pinarello, colnago, Nishiki, Rossin, Panasonic. These are the easy ones to pronounce but what about the others?

Well we have all been there and butchered names of bike companies that we don't know of or have just learned about.

This thread will be about the tongue twisters and brain busters. Tell us the proper ways to pronounce names such as Ciocc, Battaglin, Bottecchia, d'croce,

Properly pronouce, Ciocc, 3rensho, Guerciotti or any other oddball names of any bike company from frames to parks to anything bike related. If you're unsure then ask about it.



BTW, hey Bianchi girl, i believe "bianchi' is Bi-an-key" right? at least that's how i say it, not "bi-an-chee"?

I believe Ciocc is "ch-oh-ch". I hear people pronounce Mercier and Motobecane incorrectly.

"Choch" and "Gurshoti," if I'm not mistaken.

-Kurt

Hear it from the horse's mouth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJHwPqn2jY0

I recently learned campy is pronounced camp-an-yolo. It sounds so weird to me I promised myself i'll only say it like that if I move to italy.

Bo-Tech-Ya... I think.
I've also heard Ger(like gary)-key-o-tee

According to my Italian friends (who know nothing about bicycles and didn't know these specific names) a 'c' before 'i' (and 'e') is pronounced as 'ch'. So Ciocc is Chiocc, Guerciotti is Guerchiotti, Cinelli is Chinelli. So I was told. The 'cc' in Ciocc should be pronounced as 'k' according to the rules but it sounds like Mr. Pelizzoli pronounces it a bit differently.

I can advise on the (Florentine) standard Italian for the pronunciation if not the stresses with pseudophonetic notation. In the notation, pronounce "ch" like in cheese, "oh"--and all "o"s-- as in the exclamation, "ah" like the exclamation, and the letter y like its sound (as in yabba-dabba-do, not like "i" as in "byline"), and "ee" as in "wee." In general, Italian words are pronounced with emphasis on the second-to-last syllable, though, there are exceptions and with people's names, you can't know for sure.

Cinelli |chee nell ee|
Pinarello |peen ah rell oh|
Colnago |kol nah go|
Ciocc |(ch oh ch) | --this is one syllable, but it was hard to read "chohch"
Battaglin |bah tah yeen|
Bottecchia |bo tek (kya)|
d'Croce if this is italian, it's |d cro chay|
Guerciotti |gwere chot tee| (where "chot" rhymes with "coat")
Bianchi |(b y ah n) kee|
Campagnolo |(k ah mp) ah nyo lo|

Hear yew awl rrrrr...

Ciocc - Key-Otch.
3Rensho - San-wren-show.
Guerciotti - Goo-air-chi-ought-eee.
Bottecchia - Bow-tee-chee-aaa.
d'croche - da-crotch-et.

Want sum moar?

Campagnolo - cramp-an-go-slo.
Pinarello - pin-to-be-an-ar-ello.
Merckx - mare-chex.
Motobecane - Mo-to-pe-con.
Bolacielli - bowl-a-chili.

Bicycle - by-sickle.

Not well known but I just picked up an Italian maino for my new project. (my ee no).,at least that's what one web site claims.

mo to beh kah n

jzi tahn

poo zj oh


.. easier to say than spell phonetically....

Merckx - mèrks

Anybody know the pronunciation of "Anquetil"?

Ahn keh teel

I once corresponded with a guy about a Peugeot. When we met in person I wasn't sure if we were talking about the same thing. I was discussing my poo - zjoh and he was talking about some kind of pud - gee - ott.

Another that seems to get butchered a lot is Jeunet. Most say it as spelled yet I heard it prounced several different ways depending on where people are from.

So how do you say it, zukahn1? jzoo-nay? zheh-nay? joo-net????

This thread really should be a sticky.

Ummm... Gee-uhh-nay, ma-bē? I don noe; a'hm knot tue gud wit forein namez.

fond de jante

derailleur
derailer

I think these are all pretty good, except I'd add the one lots of people have trouble with is the consonant "G" in Guerciotti: combined with the "ue" it's a sound that more closely resembles some more common (to us US English users) Spanish words like Guacamole and common names like Guillermo (William). It has a stronger "W" sound with a weaker "g" in the front...

This thread is a lot of fun! Where I come from, a lot of european languages are mandatory to learn at school, or seen on TV or heard in music, so the pronounciation comes kinda natural. But I can imagine being from the US, where almost everything is in american/english, these names are more like chinese... I can just hear an american hillbilly say Motobecane, like it's some kind of sugar.

how about these ones:





Do i get bonus points for pics??!

No one can criticize you if you keep it simple*:

Cinelli |bike|
Pinarello |bike|
Colnago |bike|
Ciocc |bike|
Battaglin |bike|
Bottecchia |bike|
d'Croce |bike|
Guerciotti |bike|
Bianchi |bike|
Motobecane |bike|
Gitane |bike|

Examples:
How much is that "bike" over there?
That's a really nice "bike".
Hey, I have that same "bike"!

*Note that in some circles, "Schwinn" is synonymous with "bike" - So don't be too surprised if that Pogliaghi is listed on CL as a "Schwinn".

And "Schwinn" is a whole lot easier to pronounce than is "Pogliaghi!"