# BMW pronunciation



## Encolpius

I just wonder how you pronounce that marque in other languages. 

Hungarian       [beh-em-veh]
Czech            [beh-em-veh]


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## lareneg

A guess at the german:

Bay-Emm-Vay


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## Hakro

*Finnish* (as German): [beh-em-veh]


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## jazyk

In Portuguese beh emee dahblyoo, but I've heard one or two older people say beh emee veh.


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## Anatoli

In *Russian *there is no standard way (well almost) to pronounce Latin letters, sometimes the commonly used names are Latin, English, French or even German.

BMW is pronounced the German way as bay-em-vay (in German spelling: be-em-we)
IBM is pronounced the English way - i-be-em.
CD, DVD are pronounced the English way.
HTML is pronounced the French/Latin way - ahsh-tay-em-el or in English.

So American abbreviations (if they are imported into Russian) are pronounced using English names of letters, German using German, French using French but there is no real consistency or rule behind it.

In *Japanese *BMW can be both the German and English according to Wikipedia but allow adjustments to Japanese accent - be-em_u_-dab_uru_-yuu (bay-emu-vay/_bay_/_way_)

In *Chinese*, unlike many other foreign names including abbreviations, it is usually written in Latin letters and pronunciation depends on the knowledge of English letters of the speaker and their preference. I would like to ask for a more qualified answer on pronunciation of Latin letters in Chinese and I am sure there will be more than one answer, I saw too many descriptions how they are pronounced in Chinese Mandarin. There is a trend to pronounce them exactly as in English (using the 1st tone).


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## Maja

In Serbian: [bem-ve] 
(two e in [b*e*-*e*m-ve] became one in pronunciation)


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## zaigucis

Latvian: bee-em-vee (two e  because of long pronunciation)


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## olivinha

You may hear Americans "pronouncing" it as bimmer or beemer.  
O


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## Outsider

jazyk said:


> In Portuguese beh emee dahblyoo [...]


In other words, basically as in English (sorry, dear German friends).


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## Chazzwozzer

*Be-me-ve *in Turkish. Some say *bi-em-double you*, really.


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## Miguelillo 87

In Mexican Spanish.- Be-eme-dobleu 

Tha last one it's said diferent in other contryes I think it's dovlebe.

In Mexico no doubt Dobleu


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## papillon

Anatoli said:


> In *Russian...*
> BMW is pronounced the German way as bay-em-vay (in German spelling: be-em-we)



I would rather say same as Czech/Hungarian way:
be-em-ve


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## claudine2006

Italian: Bi emme vu.


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## Lemminkäinen

Hakro said:


> *Finnish* (as German): [beh-em-veh]



I'd say it's the same in Norwegian. Stress on the first syllable.


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## Fernando

Spain: Be-eme-uve (beh-eme-ubeh) or Be-eme-uve-doble

Spanish-speaking America: As Miguelillo has said (Be-eme-dobleu/dobleve)


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## badgrammar

French: Beh-ehm-doubleh-veh, Beh-ehm, caisse de Mickeh 
English: Bee-ehm-double-you, beemer


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## Hakro

In Finnish there's also a nickname: _bemari._


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## elroy

In colloquial Palestinian Arabic:

_bii em dábelyu_
_bii em vé_
_bii ém_


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## minnieeco

In China, we call BWM as Bao(3)ma(3), write like this: 宝马
But there is another meaning in China now because a famous movie named < a crazy stone>, BWM means Bie(2)Mo(1)Wo(3), in English it means:don't touch me! A little interesting,ha~

Minnie


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## optimistique

But do Germans really pronounce the 'w' as a 'v'? Or is the 'w'-sound just not used in all other languages? I know that in Norwegian they write a 'v' but pronounce a 'w', just as in the other Scandinavian languages.

In Dutch at least we say *Bé èM Wé*


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## Little_Little

In Catalan: Be-eme-be


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## samanthalee

minnieeco said:


> In China, we call BWM as Bao(3)ma(3), write like this: 宝马
> But there is another meaning in China now because a famous movie named < a crazy stone>, BWM means Bie(2)Mo(1)Wo(3), in English it means:don't touch me! A little interesting,ha~
> 
> Minnie


 
I have always been puzzled by the Chinese name of BMW. Why is it called BaoMa [Precious Horse]? What is its full name in German? What does it mean?


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## Hakro

samanthalee said:


> I have always been puzzled by the Chinese name of BMW. Why is it called BaoMa [Precious Horse]? What is its full name in German? What does it mean?


The full name is Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian motor works).


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## MarX

In Indonesian: _bè èm wè_


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
BMW=Μπε-Εμ-Βε
Beh-Em-Veh


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## Δημήτρης

apmoy70 said:


> *In Greek:*
> BMW=Μπε-Εμ-Βε
> Beh-Em-Veh


The English pronunciation (Μπι-Εμ-Νταμπλγιου) is used/preferred among Greek-speaking Cypriots, along with the shorter "Βεμβε" (VemVeh).


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## MoisesYU

In Chinese, we translated this word in our native language, but this result is a little bit rare. It is 宝马（寶馬 Chinese tradional）(bǎo mǎ ), which means "the horse valuable". IS IT Interesting?


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## ehsanx

In persian we say "bee em ve"


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## Encolpius

MoisesYU said:


> In Chinese, we translated this word in our native language, but this result is a little bit rare. It is 宝马（寶馬 Chinese tradional）(bǎo mǎ ), which means "the horse valuable". IS IT Interesting?



Very interesting. So you really pronounce BMW as bao ma?


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## Awwal12

> So you really pronounce BMW as bao ma?


Not bao ma, but bǎo mǎ; the tone of syllables is extremely important in Chinese (and some other languages). Otherwise you can get "precious mother" or "precious hemp" instead of "precious horse", for example. 

Actually, the problem is that Chinese cannot simply transliterate any foreign word, just because they have no phonetical writing and partly because of phonetical pecularities of Chinese languages. So they write this word using hieroglyphs, basing on phonetics of word and meaning of the hierogliyphs in the same time. The result... is the result.


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## Anatoli

MoisesYU said:


> In Chinese, we translated this word in our native language, but this result is a little bit rare. It is 宝马（寶馬 Chinese traditional）(bǎo mǎ ), which means "the horse valuable". IS IT Interesting?


Note that this is a colloquial and common name. Officially, BMW is called BMW and pronounced the English way, as most English abbreviations when they appear in Chinese.

Arabic (Elroy already mentioned the spoken ways):
بي إم دبليو bii-em-dablyuu
Japanese:
ビー・エム・ダブリュー  bī-emu-daburyū

In Korean B and V are mixed, both may be called as "bi"
베엠베 be-em-be (the German way, the "ve" is mispronounced)


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## Ailes21

Wow this is a super old thread, but still interesting!
Since no Koreans have written so far, I am going to add.

We usually say bee-em-double you[비엠더블유], the same as in English. 
Some people with German knowledge may say be-em-ve[베엠베].
Although we can make both b and v sounds, the letter v does not exist in our alphabet. So we write v the same as b which is ㅂ.


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## SuperXW

The common practice in China is to give any foreign brand name a Chinese one, as many people (especially the elder generations) do not know how to pronounce or recognize foreign names. They may not be familiar with alphabets. A Chinese name would be easier to get popular.
Also, sometimes the government bodies require foreign enterprise to register with Chinese names.

The Chinese name must fit the local market, so its pronunciation or meaning is often quite different to original one, although the company would usually try their best to make them have somehow similar.

Pronunciation relation: *B*MW - *B*ao Ma
Meaning relation: Good Vehicle - Precious Horse

Today, for urban citizens and most kids, they are fine with the original name: BMW (pronounced in English, never "ve"). However, its Chinese name, 宝马 or "precious horse" is also popular.


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## Radioh

I say bee-em-d^b


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## Seeda

French
officially _beh emm doobluh veh_
colloquially _beh emm veh_
People who pronounce it this way aren't necessarily aware of the German pronunciation. It's just that _doobluh veh_ is shortened to _veh_ as we consider the letter W to be a double V, not a double U.
also _beh emm_ (BM).


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## ilocas2

Czech:

bé em vé

é - long e


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## Frank78

optimistique said:


> But do Germans really pronounce the 'w' as a 'v'?



Yes, W is pronounced /v/ while V is either /f/ for German words or /v/ for foreign words.


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