This is how you pronounce German camera and lens names

There is a lot of German camera gear that we use or at least mention from time to time. And if you’re an English speaker, chances are you pronounce all of it in a “wrong” way (just like we do with the Japanese word “bokeh”). Max of Analog Insights even got criticized for not pronouncing gear like Leica, Meyer Optik Görlitz, or Carl Zeiss “correctly.”  So, he made this video for all of you who may have been in a similar situation. If you’d like to learn how to pronounce German camera brands correctly, at least just for fun, this video is perfect for you.

As a native German speaker, Max teaches you how to correctly pronounce the following brand names, emphasizing the parts that may be especially tricky for native English speakers:

• Carl Zeiss
• Schneider Kreuznach
• Voigtländer
• Rollei
• Rollei-Werke Franke & Heidecke
• Rodenstock
• Adox
• Agfa
• Plaubel
• Leica Leitz Camera Wetzlar
• Noctilux, Summilux, Summicron, Summaron, Elmar, Elmarit, Thambar, Telyt
• Minox
• Planar, Tessar, Sonnar, Distagon, Biogon
• Praktica
• Exakta
• Meyer Optik Görlitz

Now, I can’t resist sharing my thoughts about this. I’m a native speaker of Serbian, English is my second language, and I’ve been learning German for the past half a year or so. My native language has been affected by both German and English. Serbian in the area where I live contains a lot of Germanisms, and Serbian, in general, contains a lot of Anglicisms (especially tech-related). And guess what – I don’t pronounce either of them as a native English or German speaker. Nobody does.

When a word is borrowed from another language, it gets adapted. If the languages don’t share the exact same phonemes, you’ll pronounce the word so that it sounds closer to your own language. You should hear me pronounce “computer,” “file,” folder” or “camera” when I speak Serbian, as these are the words we use as well, but we have adapted them to the sound of our language.

Anyway, I could go on about this for two days. The bottom line is – you are pronouncing all these German brands “wrong,” but you have adapted them to English so, technically, I think you pronounce them right. But in case you’re curious how to say it like Germans do, consider this video a language lesson that’s made especially for photographers. I sure did, and I enjoyed it a lot.

[How to pronounce German camera and lens brands correctly? via PetaPixel]