Kolster-Brandes: how do you pronounce it?

[AC/HL]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

Similarly, how do you pronounce RACAL?

It's a contraction of Ray and Calder, the two founders. So it's Raycal.

[G6Tanuki]

It's a contraction of Ray and Calder, the two founders. So it's Raycal.

But the Scots of my acquaintance pronounce Calder as CALLder, so that makes it RayCALL. Same goes for "Calder Hall" nuclear plant where I spent a couple of decades supporting |D|I|G|I|T|A|L| "MINC-11" lab-computer systems, it was always Callder never "CALder".

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by Welsh Anorak

Loewe anyone?

If I were saying "lion" in German, I would pronounce "Loewe" (or more properly "Löwe") as "ler-ve[r]" (i.e. the second "er" is short - pronounced without sounding the "r"). Unless told otherwise, I would therefore pronounce the brand name likewise.

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by Welsh Anorak

Loewe anyone?

Lervy.

[ms660]

Originally Posted by Welsh Anorak

Loewe anyone?

My Mum used to sell them (Loewe-Opta stuff) at a shop she worked at back in the day, always pronounced it as Lewey...as in Louis.

Lawrence.

[MotorBikeLes]

I knew a guy who imported numerous radios etc from Germany, and he always pronounced it "Ler-ver", but without to much of the -er at the end.
Les.

[julie_m]

I've always said /'reɪ,cæl/, RAY-càl -- more like "apple" than "about", and certainly not like "all".

I'd recognise "Loewe" as German and pronounce it /,lə:və/, ler-ver, with minor emphasis and a longer duration vowel sound on the first syllable.

[Andrew2]

Originally Posted by Welsh Anorak

Loewe anyone?

'Lower' is about the nearest I can get.
Racal I pronounce 'RAY-cal' Short 'a' in cal, as in cat.
As for Brandes, I say Brands.

[joebog1]

w is pronounced v in German so its low-ve

Joe

[Richard_FM]

I was thinking it was that, until I read the above posts.

Then again I used to think Goethe was "go-th" rather than "Ger-ter" much to the amusement of my Dad!

[McMurdo]

here's a TV advert for Racal-Vodaphone. For a definitive answer, it's at 50s in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0JBKBhulJY


I also call it Brands. It seems, historically at least, that most british manufacturers with foreign roots, such as KB and Nestle's tended to disguise their foreignness as it was considered bad for business.
Only when globalism necessitates a standard brand (Snickers, anyone?) do the purists get their way and nessells becomes ness-lay, jif becomes cif and mullard becomes Philips....

[Andrew2]

Originally Posted by joebog1

w is pronounced v in German so its low-ve

That's as I recall from my schooldays, but as in English when it comes to names rather than general words, all bets are off. My friend is called Oulat, but it's pronounced 'Awlt'.
And if I recall correctly, in German 'ie' gives an ee (as in die) and ei is eye (as in ein), but names don't necessarily follow this convention. Weinstein would probably be pronounced Vine-styne in Germany, but in the USA he seems to be called Wine-steen.
In the end I suppose it should be pronounced as the family does.

[kalee20]

I've never had to say it... but I'd go for KB rather than mispronounce the name.

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

Similarly, how do you pronounce RACAL?

Rayckle, Ray-Cal, or Rackle?

I've used Ray - cal (cal as in calibration) taking my lead from people who worked there when visiting the Crawley premises, before they became Thales (which I expect they all needed to be taught to pronounce too...)

Originally Posted by turretslug

... but English argot is infamous for making a meal of foreign-origin words (Elephant and Castle, Jerusalem artichoke). I always used to smile faintly at the way the uninitiated would pronounce Weber (the fuel systems manufacturer, not the composer) as if they were German rather than Italian.

Not sure if we even need to go foreign... Stay in Greenwich!

[M0FYA Andy]

Another conundrum is 'Bulgin'. I've always pronounced it to rhyme with 'begin', but some people say 'gin' as in the stuff used to dilute your tonic.

How did Mr Bulgin say his name?

Andy

[Herald1360]

No idea, but a schoolfriend of mine was definitely Bul jin with short u and i sounds.

At Racal Comms in the '70s we were definitely Raycle long a short a think of cycle.

[Brigham]

EKCO sometimes causes confusion, although not someone's name.
Nestle's actually changed their name in English-speaking regions, for reasons unclear, but probably to do with eliminating the 's possessive case, which is specific to English, and alien in other markets. Cadbury's did the same, at about the same time.
How do you pronounce 'Binatone'?

[crackle]

Bin a tone

[Wanderer]

Actually, the last bit is Brand as in English with Ess tacked on the end if you want the original German pronunciation of the surname.

Hence Kolster (no problem) Brandess

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by Brigham

EKCO sometimes causes confusion, although not someone's name.

Of course, it's only partially true to say it's not someone's name, in that it is part of the name "E.K. Cole". I find the confusion here is not so much the pronunciation as the spelling - as the "K" and "C" often get swapped.

Originally Posted by Brigham

How do you pronounce 'Binatone'?

It had never occurred to me to pronounce it anything but "Bine-a-tone" (long "i") - the same as I would pronounce the beginning of "binary".

[Maarten]

Originally Posted by joebog1

w is pronounced v in German so its low-ve

Joe

It's only pronounced as a v if the v is in turn pronounced as a w.

It's not as if they pronounce volksvagen with the same letter twice, though a German with a specific accent or speech impediment might.