# Pronunciation: app



## yuechu

大家好！

Up to now, I'd always heard the word "app" pronounced a-p-p in Chinese (one letter at a time). Today, I heard it pronounced as it is in English (as one syllable). Which one of these pronunciations is more common in Chinese nowadays? Would you recommend one pronunciation over the other?
Thanks!


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## twenty6

A-p-p is definitely more popular. I don't think I've ever heard someone pronounce it with one syllable when speaking Chinese.

For convenience I would recommend "a-p-p". I don't think people who haven't studied English would know what you were talking about if you said "app".


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## yuechu

Good to know! Thanks, Twenty6!


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## SuperXW

I agree with Twenty6. You don't expect a random Chinese can recognize the English word App, unless the one has been studying English well. Even though, if a Chinese insisted to speak it with its correct pronunciation, he/she would face the risk that the listener don't understand.


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## dojibear

SuperXW said:


> he/she would face the risk that the listener don't understand.


I am not sure what a Chinese listener would hear, if the speaker correctly said "app". That isn't a syllable in Mandarin. Would it just sound like noise? 

But "a-p-p" uses Mandarin syllables (诶皮皮).


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## yuechu

Is "a-p-p" also how it's called in Taiwan?


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## SuperXW

dojibear said:


> I am not sure what a Chinese listener would hear, if the speaker correctly said "app". That isn't a syllable in Mandarin. Would it just sound like noise?
> 
> But "a-p-p" uses Mandarin syllables (诶皮皮).


I think it's not totally impossible for Chinese to accept a similar pronunciation of /æp/, such as 爱普 or something.
But APP looks like an abbreviation of something (and it is), it only has three simple letters, so...


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## dojibear

SuperXW said:


> But APP looks like an abbreviation of something


It is an abbreviation of "*app*lication program", a program that human users interact with, as opposed to other programs that do other things.


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## SuperXW

dojibear said:


> It is an abbreviation of "*app*lication program", a program that human users interact with, as opposed to other programs that do other things.


I know. I mean, it looks like an "acronym" to Chinese, and it is hard for them to associate it with the long, unfamiliar word "application", maybe because of this...
By the way, its official Chinese translation 应用 also sounds a bit odd, as 应用 is so commonly used as a verb. 软件 is software, and usually used on computer. 程序 is program. So "app" don't have an intuitive Chinese translation.


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## Lamb67

小程序=Applet😁


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## SimonTsai

SuperXW said:


> You don't expect a random Chinese can recognize the English word App, unless the one has been studying English well.


That disagrees with my personal experience. I've always pronounced it as a single syllable. It is not a big word and is not a tongue twister, so the English pronunciation is actually common here.


dojibear said:


> But "a-p-p" uses Mandarin syllables (诶皮皮).


I think it's more like ㄟ批批 or ㄝ批批.


yuechu said:


> Is "a-p-p" also how it's called in Taiwan?


Both 'app' and 'a-p-p' are popular in my experience. It all comes down to individual differences.


> Would you recommend one pronunciation over the other?


No, I wouldn't.

I actually prefer you saying it in English: You are who you are; we know that you are an English speaker. But meanwhile I understand that you may want, for some reason, to sound like a Chinese or Taiwanese. Some people may be moved by your effort to get along with them. Others may feel that you are somewhat patronising (in that you underestimate their English proficiency). And others may think othewise, so I wouldn't recommend either.


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## dojibear

I don't think OP is trying to sound like a Chinese or Taiwanese person. If I remember correctly, OP teaches English to Chinese-speaking students. I think he is trying to communicate with his students.


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## yuechu

@SimonTsai
Oh, good to know! (how it is normally pronounced over there) Thanks!


dojibear said:


> I don't think OP is trying to sound like a Chinese or Taiwanese person.


Actually, I would like to sound like a native Chinese speaker as much as possible when speaking Chinese! (not sure if it will ever happen though  )


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## SuperXW

SuperXW said:


> You don't expect a random Chinese can recognize the English word App, unless the one has been studying English well...





SimonTsai said:


> That disagrees with my personal experience. I've always pronounced it as a single syllable. It is not a big word and is not a tongue twister, so the English pronunciation is actually common here.





dojibear said:


> I don't think OP is trying to sound like a Chinese or Taiwanese person...





yuechu said:


> Actually, I would like to sound like a native Chinese speaker as much as possible when speaking Chinese!


I don't mean to be political, but we have no choice but to sort it out. 
The key question is: whether "Taiwanese" is "Chinese"...
Their idiomatic usages are different, like AE and BE. It's one or the other.  As far as I know, yuechu's priority was Mainland Mandarin, although he's also interested in learning Taiwanese Mandarin. We have to be clear which one we are talking about.
When I said "a random Chinese", Taiwanese was included, but was definitely the minority, and "your experience" was what I called "has been studying English well"...


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## henter

我觉得在内地app的发音就是按照英文这个单词的发音。中文的意思是应用程序。台湾地区的朋友叫啥这个不知道。 估计也是直接用英文发音。


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