Difficult Designer / Brand Pronunciation

[esiders]

good question! I've been pronouncing it as "bah-len-chee-ah-gah". The designer Cristobal Balenciaga was from the Basque region of Spain...so I'm not sure of the correct pronounciation.

 

[shadow]

I am Spanish and you pronounce it as follows: bah-len-THIAH-gah. The TH should sound like in the word 'thing'.



And pleeeeease do not say Ver-sah-chi. It is ver-SAH-che.

De nada!

 

[purreow*]

The sales people at the NY boutique pronounce it: Bah-len-see-ah-ga

 

[eastendsnob]

Yes, I am pretty sure purreow's enunciation is correct.

Bah-len-see-ah-gah..

Rolls right off the tongue, don't it?

 

[softgrey]

ladies...
there is a thread on difficult to pronounce designer names in designers and collections...
i suggest you check there for any further questions...

and for anywhere outside of the basque region of spain...
the pronunciation is as eastendsnob suggests...
and this has been the accepted pronunciation of balenciaga for several decades now across the world...

 

[zanney]

Thanks Guys!

 

[Ingunn]

I'm sorry if anyone have asked, but how do your pronounce Vogue?

I have heard "Vog" (both short and long O), and "voosh". I have no idea, lol

 

[orlem]

I'm sorry if anyone have asked, but how do your pronounce Vogue?

I have heard "Vog" (both short and long O), and "voosh". I have no idea, lol

Definitely just Vog with a long O

 

[justinleaddict]

Coming from a town where Von Dutch is upscale, I have never heard most of these names said aloud

lol- tell me about it

JUSTIN*

 

[Ingunn]

Definitely just Vog with a long O

thanks a lot

 

[Melisande]

What a fun thread, I found myself reading thru it!! B)

Since this forum is so international, if we juuust let the native speakers do the answering this thread would have been one tenth the length... but I like the diversity and so nice how everyone tries to help.

Well, Tokyo native here if anyone is interested...:

Rei: The R in Japanese is like in Spanish, flipped only once very lightly. REH-eh
Kawakubo: The accent is on the last THREE syllables, Ka-WA-KU-BO. Kah (as in Catalan) WA (as in Ottowa) KU (as in cook) BOH (as in boy but shorter, exactly like you just started saying "boy" and then someone suddenly shut your mouth ).

And all the vowels and word endings are short like that, not extended as in Bo--oow.

Issey: ISSSS-ei. You must spend some time hissing the s sound. (sey as in "say it again" but short.)
Miyake: Again, accent on last THREE syllables, vowels short. Mi-YAH-KEH. (Mi as in you and ME)

Yohji: YOH-o-ji (vowels short)
Yamamoto: Ya-MAH-MOH-TOH

Hope that helps!

 

[spiralsnowman]

Commes des Garcons pronunciation

Sorry if this is a silly q, but does anyone know how to pronounce Commes des Garcons? I feel like I've been butchering it... Thanks!

 

[brian w]

phonetically:
kaum days garsawn
(I think)

 

[*sayan]

comme as in com-cum-kom

des as in dé

garcons as in ga(same A as ***, not a low A, a high A)rson(on in french is on sound, cant find a comparison with english, but its not like ON in english where u can feel both letters)

dunno if this helps

 

[*sayan]

brian answer is maybe more scientific ...now that i read mine im laughing

 

[Tabasamu]

kom de(as in de-licious) garso.The french don't pronounce their s's Well they don't pronounce much of their word endings actually, when speaking to them sometimes I have to ask them to pronounce all(tout) so I can understand.Hope this helps.

 

[spiralsnowman]

Thanks so much guys! Um, yeah, I've definitely been saying it wrong *blushes*

 

[fashionista-ta]

I hate, hate hate when people pronounce Ralph's last name as Lau-ren with the little phony French accent.........he's a short Jewish boy from the Bronx who's real last name is Lifshiz, he aint French!!!!!

They pronounce it this way in his stores

People stop me pretty often and ask me who made my Christian Louboutin shoes. I pronounce it the French way (took French in college, pronunciation was the only bit that stuck ), and then they ask me to repeat it several times until apparently they get too embarrassed to ask again Perhaps if I pronounced it Loo-bootin (to rhyme with boot scootin')??

Now about Hermes ... I always thought it was Air-may ... that's wrong, there's a Z in there??

 

[brian w]

I just recently found out how to pronounce "margiela" - marr-gel-uh. I was saying Marr-gee-ella for a while!
I always hear "Hermes" with a Z, err-mez.

 

[liberty33r1b]

^are u sure about "margiela"? 'cause i always pronounced it GEELLAA as well.....sounds kinda weird the other way.