# Acronyms [Read or Spell them]



## JNavBar

In Spanish, when possible, you read the acronyms as they were a normal word. For example, when saying CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), a Spanish speaker will say /θia/ (or /sia/ in America) but never /θe.i.a/ (or /se.i.a/).

This happens even with acronyms that are harder to pronounce. PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) is pronounce /pe.soe/ (not /pe.ese.o.e/) and sometimes the initial/p/ is completely  dropped leaving us with/soe/. If you want to acknowledge that there was a /p/ there you may change the /s/ to something like /ks/ but this rarely happens.

We try hard but there are acronyms that evade us. FBI is pronounced /efe.be.i/.

To my knowledge this does not happen in English, and I think French doesn't do it either*. Both this languages spell their acronyms.

Do you read or spell acronyms in your language?

*My only example in French is the RER (Réseau Express Régional) which is pronounced /ɛʁ.ə.ɛʁ/, and give me nightmares each time I have to say it.


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## apmoy70

Greek is like Spanish in this regard, we read acronyms, examples:
AEK (sports club) = [ˈa.e̞k] (fem.) and not [ˈalfa ˈe̞p͡s̠ilo̞n ˈkapa] nor [ˈeɪ ˈiː ˈkeɪ]; in fact, I remember that when Manolo Jiménez was named manager of the football/soccer team back in 2010, had trouble pronouncing it [ˈa.e̞k], he always said [ˈa.e̞ka] with an epithetic final /a/.
Similarly, PAOK (sports club) is [ˈpa.o̞k] (masc.). 
Even difficult ones like KKE (Communist Party of Greece), or ΓΣΕΕ/GSEE (General Confederation of Greek Workers, the largest trade union in the country) are read with epenthetic vowels between the consonants: [kukuˈe̞] (neuter) the former, [ʝe̞s̠e̞ˈe̞] (fem.) the latter.


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## Yendred

JNavBar said:


> To my knowledge this does not happen in English, and I think French doesn't do it either*. Both this languages spell their acronyms.


For French, it depends, and in some cases you can do both.

"ONU" (Organisation des Nations Unies = United Nations) can be read \ɔ.ny\ or spelled \ɔ.ɛn.y\
"OVNI" (Objet Volant Non Identifié = UFO) is read: \ɔv.ni\
"UE" (Union Européenne = European Union) is spelled: \y.ə\

I guess most acronyms that can be easily read are read, the others are spelled.



JNavBar said:


> *My only example in French is the RER (Réseau Express Régional) which is pronounced /ɛʁ.ə.ɛʁ/, and give me nightmares each time I have to say it.




Say it as if you would say in Spanish "_héroer_"


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## apmoy70

Yendred said:


> ...
> 
> "ONU" (Organisation des Nations Unies = United Nations) can be read \ɔ.ny\ or spelled \ɔ.ɛn.y\
> "OVNI" (Objet Volant Non Identifié = UFO) is read: \ɔv.ni\
> "UE" (Union Européenne = European Union) is spelled: \y.ə\
> 
> ...


ΟΗΕ: *Ο*ργανισμός *H*νωμένων *E*θνών [o̞rɣaniˈz̠mo̞s̠ ino̞ˈme̞no̞n e̞ˈθno̞n] (Organization of United Nations) = [o̞.iˈe̞] (masc.) = United Nations.
ATIA: *A*γνώστου *T*αυτότητας *I*πτάμενα *A*ντικείμενα [aˈɣno̞s̠tu tafˈto̞titas̠ iˈptame̞nˌandiˈcime̞na] (Flying Objects of Unknown Identity) = [ˈati.a] (neut. pl.) = UFO. Sometimes the Latin acronym is used, read [ˈufo̞] (neut.).
EE: *E*υρωπαϊκή *Έ*νωση [e̞vro̞pa.iˈci ˈe̞no̞s̠i] (fem.) = European Union; it's the exceptio probat regulam as it's most frequently read [ˈe̞p͡s̠ilo̞n ˈe̞p͡s̠ilo̞n] and rarely [e̞ˈe̞] (fem.).


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## Awwal12

JNavBar said:


> Do you read or spell acronyms in your language?


If I am not mistaken, acronyms are occasionally "read" in English too (e.g. UNESCO). It works both ways in Russian; obviously, a lot of acronyms simply cannot be read due to phonotactical restrictions (ОДКБ - ODeKaBe, СССР - eSeSeSeR). For the USA both variants exist, though the "reading" sounds ugly and difficult to pronounce (SShA - even though normally "sh" assimilates the preceding "s"; cf. the most popular SeSheA or the more correct, but exceedingly rare eSShaA).


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## symposium

Italian, too, "reads" acronyms, unless they're really unreadable, but I can't think of any such unreadable acronyms right now. The only exception that occurs to me is FBI which we pronounce à l'anglaise.
Edit: an unreadable acronym, for example, is P.C.I. (Italian communist party) which is spelt, not read.


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## Yendred

symposium said:


> we pronounce à l'anglaise


Funny enough, the Italians say it in French to speak about English


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## Perseas

symposium said:


> The only exception that occurs to me is FBI which we pronounce à l'anglaise.


In Greek also, English acronyms (FBI, CIA, UFO) are pronounced like in English.
(['sia] or ['ufo] would be too colloquial) .
NATO is pronounced ['nato]. It's easy because all four letters happen to exist in the Greek alphabet too.
KGB (КГБ) was/is pronounced ka-ge-be.



Awwal12 said:


> СССР - eSeSeSeR


Ι always wanted to know that, since the '80s.


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## Encolpius

It works both ways in *Hungarian*, too.


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## Awwal12

Perseas said:


> Ι always wanted to know that, since the '80s.


Just bear in mind that in fast casual speech it will likely get reduced to something like ~[ɘ's:ɛr].


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## Abaye

Hebrew:

Foreign acronyms: we often follow the original. For example CIA, FBI, NATO are like in English. BMW is be-em-ve (as in German I suppose), KGB is ka-ghe-be (again, as in Russian I suppose).

Hebrew acronyms: we often pronounce it as a word with the "a" vowel. For example, the Hebrew acronym of the TLV airport is NTBG and we pronounce it Natbag.


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## Yendred

Abaye said:


> the Hebrew acronym of the TLV airport is NTBG


What does NTBG stand for? I can only find National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii


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## AndrasBP

Encolpius said:


> It works both ways in *Hungarian*, too.


Yes, that's right. 

A few examples:

USA: /ˈuʃɒ/
SMS: /ˈɛʃɛmɛʃ/
KGB: /ˈkaːgeːbeː/
BBC: /ˈbiːbiːsiː/
FBI: /ˈɛfbiːaːj/
ENSZ (UN): /ɛns/
MÁV (Hungarian National Railways): /maːv/


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## Penyafort

*Catalan *varies, as the other Romance languages.

Usually, when unreadable, letters are read:

Broadcasters and networks: BBC [beβese], CNN [se.ɛnə.ɛnə], HBO [ak.be.ɔ], TV3 [teβetrɛs]...
Universities: UAB [u.a.βe], URV [u.ɛrə.βe]... (but UOC [wɔk])
Company brands: BMW [be.emə.be], IBM [i.be.ɛmə]...
Shortenings: CD [se.de], LP (lexicalised as elapé) [elə.'pe]...

EUA is [ɛ.u.a] "USA", but URSS [urs]
FBI is [ɛ.fə.βe.i], KGB is [ka.ʒe.βe], but CIA is ['si.ə]

When readable and common, some of them are read as a word. But the reason is not always clear.

OTAN [u'tan] "NATO"
ESO [ˈɛsu] "compulsory secondary education"
CAP [kap] "centre of primary medical attention"
OVNI [ˈɔvni] "UFO"
etc.


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## kentix

We mostly do letters in the U.S. but some are pronounced.

- NATO is pronounced.
- UNESCO is pronounced.
- the Department of *H*ousing and *U*rban *D*evelopment is HUD, rhymes with mud
- NASA is pronounced
- ICE is pronounced
- FISA is pronounced
- NOAA is pronounced
- OSHA is pronounced

And there are things that aren't directly political government, such as the University of Texas (at) El Paso, which is known as UTEP (You tep)

On a TV show I used to watch a character who was a local police officer referred to the FBI as an organization as "the Feebs". I have no idea if anyone says that in real life.


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## Encolpius

Good morning András, do you agree it is even posible both ways are used at the same time in Hungarian? I must confess I am not 100% sure, but maybe the phrase (word) "HIV-pozitív". Can we say [ha:i:ve: and hi:v], right? Enco.


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## Yendred

Encolpius said:


> "HIV"


In French, this one is spelled: [aʃive]
If it was read, it would just be [iv]


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## Dymn

Penyafort said:


> CNN [se.*ɛ*nə.*ɛ*nə]





Penyafort said:


> IBM [i.be.*ɛ*mə]





Penyafort said:


> FBI is [*ɛ*.fə.βe.i]


Aren't those mid-closed?



Penyafort said:


> UAB [u.a.βe]


It can also be read /wap/ in my experience.



Penyafort said:


> OTAN [u'tan] "NATO"
> ESO [ˈɛsu] "compulsory secondary education"


Or even /ˈɛzu/ but to be frank these are read as in Spanish for the vast majority of people...


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## elroy

Yendred said:


> What does NTBG stand for?


נתב"ג = נמל תעופת בן גוריון
(Ben Gurion Airport)
(*N*emal *T*eufat *B*en *G*urion)


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## DearPrudence

symposium said:


> Italian, too, "reads" acronyms, unless they're really unreadable, but I can't think of any such unreadable acronyms right now. The only exception that occurs to me is FBI which we pronounce à l'anglaise.


Yes, strangely enough, in French, we read:
"*FBI*" the English way (well, with a French accent obviously)
but "*CIA*" the French way


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## Yendred

DearPrudence said:


> in French, we read:
> "*FBI*" the English way (well, with a French accent obviously)


\ɛf.bi.aj\ as stated by the Wiktionary


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## DearPrudence

I'm not sure it warrants rolleyes, does it?
The English transcription seems pretty close: \ɛf.biː.aɪ\


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## AutumnOwl

In Swedish the rule is that if an acronym can be pronounced as a word, then it is to be written with the first letter as a capital and the rest in lowercase. For example, the United Nations (UN), in Swedish FN, and most of its specialised agencies (WHO, FOA, ILO) are written with capital letters, with the exceptions of Unicef and Unesco, as it can be pronounced as a word. There is also Ikea, even if the company itself writes IKEA.
So in Swedish it's USA, CIA, EU (when each letter is read out) but Nato, Fifa. When an acronym have become "established" as a word, then it can be written entirely in lowercase. For example, we write hiv and aids, covid-19.


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## Penyafort

Dymn said:


> Aren't those mid-closed?


I've seen sources for both. I've always made them open, to be honest. But I wonder now what the majority does.


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## Terio

Yendred said:


> In French, this one is spelled: [aʃive]
> If it was read, it would just be [iv]


Au Québec : VIH [ve.i.'aʃ] (virus d'immunodéficience humaine) et SIDA [si'da] (syndrome d'immunodéficience acquise).


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## Terio

In Spanish, and especially American Spanish, how do you deal with TVE (Televisión de España, I think) and the letter V in general ? As far as I know,  [uβe] is used in Spain only.


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## JNavBar

Terio said:


> In Spanish, and especially American Spanish, how do you deal with TVE (Televisión de España, I think) and the letter V in general ? As far as I know,  [uβe] is used in Spain only.


In Cuba, TVE is not common, but we have another acronym containing the letter V, CVP (Cuerpos de Vigilancia y Protección). It is used to refer to any security guard. It is impossible to read it and it is pronounced /se.βe.pe/.


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## symposium

In Italian we use the English acronyms (HIV/Aids) and we read them: "Acca i vu / aids".


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## AutumnOwl

In Swedish HIV/hiv can either be said letter by letter or pronounced as a word, while aids are always pronounced.


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