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Asked by Joshua Sep 12, 2009 at 02:43 PM
Question type: General
how do you pronounce Hyundai? Is it pronounced "high-un-dye" or "hoon-dye" or "hun-day"? this has bothered
me for a long time and I dunno how to pronounce it. can u guys help me out on this one please?
sincerely
Josh Chilcott
22 Answers
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Oz answered 13 years ago
I believe it is Hyun-Dye
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Ben answered 13 years ago
Hun-Day it should rhyme with sunday, watch the mad-bosses commercial from the superbowl... copy and paste this link to watch it on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puG0WOgAUfs&feature=PlayList&p=14A583FCFE3AC250&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=58
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Joshua answered 13 years ago
Thanx sooo much 4 the help dude!!!!!!!!! it means alot 2 me
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jt5868 answered 12 years ago
Hyundai should be pronounced Hundie as in bonsai or Mai Tai! ai is pronounced as i!!!
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John answered 12 years ago
high-un-dye personaly,,, cant say its the way the koreans say it though,,, that would be the proper way scope it out on u tube man!!!!
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John answered 12 years ago
oh wait i just seen the link!!!! LOL
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imalwaysright answered 10 years ago
Americans and Canadians pronounce it incorrectly as "Hun-day".However the correct way of pronouncing it is "Hy-un-die" and that's how the rest of the world pronounces it.
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Xangsiew answered 7 years ago
/hi:ʌndaj/ in IPA
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Bob answered 7 years ago
Hun-day
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Hilda answered 6 years ago
Go on YouTube and listen to Koreans pronounce it properly!
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LTHAtlanta answered 5 years ago
According to HyundaiUSA, it's HUN-day in the U.S. It makes no difference how they pronounce it in Korea - that's a different language. Look at it this way, in Korea "Buick" is pronounced something like "KEEG" because that's how it translates. In Korea that pronunciation is correct even though it does not agree with the U.S. pronunciation. HUN-day is correct in the U.S. because Hyundai says it is.
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T_Lo_7 answered 3 years ago
Hmmmm wonder why an automaker doesn't want to have their brand pronounced in English as "DIE" Yes, it's pronounced Day in North America for the most part.
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F_O_R answered 3 years ago
I pronounce it "junk".
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Lee answered 3 years ago
Based on actually owning six Hyundai-built cars, I disagree with calling them “junk,” at least since 2002. We’ve had a 2002 XG350, an Azera, a Genesis 4.6, an Equus, a G90 and a G70. They all performed very well (some EXTREMELY well) and none of them has ever required a repair of any kind. Not junk.
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Brad answered 3 years ago
Here's a link to a Korean pronouncing it "Hyun-day":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0UovyM8Ni0
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Kyra_aa answered 3 years ago
I hear so many people pronounce it as “High-un-die”. It’s a Korean brand, written as 현대 in Korean. The official romanisation would be ‘hyeondae’. It’s pronounces as “Hyun” (the ‘y’ making the same sound as it does at the beginning of ‘you’. And the ‘u’ the same as in the word ‘sun’) and then “deh”. I think “Hyundeh” would be a better romanisation, as the ‘ai’ sound in the current one doesn’t match the English sound for ‘ai’ at all.
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Lee answered 3 years ago
Again, Hyundai says the U.S. pronunciation is HUN-DAY. It’s their name so they get to decide. End of debate.
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Gene answered 2 years ago
OMG. These answers are all wrong. US corporate marketing decided in 1984 when they started exporting to the US to Americanize it as Hun-Day rhymes with Sunday, but that’s a butchering of the original Korean. But for God’s sakes, it is is NOT pronounced “High-Un-Dye” — that’s even worse. The correct way to say it, and yes, there’s a correct way because it’s actually a real word in Korean that means “modern”, is the way it’s spelled. There’s a reason there’s a Y in there. It’s not hard. I’ll break it down. Say “YUN” like it rhymes with “fun”. Then add an h sound in front: “HYUN”. Then say the word “DAY” but take the “ee” sound off the end. So it’s more like “DEH”, rhymes with “meh”. Put it together: HYUN-DEH. Not hard!
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Guru28HDH answered 2 years ago
WOW. OK Mr Yoon Guru guy. So if the true answer is HYun da (or deh) with the "a" sound cut short, the national ads from Hyundai that say Hunday are all incorrect. Got it. Sort of like Jaguar being pronounced Jag YOU ar by the Brits and trying to force feed that to North American audiences. Of course the entire continent mangles Porsche. But at least THEIR national ads do pronounce it correctly as "Por sha. I fear HYUN deh is not a shoo in to be accepted now. Too late.
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Rich answered 2 years ago
"Hhhhhhhhhhh"+"yyyyyyyyyyy"unDayHy is an actual sound in Korean. the Hyun is one syllable, all letters are pronounced. Day is just like in English.
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PHDollar answered 2 years ago
U.S. military Korean linguist here. Hyundai is a Korean word (현대). It is pronounced with a "Y" sound. This explanation (from another source) is pretty clear and close enough:"Hyundai is 현대 in Hangul. ㅎ ㅕ ㄴ ㄷ ㅐ.ㅎ is like h in hotㅕ is yu. y like in yellow, u like o in song.ㄴ is like n in nutㄷ is like d in dogㅐ is like ai in straitThe English equivalent of the Hangul characters will be different depending on how you pronounce each letter in English due to your accent so it probably still won't be pronounced correctly anyway."The poster in this thread who claimed Buick was pronounced "KEEG" in Korean is completely wrong. Buick is spelled "뷰익" and pronounced nearly identically ("byoo-eek"). The only English words Koreans have significant trouble with are those with an "F" sound (nonexistent in Korean). Otherwise, they duplicate the original (British English or American English) as best they can. Since English has a "Y" sound already, we might as well use it. We don't need to give the Koreans another reason to think us lazy or stupid.
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Carlook1212 answered about a year ago
None of you can pronounce Hyundai correctly. lol. The correct pronunciation sound is "Yhon-Deh" without putting any emphasis on each word. You're Welcome!!!!! Another car brand people struggle with is 'Porsche'. It is NOT pronounced 'Porsha or Porsher. The correct pronunciation has a short sharp 'eh' on the end NOT "Porshah' but P O R S H "EH" I was lucky enough to drive on one of the Porsche World Tours and the German Instructors drummed this into us.
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FAQs
How is Hyundai really pronounced? ›
In the US, the commonly accepted pronunciation of Hyundai rhymes with “Sunday”—you'll notice that this is how it's said in American advertisements. With that said, in the UK, it's often pronounced “high-UN-dye.”Of course, Hyundai is a Korean company, and in Korea the pronunciation is closer to “HYUN-day.”
Why is the Y silent in Hyundai? ›The 'silent Y' in Hyundai. "Hyundai. The silent Y stands for youth marketing." Back in August 2013, U.S. satirical comedian Stephen Colbert made this off-hand quip on "The Colbert Report."
Why has Hyundai changed pronunciation? ›From "Hy-un-dai" to "Hyun-day."
Through an ad featuring the Ioniq 5 electric crossover, the automaker wants to change the pronunciation of the brand from the more anglicised "Hy-un-dai" to "Hyun-day.” According to the brand, the latter represents the global pronunciation and better reflects the Korean heritage.
The name itself is a transliteration from the Korean word for “modernity.” If you hear Koreans pronouncing it, you'll hear it as “hyeondae,” with the “y” being clearly pronounced. But for the Americas, the company's official position is that it's “Hyundai like Sunday.”
Why is K silent in KN? ›In Old English, the word knight was once cniht and knot was once cnotta, and the K sound at the beginning used to be pronounced, up until about the 17th century. But because the K-N combination is difficult to pronounce, over hundreds of years we elided it until it disappeared completely.
Do you pronounce the F in fifth? ›F. While some people do in fact pronounce the second f in fifth, the first pronunciation given in our dictionary is the one that omits it. Overall, however, f is to be commended for its performance generally. We'd give it an A, if we were on speaking terms with that letter.
Is Hyundai getting rid of the Accent? ›Hyundai made the decision to end production of the Accent, as the company stated they were: “Discontinued due to an expanded SUV lineup that includes Venue. The Venue now serves as the entry-level model for the Hyundai brand.
Is Hyundai a Japanese word? ›“Hyundai” translates to “modernity” in English, and has been the name of the company since it was originally founded as the Hyundai construction company in 1947, in South Korea.
Is Hyundai a Korean word? ›In Korean, the word “Hyundai” translates roughly to the word “modernity” and was chosen in 1947 when the South Korean company, Hyundai Construction, was founded. When it split off into a separate brand, it adopted a new slogan that reflected what the new brand represented: “New thinking, new possibilities.”
What is Hyundai called in America? ›Hyundai Motor America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company.
How do Canadians pronounce Hyundai? ›
Americans and Canadians pronounce it incorrectly as "Hun-day". However the correct way of pronouncing it is "Hy-un-die" and that's how the rest of the world pronounces it.
Is the G in Knight silent? ›The word 'knight', with its silent 'k', and silent 'gh', is cognate with the German word for servant, 'knecht', where every letter is pronounced. Silent 'e' (eg, tot vs tote) is a bit more of a complicated story.
Is the k in knife silent? ›The letter ⟨k⟩ is normally silent (i.e. it does not reflect any sound) when it precedes an ⟨n⟩ at the beginning of a word, as in “knife”, and sometimes by extension in other positions.
Which letter is silent in almond? ›If an “L” is found towards the end of the word, before the letters “f,” “v”, “k” and “m,” but after the letter “a,” then it's usually silent (behalf, calve, walk, almond). In many of these instances, the silent L lengthens the previous vowel sound, which gives the slight impression of the “L” /l/ sound.
Why is the pronounced two ways? ›The pronunciation of the word "the" depends on the first sound of the word that comes after it. When the word after "the" begins with a consonant sound, people usually use /ðə/. When the word after "the" begins with a vowel sound, people usually use /ði/.
What are the most mispronounced? ›- Anyway. EH-nee-way. Why is this easy word here? ...
- Tenet. TEN-eht. ...
- Comptroller. con-TROLL-er. ...
- Coup de grâce. koo-de-GRAHS. ...
- Electoral. ee-LECK-tor-al. ...
- Hyperbole. high-PER-boh-lee. ...
- Mischievous. MIS-chuh-vus. ...
- Ophthalmologist. off-tha(l)-MOLL-o-gist.
In both June and October of 2022, the editors of the tome have released their own lists of the most mispronounced words in the English language, which include such whoppers as “victuals,” “awry,” “epitome” and, yes, “acai.”
Is the D in Grandma silent? ›Also, words with the silent D, grandma and grandpa. Now, with Sandwich, I talked about habit. In the dictionary, it says there is a D sound but that's not our habit anymore.
Why is the D in Wednesday silent? ›And why don't we pronounce it? As it turns out, Wednesday actually has Germanic linguistic origins. It is derived from the Old English word, Wōdnesdæg, which honors the Germanic god Wodan.
Why is the R silent in February? ›The loss of the first "r" in the pronunciation of February is (in part) the result of a process called dissimilation (or haplology), where one of two similar sounds in a word is sometimes changed or dropped to avoid the repetition of that sound. (A similar process sometimes occurs with the pronunciation of library.)
What does Kia mean in Chinese? ›
The word Kia has origins in the Chinese language with the first syllable Ki meaning to arise or come up out of. The second part of the word, a referes to Asia. Kia means to rise or come up out of Asia.
Is it pronounced yeero or gyro? ›The word comes from the Greek word for “spin,” a fact confirmed by staff at Greektown restaurant Athena. “Yee-ro” would apply to a single sandwich, as in, “I want a gyro,” while “yee-ros” would be the correct pronunciation if you were to say, “I love gyros,” Greek experts said.
What is gyro short for? ›Gyro is frequently used as shorthand for gyroscope, a device that can determine the direction or speed of an attached object. When the word is pronounced YEE-roh, you've got an entirely different gryo, a Greek sandwich made with roasted meat and sauce (and sometimes French fries) stuffed into a round pita pocket.
Why is the G silent in gyro? ›According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the word gyro is pronounced "yee-roh." It rhymes with hero. So the "g" is completely silent.
Why can't Americans pronounce Hyundai? ›Why do Americans say Hyundai like “Hunday”? Because when they first started selling cars in the US, Americans didn't know how to pronounce it. So Hyundai ran some commercials that told us to pronounce like “Sunday.” Which is what we did.
What does Hyundai mean Korean? ›What is the “Hyundai” Meaning in English? In Korean, the word “Hyundai” translates roughly to the word “modernity” and was chosen in 1947 when the South Korean company, Hyundai Construction, was founded.