How Do You Pronounce IKEA? | Improve Your Accent

Learn how to pronounce IKEA in English and in Swedish.
Speak clearly and confidently with my course: improveyouraccent.co.uk/engli...
The IPA symbols in this video correspond with those of the Upton phonemic transcription system of British English. More info on transcription systems can be found in the FAQ under my vowel chart: improveyouraccent.co.uk/vowel...
Links
Instagram: / improveyouraccent
Twitter: / improveaccent
Facebook: / improveyouraccent
Free pronunciation learning resources: www.ImproveYourAccent.co.uk/L...

Пікірлер: 704

  • @ImproveYourAccent
    @ImproveYourAccent4 жыл бұрын

    Check out my Online English Pronunciation Course. It's tailored to your native language. Try a free lesson: improveyouraccent.co.uk/course/

  • @trevorjames7490

    @trevorjames7490

    4 жыл бұрын

    How to pronounce NIKE

  • @fassmak3

    @fassmak3

    3 жыл бұрын

    Ee kee yaa

  • @giovannivalenti8539

    @giovannivalenti8539

    3 жыл бұрын

    It's no true. If you try to put the work IKEA on Google it will tell you that the British pronunciation is ee-kee-uh. Whereas the American pronunciation is Aa-kee-uh. Hence, according to Google all people use the American pronunciation.

  • @jvastro4556

    @jvastro4556

    2 жыл бұрын

    L 🌼

  • @Madchad6969

    @Madchad6969

    2 жыл бұрын

    I just found out they say eekeaa in japan and searched ikea pronunciation

  • @AnanyaMedvedeva
    @AnanyaMedvedeva6 жыл бұрын

    I think we should all respect the Swedish roots of that word instead of making our own pronunciation.

  • @palmtree1958

    @palmtree1958

    5 жыл бұрын

    @Adrian Jarvis Yet there's another (Korean) car brand where the pronunciation has been completely botched: Hyundai, or 현대 as it's written in Korean hangeul. If 현대 was romanised as we normally romanise korean, it would be written 'hyeon/hyun-dae' and that's how it's supposed to be pronounced. The 'eo' is like the hard o sound in the word 'on' and 'dae' is said like 'day.' For some reason, though, (no idea why, because it doesn't make sense and it's not how Korean's usually romanised) it's was written as Hyundai in English, and so everyone has called it "hi-oon-dye." Interesting!

  • @OEDODRAGON

    @OEDODRAGON

    5 жыл бұрын

    I agree, when it's something like a company name..... but not for a word introduced into our language.

  • @palmtree1958

    @palmtree1958

    5 жыл бұрын

    @@OEDODRAGON IKEA is a company name though..

  • @WhatashameMaryJane

    @WhatashameMaryJane

    5 жыл бұрын

    I completely agree. In Italy we pronounce it the Swedish way and also when I speak English I pronounce it the Swedish way too. I think it's so arrogant from the Americans to Americanise everything.

  • @devonoknabo2582

    @devonoknabo2582

    5 жыл бұрын

    Right E-KEA

  • @LUCKYCHARM_
    @LUCKYCHARM_3 жыл бұрын

    In Korea, We pronounce IKEA as Swedish way. 이케아, which sounds EE-KE-AH

  • @enkaru

    @enkaru

    3 жыл бұрын

    The same in Spain 😄

  • @ilya4720

    @ilya4720

    2 жыл бұрын

    Same in Turkey ✌

  • @the_best_395
    @the_best_3954 жыл бұрын

    In Italy the pronunciation is the same of the swedish one.

  • @Kimxoxo2208

    @Kimxoxo2208

    3 жыл бұрын

    In belgium and the netherlands too!

  • @user-jc7gl6hw9z

    @user-jc7gl6hw9z

    3 жыл бұрын

    In Germany too

  • @coda5153

    @coda5153

    3 жыл бұрын

    in turkey too!

  • @oceanusaustralis7765

    @oceanusaustralis7765

    3 жыл бұрын

    In Indonesian too

  • @rrangwooo

    @rrangwooo

    3 жыл бұрын

    It’s uniquely in English who pronounce it differently because English is cursed.

  • @rozamunduszek4787
    @rozamunduszek47876 жыл бұрын

    The adverts are like: we'll educate British people, maybe they'll learn how it's pronpunced in Swedish. Americans though? Americans are hopeless.

  • @solomongrundy2211

    @solomongrundy2211

    5 жыл бұрын

    Excuseme, What the fuck?

  • @mr_niceman

    @mr_niceman

    5 жыл бұрын

    Hahaha

  • @mariakarenmagno3896

    @mariakarenmagno3896

    5 жыл бұрын

    Rozamunduszek n)

  • @ssranon

    @ssranon

    5 жыл бұрын

    > they'll learn how it's pronpunced in Swedish. Americans though? Americans are hopeless. @Rozamunduszek presumably you have an equally low opinion of canadians too, since anglo-canadian ads for IKEA on the CBC pronounce it similarly to the american style. i guess all of north america is hopeless. the french canadians may be our only hope. of course sweden is all the way on the other side of the fcuking world, so they're not likely to be too offended by that trivial verbal slip. hopeflly they have a sense of humour about all that.

  • @redsdead

    @redsdead

    5 жыл бұрын

    @@ssranon it's a joke, not to mention it's over a year ago. also the person said "adverts be like" so even if it wasn't a joke it's not like they have an "low opinion" of anyone.

  • @henningbartels6245
    @henningbartels62456 жыл бұрын

    IKEA is an acronym and stand for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd - with Ingvar Kamprad being the name of the founder and Elmtaryd being the farm in the village Agunnaryd, where the founder came from. Now you can ask yourself how you would pronounce the first name Ingvar and the location Elmtaryd and that will help answering the question what is the proper way to pronounce I K E A as a whole.

  • @yapolloable

    @yapolloable

    3 жыл бұрын

    so how do we pronounce those names?

  • @henningbartels6245

    @henningbartels6245

    3 жыл бұрын

    @Naught Guile, well, I'm a German and in Germany it is pronounced ee-kay-yuh (/-yaw). I don't know what your whole spiel about idiots is all about? Btw, Ingvar Kamprad's father and thus the family name came from Germany, too, if you want to know some useless knowledge.

  • @MLennholm

    @MLennholm

    3 жыл бұрын

    Is it not pronounced 'Ayngwar'?

  • @henningbartels6245

    @henningbartels6245

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@MLennholm is it in English?

  • @henningbartels6245

    @henningbartels6245

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@MLennholm In English?

  • @ninakimhartmann393
    @ninakimhartmann3936 жыл бұрын

    I'm from Germany and we pronounce it the "Swedish" way. Actually we pronounce it the German way, but it sounds exactly the same.

  • @farihamohamedhilmy4700
    @farihamohamedhilmy47006 ай бұрын

    So glad I pronounced this furniture brand's name correctly sine I was a KID! Glad I'm not ignorant to the Swedish roots of Ikea 🛋🤗💙💛

  • @JeanetteKramer
    @JeanetteKramer6 жыл бұрын

    I'm a Canadian living in France. If I pronounce this the North American way "eye-kee-ah" everyone would either laugh at me or not understand me.

  • @AliCe-cc9qu

    @AliCe-cc9qu

    5 жыл бұрын

    Same in Italy

  • @rayze2394

    @rayze2394

    5 жыл бұрын

    @@AliCe-cc9qu In italian it would sound like the swedish version anyway.... I guess only the English language can pronounce this simple word so strangely

  • @irinaelena225

    @irinaelena225

    5 жыл бұрын

    In Romania they look at you like you're on weed or something.

  • @sofiicus

    @sofiicus

    4 жыл бұрын

    In Romania they don't understand you i told my mum it's eye-keh-yah in english but she grounded me and typed it in google translate where it says E-khe-yah

  • @sofiicus

    @sofiicus

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@irinaelena225 I am from Romania too!/sunt romancă #romania regină pe lume

  • @xolang
    @xolang3 жыл бұрын

    I've talked about this with people here in Indonesia. The original Swedish pronunciation is almost identical to the way we'd pronounce the letters in Indonesian, and yet there's this tendency for Indonesians to pronounce it like «aikiië». I personally have always said «ikea», which is much easier to say IMO and fits to the Indonesian way of pronouncing the letters anyway. The same thing happens with H&M btw, I say simply «haa-emm», which is closer to Swedish «ho-emm» instead of the complicated «eitch n emm».

  • @RyanTaylor2000

    @RyanTaylor2000

    2 жыл бұрын

    Most Indonesian pronounce it as i - ke - a, with shorter e. Whereas the Swedish pronunciation is i - kei - a with longer e vowel

  • @JustThatOneRandomGuy

    @JustThatOneRandomGuy

    10 ай бұрын

    As a Taiwanese, it’s funny cause growing up I heard “YYKIYA” and I always thought that was wrong, cause just like how westerners will always butcher Chinese shit, we will butcher theirs. When I went to America and they pronounced “AiKeeia” and j thought that was the correct pronunciation. Until I came to Europe and learned the real pronunciation is actually “YYKea”, which threw me off because apparently we Taiwanese ppl have been pronouncing it closer to the real version than Americans.

  • @HistoriasEmpresariales
    @HistoriasEmpresariales2 жыл бұрын

    Ikea in Swedish sounds very similar as how we native Spanish speakers would naturally pronounce it

  • @milenamagana

    @milenamagana

    5 ай бұрын

    In fact it is very similar

  • @simbulYT
    @simbulYT6 жыл бұрын

    In Italy, we use the Swedish pronunciation, though the "e" is shorter and a bit less guttural than the one I hear in the ads. For once, we got a brand name right!

  • @SteveMcQueenz

    @SteveMcQueenz

    6 жыл бұрын

    you just say it as it's written ! i-ke-a

  • @FairyCRat

    @FairyCRat

    6 жыл бұрын

    SteveMcQueenz I feel like you wrote the same comment a few times xD

  • @SteveMcQueenz

    @SteveMcQueenz

    6 жыл бұрын

    I knew you'd care

  • @AliCe-cc9qu

    @AliCe-cc9qu

    5 жыл бұрын

    Ahaha that's true

  • @marcocastelli4205

    @marcocastelli4205

    4 жыл бұрын

    Stavo giusto cercando altri italiani

  • @jimvukich166
    @jimvukich1662 жыл бұрын

    There is a Swedish company called Flygt; it’s a Swedish surname. In the US it is pronounced as “flight”, as in airline flight. The proper Swedish pronunciation is more like “flickt”. Swedish colleagues use “flight” when speaking to Americans, and “flickt” when speaking to Swedes. Which is the same thing IKEA’s CEO seems to do!

  • @ccarmure
    @ccarmure6 жыл бұрын

    I love your accent (and your kitchen).

  • @RandomPerson-bj1su
    @RandomPerson-bj1su3 жыл бұрын

    Here's one you've probably never heard before: in Singapore where I'm from we pronounce it as "ee-kya" 😂

  • @haruka-dt4yv

    @haruka-dt4yv

    3 жыл бұрын

    same lmao

  • @priiyaparamasivam5487

    @priiyaparamasivam5487

    3 жыл бұрын

    Malaysia too.. and I was wondering if we were the only weird ones XD

  • @totaaalnasser

    @totaaalnasser

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thats how we pronounce it on the middle east hehe

  • @AdrynJohanna

    @AdrynJohanna

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@priiyaparamasivam5487 true

  • @emangadi8717

    @emangadi8717

    3 жыл бұрын

    same as us here in KSA 😂😂😂 I don't know from where we got it

  • @tamayokimura1856
    @tamayokimura18565 жыл бұрын

    In Japan, we pronounce IKEA like "ee-kay-ah" with an accent on "ee".

  • @to_ru_kw

    @to_ru_kw

    3 жыл бұрын

    You can always grasp what the original pronunciation of a brand is in Japan since they'll use katakana most of the time! Because pf the American pronunciation, I spent at least two years thinking "Eye Kee Ah" and イケア were different brands haha

  • @martinstent5339
    @martinstent53393 жыл бұрын

    There’s something very interesting About the IKEA adverts on German TV: Not only do they pronounce IKEA the Swedish way, but the whole advert is done with a Swedish accent. More interesting than that is the use of the familiar (du) form. Sweden uses (almost) exclusively the familiar (du) form, and so they have imported that into their German adverts. For several years it was (almost) the only advert on German TV which uses the familiar form. Also in every IKEA store, all the announcements are in the familiar form, as opposed to all other stores where they use the formal form. So IKEA is helping to slowly change the culture here.

  • @thelazynarwhal
    @thelazynarwhal3 жыл бұрын

    my parents(singaporean) always pronounce it as "e-kia" so like two syllables instead of three. however, since everyone pronounces it differently, i've decided to refer to it as "swedish meatballs and furniture place"

  • @jianxiongRaven

    @jianxiongRaven

    Жыл бұрын

    haha same. typcial singaporean parent

  • @jaelexlinsey

    @jaelexlinsey

    11 ай бұрын

    "Swedish meatballs and furniture place!" LOL! That made me laugh! It's so true, though. And everyone will know which shop you're talking about. LOL! 😆🤣

  • @laylac
    @laylac5 жыл бұрын

    Lol I live in Singapore and we pronounce it as ee-kia (instead of ee-ki-a) and I thought the correct pronunciation was actually the American one! Glad to know our pronunciation is actually somewhat close!

  • @neighbourhoodkid27

    @neighbourhoodkid27

    4 жыл бұрын

    Same!

  • @vincent0324

    @vincent0324

    4 жыл бұрын

    Yes I live in Hong Kong and we pronounce it as e-key-a here.

  • @ChloroformCloud

    @ChloroformCloud

    4 жыл бұрын

    I also live in Singapore and there is an on-going debate in my class over the pronunciation of ikea

  • @winall9

    @winall9

    4 жыл бұрын

    I also thought it was the us pronunciation

  • @thomasbjurstrom6480
    @thomasbjurstrom64802 жыл бұрын

    I'm Swedish so it's obvious how I pronounce it. That's how I heard it pronounced since I was a child. So the British or American pronunciation sounds strange to me. However, in France they pronounce it our way. Suppose it depends on how you pronounce the letter " i".

  • @lorestis

    @lorestis

    2 жыл бұрын

    In Greece we pronouce the Swedish way

  • @uncannyvalley2113

    @uncannyvalley2113

    2 жыл бұрын

    I'd say in german it's similar, maybe not quite the same

  • @milenamagana

    @milenamagana

    5 ай бұрын

    En Sud America muy parecido al sueco

  • @estermauceri2975
    @estermauceri29753 жыл бұрын

    i love that almost every languages pronounce it the correct way!!

  • @ameilywithana8226
    @ameilywithana82263 жыл бұрын

    It’s funny because in Taiwan, where we speak Mandarin Chinese, we use the more Swedish pronunciation, and we often get “corrected” by other people.

  • @ericyhchun

    @ericyhchun

    3 жыл бұрын

    Same applies to Hong Kong where we speak Cantonese. The franchisee also gave IKEA the Chinese name "宜家" - literally means 'suitable for home'. Hard to think of any better Cantonese name if they had chosen to translate according to US pronunciation

  • @Nightbeat9123

    @Nightbeat9123

    5 ай бұрын

    For me, it’s pronounced as “Ee-kee-ya”.

  • @amandaoliveira359
    @amandaoliveira3596 жыл бұрын

    That's a very good video! Thanks for the very useful knowledge!

  • @ImproveYourAccent

    @ImproveYourAccent

    6 жыл бұрын

    You're welcome :)

  • @fabiostafforte6678
    @fabiostafforte6678 Жыл бұрын

    In Italy we pronunce it the same way swedish do not because we respect swedish pronunciation but because the I K E A are pronounced in the same way. It's natural when a language is not your fist language to try to pronounce a word as you used to pronounce the letter in your language. Every time English speaker try to pronounce Italian word the sound very very English but we make the effort to understand what a native English speaker try to say. As we say in my country " the world is wonderful because it is varied". (Sorry for the leteraly translation)

  • @anomalousdelirium

    @anomalousdelirium

    11 ай бұрын

    Yes, modern English is weird. They need double "e" (ee) to make the "i" sound, eventho the required letter is alreay there. Because they turned the letter "i" into "ay" And "A" sound doesn't exist in the individual alphabeta pronounciation, because the letter "a" sounds like "ey" Etc.

  • @eiry8325
    @eiry83252 жыл бұрын

    Love your accent and enunciation of words.

  • @rafaeljr.lealsantiago3827
    @rafaeljr.lealsantiago38272 жыл бұрын

    I’m from the Philippines, I respect the SWEDISH way of pronunciation.

  • @_sue8447
    @_sue84475 жыл бұрын

    This vid just added a lot of info for my presentation. I chose IKEA as the logo that i will be rebranding.

  • @TalkToMeInTagalog
    @TalkToMeInTagalog3 жыл бұрын

    I'll start pronouncing it the Swedish way. 😊 Thanks!

  • @kc2879
    @kc28793 жыл бұрын

    In Hong Kong, people mostly pronounce E.Kea as the Chinese name translated with the tone “Yikah”. Some of us do pronounce AiKea as British doing. It mixed in daily live but we all know it’s talk about famous IKEA.

  • @morganross6399
    @morganross63994 жыл бұрын

    In Singapore, my friends and I pronounced it the Swedish way.

  • @luisaalbergaria9028
    @luisaalbergaria90286 жыл бұрын

    In Portugal we pronunce it like the Swedish way.

  • @JLynnEchelon
    @JLynnEchelon5 жыл бұрын

    This is so interesting to me. Especially that the guy changes his pronunciation based on who he is talking to.

  • @jayartphoto
    @jayartphoto6 жыл бұрын

    In Germany wie pronounce it like the swedish version because we speak the "I", "E","A" like the swedish people.

  • @IceSpoon

    @IceSpoon

    5 жыл бұрын

    In spanish we pronounce the "E" and "I" like you. But that A man...how the scheiße you people make that sound, it baffles me.

  • @youokay8271

    @youokay8271

    5 жыл бұрын

    That's same in Turkey too

  • @michasz4297

    @michasz4297

    5 жыл бұрын

    In Poland it's pronounced similarly too.

  • @marildogjolena1012

    @marildogjolena1012

    4 жыл бұрын

    in Greece as well

  • @nitinaisz
    @nitinaisz5 жыл бұрын

    Thanks, it's very clear, in Thailand we say IKEA as in Swedish.

  • @user-si7hf8yv6z
    @user-si7hf8yv6z2 жыл бұрын

    thank you, sir!

  • @JohnNoirSmith
    @JohnNoirSmith6 жыл бұрын

    I pronounce it the Swedish way, but that's probably 'cause I'm born and raised in Norway.

  • @tsogtsaikhanjambal5768
    @tsogtsaikhanjambal57683 жыл бұрын

    Wonderful

  • @user-rb4hh7qf6w
    @user-rb4hh7qf6w5 жыл бұрын

    says [ikea] or [ikeya]. btw, we say 屋[ya] in the end of the words and it means “shop” in japanese. so, many people might be mixed up them.

  • @fishy4102
    @fishy4102 Жыл бұрын

    Dude I always pronounce it “Ikea”, didn’t know it should be “Ikea”, thanks!

  • @beyond2sky797
    @beyond2sky7975 жыл бұрын

    In Saudi Arabia they pronounce it as Ee ke ya , so I looked for how to pronounce IKEA and founded you 😁👍🏻 good to know that I wasn’t wrong

  • @paultimms5471
    @paultimms54715 жыл бұрын

    As an Englishman, when you see a new word that you've never heard, you pronounce it in a way that makes sense in English. Since "Ikea" is very similar to "idea", which is pronounced "eye dee uh", it's only natural that we pronounced it "eye kee uh". Once a name is out there and so well-known, it's very difficult to then change the pronunciation. There are many other examples of this - Volkswagen which in German is pronounced "Folks-vargun" but in English is "Volks-wagon". English adverts for Volkswagen pronounce it the English way. I'm sure there are British and American brands which are mispronounced in other countries so it's not really a big deal.

  • @SaraBanaraaaa

    @SaraBanaraaaa

    2 жыл бұрын

    Yeah but igloo

  • @nordscan9043

    @nordscan9043

    Жыл бұрын

    How ignorant are you? V in German is pronounced like an F. Volk means folk in German, so ignoring the F sound in the German V is a mistake! It would be like ignoring the H sound in the Spanish J.

  • @ailusvonni9881
    @ailusvonni98815 жыл бұрын

    I'm Spanish and we pronounce it the same way you guys do ♥️🙋🏻‍♀️

  • @user-ig4ez6zw7c
    @user-ig4ez6zw7c3 жыл бұрын

    I Love IKEA So Much It Is Very Nice

  • @jolandasaxfors7923
    @jolandasaxfors79236 жыл бұрын

    Love how the CEO is pronouncing IKEA with a huge accent when saying it in Swedish.

  • @hencytjoe

    @hencytjoe

    11 ай бұрын

    Yeah he's got a distinct accent in Swedish LOL

  • @AliCe-cc9qu
    @AliCe-cc9qu5 жыл бұрын

    When I talk in English I do pronounce IKEA the way most people do as you've said , but I'm in Italian and in Italy the pronunciation is very very close to the Swedish one.

  • @MjauDuuude
    @MjauDuuude6 жыл бұрын

    As a Swede this was very interesting ^^

  • @alswndhd
    @alswndhd5 жыл бұрын

    it's so interesting!

  • @user-wp1bv1xn5h
    @user-wp1bv1xn5h3 ай бұрын

    Thanks

  • @jojomongu
    @jojomongu4 жыл бұрын

    In South Korea, we pronounce it like EE-KAY-AH.

  • @BuckshotLaFunke1

    @BuckshotLaFunke1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Ko-ray-ah Ee-Kay- ah.

  • @wingsnoangel436

    @wingsnoangel436

    3 жыл бұрын

    And Russians too

  • @astfre36
    @astfre366 жыл бұрын

    OMG have you made a video about IKEA.. #ProudSwede Love your accent doe!

  • @saladyn1000
    @saladyn10006 жыл бұрын

    In Poland we pronunce it like that /ikɛa/

  • @miszi_sholmes

    @miszi_sholmes

    5 жыл бұрын

    tak

  • @Sirenhound
    @Sirenhound4 жыл бұрын

    I got an email from or about IKEA in Japan that wrote it "イケア" (ii-ke-ah) and it brought me here.

  • @andiniwirawan
    @andiniwirawan6 жыл бұрын

    The Advertisement in Indonesia do it like the US but since we are not really good at english.. we pronounced it the way we see it in Indonesian which is similar to the Swedish Pronunciation.. and it turned out the people who doesnt follow the ad were saying is actually the closest to the actual pronunciation.. TA-DAH😆

  • @salmafrida11

    @salmafrida11

    5 жыл бұрын

    my friend who isn't very good in english say it "aikia" like US did and made me shocked&feel ill bcs i never heard indonesian ads pronounce it like that.

  • @jasont8131

    @jasont8131

    5 жыл бұрын

    Enggak sih, semua iklan di Indo ngomongny “IKEA” kayak org Swedia, ga inget tuh yg iklan “IKEA hidupkan rumah?”

  • @gabrielasuna224
    @gabrielasuna2246 жыл бұрын

    In Uruguay (where Spanish is spoken) we pronounce it like the Swedish way. But I think it's because if we tried to pronounce it in Spanish, it would sound the same as in Swedish. (Sorry if I make mistakes when writing, I'm not English speaker).

  • @kjellhl1975
    @kjellhl19756 жыл бұрын

    I do the same as the CEO of IKEA. I pronounce it the Swedish way in when I speak Norwegian or the English way when speaking English.

  • @kaciohf
    @kaciohf4 жыл бұрын

    Muito bom.

  • @Julia-rq7uj
    @Julia-rq7uj6 жыл бұрын

    0:24 as ur an accent specialist, i expected u to pronounce it more accurately in swedish. but i got to laugh anyways XD

  • @francomarini560
    @francomarini5606 жыл бұрын

    In Italy we pronounce it like the Swedes, not because we speak Swedish, but simply because it comes natural to us :)

  • @AdamHKatona
    @AdamHKatona3 жыл бұрын

    In Hungary, we pronounce it the original way and I never understood why is it so hard for many native english speakers to do so. I think it's just laziness. It's not even a "tricky" word.

  • @norwaybrasil1

    @norwaybrasil1

    2 жыл бұрын

    I agree with you. Look what a mess they did with the Greek word 'nike'.

  • @pygmygodeus9450
    @pygmygodeus9450 Жыл бұрын

    Ha! Can’t wait to send this link to a friend who recently corrected my pronunciation of IKEA when I said it in what turns out to be the Swedish way. I argued that it’s a Swedish store, so we should try to pronounce it the way they probably do in Sweden. Hey, I had no proof yet that they pronounced it that way, but my reasoning was this: in many countries, other than, say, the US or England, a written I is often pronounced like the long E in English words (like the long E that is the first letter of Sweden). Whereas a written E is usually pronounced like the long A in “hay.” That leaves us with the final A of IKEA, which, when written, is generally pronounced like a soft A, as in “Ah!” Numerous comments below from people all around the world attest to this tendency. However, a commenter below-no doubt American-argues that if, for example, we’re speaking English and use a Spanish word in a sentence, it would sound “weird” to pronounce that Spanish word correctly for a few seconds. I’m American, and I find that argument a particularly American one. I’ve traveled all over the world and have observed that often Americans have the worst accents when speaking other languages (if they even try). Possibly this betrays arrogance. Pronouncing IKEA the Swedish way, since it’s a Swedish company, is probably somewhat unimportant in the grand scheme of things. But shouldn’t we have the humility to respect other languages by at least making the attempt to pronounce them correctly?? And by the way, most Spanish speaking Americans I’ve met pronounce English words the American way, but they do pronounce Spanish words the Spanish way-even if it’s only for a few seconds. It sounds cool!

  • @SebaMoralesss
    @SebaMoralesss3 ай бұрын

    This is interesting. Ikea is now in Chile and they are going with the Swedish way which is actually also how we would read the word.

  • @isame0085
    @isame00856 жыл бұрын

    Your adjö was pretty good

  • @christofat2704
    @christofat27046 жыл бұрын

    On the contrary , British are less ignorant and more open to other cultures ! In the U.S , they are very self-centered and unilingual , they certainly would get the swedish prononciation ! Same as 'Tefal' un the states it is 'T-fal'!

  • @SuperOkfine

    @SuperOkfine

    6 жыл бұрын

    christo fat thanks for stereotyping

  • @christofat2704

    @christofat2704

    6 жыл бұрын

    SuperOkfine Welcome ,there are also some truths in stereotypes!

  • @mackenziemeyer5381

    @mackenziemeyer5381

    6 жыл бұрын

    You can't blame Americans for mispronouncing companies' names, when said companies make commercials in the US pronouncing the name wrong. It is what it is. Also learning a second language over here is not as useful considering we are fairly isolated, geographically speaking. So while many of us do learn a second language, we never have a reason to use it, and eventually lose most of it. I think a lot of people forget that the US is almost as large as all of Europe combined. Coast to coast, we speak almost entirely English whereas in the same area in Europe you come across dozens of languages in countries that you have easy and cheap access to. Are we all ignorant, self-centered twats who aren't opened to other cultures? Of course not. And if you weren't so ignorant and self-centered maybe you would realize that.

  • @zainabsalah

    @zainabsalah

    6 жыл бұрын

    I feel sorry for you

  • @badr....

    @badr....

    5 жыл бұрын

    @@zainabsalah I feel sorry for you

  • @monicadacosta7161
    @monicadacosta71616 жыл бұрын

    I would love a video about how to pronounce different brands. Like Adidas, Nike, Levi's etc. Me and my friends have had a huge debate about how to pronounce​ it.

  • @gilleslafaye8007

    @gilleslafaye8007

    6 жыл бұрын

    Adidas is a german company, they pronounce it as we do in France: A-DEE-DAS with both A like the one from ikeA.

  • @sineme5923
    @sineme59234 жыл бұрын

    In Turkey we pronounce it as the Brit-swedish version as well.

  • @sowmyasweety1804
    @sowmyasweety18044 жыл бұрын

    I really had an arguement wt ma cousin fr ds pronunciation. Tx fr clarifying ma doubt.

  • @haurunrun
    @haurunrun3 жыл бұрын

    This is interesting. I was thinking that every country in this world pronounce it English way till I watched this video. Japan also pronounce it swedish way as well.

  • @nocturnalowl5867
    @nocturnalowl58675 жыл бұрын

    In Malaysia, the ads are like the Swedish pronunciation. I say "ee-kay-ah". But I've heard locals used both the British and Swedish pronunciations. Then there's the Malaysian way which is "ee-kia" with hard "k" 😁

  • @MarcioSilva-ssiillvvaa
    @MarcioSilva-ssiillvvaa2 жыл бұрын

    I knew it! I use the Swedish pronunciation.

  • @mejadije
    @mejadije6 жыл бұрын

    so swedish quitely using latin sounds, in indonesia ikea tvc pronounce it as swedish way

  • @FelixMartono

    @FelixMartono

    6 жыл бұрын

    soalnya kita bekas jajahan belanda, which means close to germanic language, swedish jg termasuk germanic

  • @nairevillarreal5485
    @nairevillarreal5485 Жыл бұрын

    Nice

  • @chiaraventurelli5039
    @chiaraventurelli50395 жыл бұрын

    In Italy we also pronounce it like the Swedish IKEA (ichea) with strong ch

  • @Dishan11
    @Dishan116 жыл бұрын

    I would do my best to remember & pronounce it the Swedish way and respect the way founder intended it to be...

  • @Zelanias
    @Zelanias2 жыл бұрын

    Pls make more video about swedish accented english. I want to improve my english so it doesn't sound as much swedish :))

  • @sittibiterralevissilvia6679
    @sittibiterralevissilvia66796 жыл бұрын

    So ... in Spain we pronounce IKEA correctly. Hahahaha. Great video.

  • @jasminekaram880
    @jasminekaram8806 жыл бұрын

    Updated the info because I wrote wrong tonal marker in the IPA. Changed now. Native Swedish speaker from Gothenburg, I prounouce it ɪkê:a. The acute accent indicating a rising tone on the stressed vowel. As most dialects of Swedish have tonal qualities even if they are not marked in typical writing exept when the words might be spelled differently. Words like buren can mean perfect particip of bära or carry or simply the cage depending on the tonal accent. :)

  • @herrfriberger5

    @herrfriberger5

    6 жыл бұрын

    IKEA (eller KEA) har väl ändå grav accent...? Som i lära, måla, börja, etc.

  • @jasminekaram880

    @jasminekaram880

    6 жыл бұрын

    Herr Friberger Ja helt rätt, ska ändra.

  • @silverlightenning
    @silverlightenning2 жыл бұрын

    What is interesting to me is with so many English words like inside, interest, input etc. nobody ever changed the pronunciation from "ee" to "ai", but somebody thought when pronouncing Ikea, they should go with "ai" rather than "ee"

  • @Matticitt
    @Matticitt6 жыл бұрын

    In Poland we pronounce it the Polish way which sounds pretty much identical to the original Swedish pronunciation.

  • @neithere

    @neithere

    3 жыл бұрын

    Same with Russian pronunciation :) surprisingly

  • @hannahmichelle8443
    @hannahmichelle84433 жыл бұрын

    i’ve always said “ekea” i know it’s an I but i grew up in germany and all the add and people pronounced it as E. moving to the states everyone always looked at me funny when i would say Ikea with an E as the first letter!! but i showed them this video and now they all say E

  • @ollifrank6255
    @ollifrank62553 жыл бұрын

    Not just Swedish, kind of every language other than Englih. Just in English i turned into ay, and e into i, compared to the original sound in the latin alphabet

  • @roycrxtw
    @roycrxtw2 жыл бұрын

    In Taiwan, virtually everyone uses the Swedish way of saying IKEA. But most people can still understand the English pronunciation of IKEA.

  • @officialsimonharris
    @officialsimonharris3 жыл бұрын

    There was an audio voice over ad in the store today which said 'Welcome to EYE-kea' and this surprised me because I would have expected the correct I-kea but this was not so

  • @mfvieira89
    @mfvieira896 жыл бұрын

    In Portugal it's pronounced similarly to the swedish version, but with an "e" sound (like in "swEdish") sound after the E letter. So, something like "ikeia"

  • @MrChanduvarma
    @MrChanduvarma5 жыл бұрын

    I live in Germany and basically from India and have learnt the pronunciation of many brands in the European way and I met a old friend from the USA, when I asked him let's go to Ikea(Swedish way) he asked me "Is that IKEA(USA way)" and asked me dude you need to learn pronunciation, I was so pissed and asked him, "How do you pronounce 'Audi'?". He replied in the German way and then I told him that's what IKEA in swedish way. You need to learn the pronunciation not me.

  • @MrStellina77
    @MrStellina773 жыл бұрын

    IKEA as a swedish roots! 👍🏻 from Italy

  • @Melissa-qs3uk
    @Melissa-qs3uk5 жыл бұрын

    In the Netherlands we also pronounce it the Swedish way

  • @Ghost_Of_SAS
    @Ghost_Of_SAS Жыл бұрын

    I have seen this before: some time ago I contacted the founder of a French software house, specifically to ask how it was pronounced, and his reply was one way for France and a different way for America.

  • @dzuli33t
    @dzuli33t4 жыл бұрын

    "Say ikea if you wanna show up your swedish knowledge" Me whos apparently always been pronouncing it right because my native language isnt english: 👁👄👁

  • @kikkerjen
    @kikkerjen5 жыл бұрын

    IKEA, the Swedish, is actually the Greek word οικία meaning home or house! That is where eco (nomy/logy/system etc) come from as well. The way the word is pronounced in Greek is much closer to the way the Swedes are using....

  • @angeramirez25
    @angeramirez256 жыл бұрын

    Haha it was funny i am colombian (spanish speaker) and i pronunced that word in the swedish way

  • @vellan__0
    @vellan__05 жыл бұрын

    Swedish accent: E(English letter E)-QUE(Spanish word for What)-A(Aahhh, sound of a long hard day and you take of your working shoes) E-QUE-A, IKEA, easiest way to explain how to do the proper swedish way

  • @pavellipach6175
    @pavellipach61756 жыл бұрын

    In Russia, we pronounce it like EE-CAY-AH. And also NIKE similar to the word "bike" (=naik). So they have officially adopted the Russian pronunciation variant when writing the company"s name in the Russian alphabet, like in bills etc. Otherwise, nobody would understand the brand's name.

  • @YouCuberHD

    @YouCuberHD

    3 жыл бұрын

    Same

  • @aishaalabdouli5605
    @aishaalabdouli56055 жыл бұрын

    we are Arab and ww pronounce it (( ee-kia )) 😀

  • @Widdekuu91
    @Widdekuu915 жыл бұрын

    Dutch say Ííh-kay-ááh as well.

  • @chris_sndw
    @chris_sndw5 жыл бұрын

    The funniest thing I've heard was English people saying Porsche. They dropped the e and being a German first time I heard this I didn't know what they were talking about. "What you drove in a porch? Didn't know those come with weels nowadays." It's a Swedish or German e. In Germany we pronounce Ikea like the Swedes. So ad a Swedish Ikea e at the end of porch and you are ready to blitz the Autobahn.

  • @hkriderintw
    @hkriderintw2 жыл бұрын

    I'm from Hong Kong, I speak English with RP accent, but I usually pronounce IKEA in the Swedish way.

  • @ericross5048
    @ericross50486 жыл бұрын

    Dear Luke, Its clear to me the you know very well how to use the little marks that tell us how to pronounce a letter. Could you please make a video or share some source that explains how to use them? If these were more commonly understood a lot of confusion in teaching would melt away. I'm loving your videos, and am teaching English and learning French. Thank you sincerely, Eric near Chicago, IL USA

  • @quinius173

    @quinius173

    6 жыл бұрын

    You should look up the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).

  • @ImproveYourAccent

    @ImproveYourAccent

    6 жыл бұрын

    Hi Eric, I'll make one eventually, but you can take a look at my interactive vowel and consonant charts on my website to hear the sounds improveyouraccent.co.uk/vowel-chart/ and improveyouraccent.co.uk/consonant-chart/

  • @MrMrMaran
    @MrMrMaran6 жыл бұрын

    The Swedish CEO seems to have a pretty pronounced Scanian accent, so not typically Swedish.

  • @EASYTIGER10

    @EASYTIGER10

    6 жыл бұрын

    What are the features of a Scanian accent?

  • @MrMrMaran

    @MrMrMaran

    6 жыл бұрын

    Guttural Rs like in french as opposed to rolled Rs like Spanish, and many vowels sounds are turned into diphtongs. The majority of Swedes would say Eeh-keh-ah, whereas it sounds like he is saying it in the typical Scanian way, Eeh-kay-ah. There are some minor different dialects within Scania though.

  • @KungKras

    @KungKras

    6 жыл бұрын

    yeah in many ways scanian sounds more like danish than swedish.

  • @elinzryd

    @elinzryd

    6 жыл бұрын

    It sounds like he is from Skåne

  • @MrMrMaran

    @MrMrMaran

    6 жыл бұрын

    Det är precis vad jag sa? Skåne heter Scania på Engelska

  • @OfficeSupplyRobot
    @OfficeSupplyRobot5 жыл бұрын

    I pronounce it the British/American way around Americans who don’t know better, as I am an American myself. Internally, among myself and my IKEA co-workers, we all pronounce it the Swedish way.

  • @edwin.spencer
    @edwin.spencer4 жыл бұрын

    I’m from the US and lately been watching U.K. television that happened to air an IKEA commercial that pronounced it differently from that of the US TV commercial, just like in this video. Then it hit me that both were wrong. I now live in Hawai’i; the Hawaiian language or ‘Ōlelo Hawai’i would also, if read as Hawaiian word would sound like the proper Swedish enunciation. Also the word “kea” is common in ‘Ōlelo may be root word, prefix or suffix. Hawaii doesn’t have an IKEA, we need them here!

Келесі