Android

Huawei goes on the campaign in NYC to teach people how to properly pronounce its name

posted by John V. / Jul 10, 2012, 10:34 AM

Huawei goes on the campaign in NYC to teach people how to properly pronounce its name

In the last year or so, Huawei has been making a name for itself throughout the world, as they’ve been aggressive in pumping out some quality smartphones. However, even to this day, there are people who seemingly can’t grasp the proper way of pronouncing its name.

Then again, who can blame them? Honestly, just looking at the word Huawei can make the average Joe toil in wonder as to how to pronounce it – and even worse yet, not everyone comes to the definitive conclusion on how to say it. Well people, Huawei is on the campaign to tell people how to say its name – properly!

At the crossroads of the world, Times Square in New York City, a spokesperson for Huawei asked some bystanders if they're able to pronounce Huawei. Naturally, there are a ton of variations given, but not a single one was able to say it in the correct way. For those who are wondering, it’s actually pronounced “Wah-way.”

So yeah, it’s nice and all that Huawei is spreading the word on how to pronounce its name, but for the people that were interviewed, most of them were clueless as to what they do. Specifically, some of the guesses include being a car company, selling flowers, an airliner, or some kind of a small island. Luckily, one random individual managed to hit the spot in identifying them as an electronics manufacturer. Oh Huawei! It’s nice to see they’re educating the American public in how to say its name.

source: YouTube via Android Central

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21 Comments

1. DePenguin

Posts: 22; Member since: Jan 13, 2012

This video shows nothing but the fact that Huawei needs to change their company name and logo... A hard to pronounce name and a logo that looks like it's a flower company -__-

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 10:50 AM 12

2. alterecho

Posts: 1106; Member since: Feb 23, 2012

Its pronounced as "Huawei". End of discussion

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 10:56 AM 7

3. djteqneek

Posts: 8; Member since: Jul 10, 2012

how can they have a campaign that pronounces it wrong? its Huawei (pronounced /ˈhwɑːˌweɪ/) or Hwa Wei. unless they are trying to make it easier for Americans (i.e. Toyota isnt supposed to be toy-yo-ta, its toe-yo-ta)

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 11:00 AM 5

8. Owlet

Posts: 450; Member since: Feb 21, 2011

True, true, true.

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 11:49 AM 0

19. aoikemono27

Posts: 177; Member since: Feb 27, 2012

Um, toy-yo-ta actually sounds much closer than the toe-yo-ta you are giving. Japanese actually has a toy sound (toi in toireto (toilet)), but not a toe sound. Agree on the whole wah-way shenanigans. The hwa sound is similar to when bruce lee goes hwaaaaa! when attacking people. So think of bruce lee going hwaaaa! when he kicks someone, then says "way". NBC knockoff logo needs to go. Chinese brand is chinese brand. Even Asian people would pick a more sophisticated sounding brand if money was of no concern. The less Chinese it sounds, the better. (e.g. Lenovo, MSI, Asus). Making a standout unique phone would also help too, instead of bargain bin plasticky carrier branded stuff and wannabe flagship knockoffs. *cough*

posted on Jul 11, 2012, 11:52 PM 0

20. djteqneek

actually looking at the katakana characters of the company... トヨタ spells "to yo ta" is defintely not a "toi" sound. If you write Toyota the way its pronounced in the US, it would look like... トイヨタ this is "toi yo ta", which is obviously not this company, otherwise the romanization would end up being "Toiyota"

posted on Jul 12, 2012, 1:41 PM 0

21. Owlet

You were right about Huawei, but aoikemono27 is right about Toyota. Even though it's TO YO TA or とよた (hiragana) "TO" is not pronounced as "TOE". It's Japanese, not English. "To" is "to", not "toe". ;) Vowels are not pronounced as diphthong in Japanese.

posted on Jul 13, 2012, 2:38 AM 0

4. InspectorGadget80 unregistered

They do need to change their name & logo. and this promo confused a lot of people except the last guy. the flowers looks similar to NBC logo which i keep thinking of it. and this guy should of showed their new phones which is another fail to promote the company

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 11:01 AM 2

5. speckledapple

Posts: 902; Member since: Sep 29, 2011

It certainly is something to learn and I am happy that they are educating people in their name. Now they must focus on educating the public in why they should purchase their phones versus others.

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 11:04 AM 0

6. nicholassss

Posts: 368; Member since: May 10, 2012

I made a joke about this a couple weeks ago and get like 10 thumbs down. And now they're having a campaign to teach american's how to say it. Somebody owes me a thumbs up.

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 11:46 AM 5

7. Owlet

What? Electronics company? What kind of electronics do they make?

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 11:47 AM 1

9. VJo003

Posts: 365; Member since: Mar 11, 2012

U must be living under a Rock for the last few years...

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 12:11 PM 1

10. joaolx

Posts: 364; Member since: Aug 16, 2011

They're soo underrated. I hope they evolve and start to create new things. Just because it's from china doesn't mean it's bad. I like them and I have my phone for one year and having fallen three times, not even one scratch.

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 12:15 PM 0

11. vvelez5

Posts: 623; Member since: Jan 29, 2011

So many people don't know cellphone manufactures. Simply amazing. This is your standard consumer.

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 12:22 PM 0

14. whothisperson

Posts: 102; Member since: May 06, 2012

We are cellphone freaks so of course we know them and of course the average person do not know the different brands. It's like someone asking you to name the manufacturer for a product you are not familiar or make a hobby of.

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 8:19 PM 0

17. vvelez5

I am aware sir. That's why I said "this is your standard consumer." Meaning all manufacturers should definitely do marketing campaigns to get the common consumer acclimated to their product. Hell, I still get friends who when they see my Nokia Lumia 900 they are surprised that there is a Nokia phone that isn't an old 3310.

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 10:26 PM 0

12. groupsacc

Posts: 232; Member since: Feb 28, 2012

If it's pronouced Wahway, why didn't they name it Wahway.. sigh...

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 4:10 PM 1

15. whothisperson

Because it is a chinese name and that how it would be written in english. Why didn't we just spell weak as week since it's pronounced week.. sigh...

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 8:26 PM 0

16. groupsacc

Weak and week are spelt differently to differentiate. Hey, if it's pronounced Wahway, they should write it wahway, doesn't matter if it's a Chinese name, we use alphabets, not chinese.

posted on Jul 10, 2012, 8:35 PM 0

18. aoikemono27

Uh, its written in the roman alphabet, just like English, and dozens of other languages. English has no consistency anyway, so you will get a million responses regardless.