or swift the english way to a japanese person (who is not familiar with english) instead of aruto or suifuto, would they immediately know what you're talking about?

Probably not, unless you are having a conversation all in English, or there was the context of cars already in the conversation. But the same could be said for any random loan word, not just car names.

Would they think your pronunciation is 'off'?

I've had this situation before. People recognize that your pronunciation is different, but may not understand what you are talking about without some context. But they know that these are loan words so they usually just assume that you are using the correct pronunciation.

By the way, Japanese speakers can say aruto and suifuto in a way that is very close to the original alto and swift. Take swift for example, the Japanese pronunciation is no more "off" than an Italian or French pronunciation of the same word. Perhaps you're just not as familiar with Japanese and are reading the romaji transliterations with an exaggerated "Japanese" accent.