# Why do brand names have different pronunications across the English speaking world?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-brand-names-have-different-pronunications-across-the-english-speaking-world/604301
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 28, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-brand-names-have-different-pronunications-across-the-english-speaking-world/604301 "2011-11-28T01:44:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-brand-names-have-different-pronunications-across-the-english-speaking-world/604301/41 "2011-11-30T17:35:23Z")
> [@amanset](#):
>
> If “we” is Brits, I’m a child of the 70s and have never come across “Ad-DEE-das” in the UK. .
Hmm, maybe a regional thing then, as I didn’t come across Ah-di-das til at least the late 80s
If not later.
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### Author:  [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-brand-names-have-different-pronunications-across-the-english-speaking-world/604301/42 "2011-11-30T19:41:06Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> The only French cars I’ve every seen in the US are Peugeots. I can’t recall seeing the other two. That’s not counting fancy-pants cars like Bugattis, which I might’ve seen as a display.
I had to check my facts, and was surprised to learn that Peugeot’s presence in the US actually outlasted Renault’s. (1991 vs 1989) I guess my recollection was biased by knowing a couple people who had Renault Alliances and I’ve never even seen a Peugeot on the streets on this continent.
Renault did have a US-based manufacturing capability in the 80s, so maybe they were more popular for a time before collapsing faser than Peugeot, who just seems to have faded away.
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-brand-names-have-different-pronunications-across-the-english-speaking-world/604301/43 "2011-11-30T23:12:37Z")
> [@Floater](#):
>
> \
> What you describe is called transcription. Transliteration is a one by one conversion from one alphabet to another.
> \
I don’t agree with your nitpick. The process of transliterating “ダットサン” to “Dattosan” follows a rule-based process for rendering each character as one or more Roman letters, as follows:
ダ DA
ッ T
ト TO
サ SA
ン N
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-brand-names-have-different-pronunications-across-the-english-speaking-world/604301/44 "2011-11-30T23:29:05Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#):
>
> That’s the way I remember it pronounced. Hearing that this is not correct surprises me, since I always thought the point of transliteration is to render the word such that speakers of the second language will at least attempt to pronounce it the way it is spoken in the original language.
>
> As a GQ question, am I wrong about this?
Yes.
Transliteration, as Floater pointed out, is a system that renders each character in the original writing system in a unique way in the target writing system.
This preserves information but does not necessarily convey the sound correctly.
Transcription is an attempt to render the sound of the original language in the target language, which can be problematic.
Having said that, “Datsun” is an unusual case, because it is the “English” pronunciation that is correct (it contains the English word “sun”), and the way it is written in Japanese is an attempt to render the English pronunciation in Japanese characters.
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