Is it pronounced N(i)kon or N(y)kon????

sduk

sduk

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Can anyone clear up how you pronounce Nikon?

I am away to make a change from Sony to Nikon and have been corrected by a few "photographer" friends on how to pronounce it.

Just wondered if anyone knows? Or is it a bit like Nike and Nikee and just depends on where you are from?

Sammy
 
I love it when coincidence raises it's head.
We have guests in the office today, visitors from Takeda Pharma in Japan.
I've just asked one of their folk about this and got the following answer.

Japanese bilinguals and translators change how they pronounce it according to the nationality of the person they are talking with.
There is no "right way" to pronounce the word in English. It cannot be correctly replicated with English phonemes
The "i" is like an "ee" sound but shorter, and the "o" is an "oh" sound but shorter, and the final "n" sound simply doesn't exist in English.

So say it how you like......they're all OK :D

(Edit...She also just explained that that final "n" sound at the end is often why many Japanese seem to pronounce a wording ending with "n", with a shot "nah" sound instead of a flat "n").
 
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I'd heard before that the Japanese say it like Knee-cone.
It's all good at the end of the day.
 
Just watch their faces when you go into B&H photo in NYC and ask in your colloquial English accent for a 'Nikon'. ;)

"I beg your pardon, Sir?" :D
 
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just buy a canon its easier (admittedly theres the whole canon or cannon thing but the pronouciation is the same)
 
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None english speakers (germans, italians, slavics etc) say Nikon.

Anglo Canadians say Nykon.
 
Didn't Nippon Kogaku, K.K. invent the name Nikon just after WW2 - it was never written in Kanji or whatever, but as Nikon

The first Nikon camera being the Model 1 .... looking a bit like the S etc., which came after

I've still got my Nikon S - a little battered, but the shape didn't change much until the F

S1.jpg
 
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It was originally written as

ニコン
 
just guessing but I reckon the marketing department, (in 1948) tried to make the name sound like Nippon, (i.e. the name for Japan)....... and a carry on from the founding name ... so N(i)kon is the probability as I cannot recall hearing, (I was in Japan regularly for 8 years), Nyppon
 
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viv1969 said:
Americans and Canadians have bastardised the language
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I am not qualified to comment on that statement about
the anglo Canadians but as a French speaker I say Nikon
but in English I have learned to pronounce Nykon.
 
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big soft moose said:
just buy a canon its easier (admittedly theres the whole canon or cannon thing but the pronouciation is the same)
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What "thing?
One's a camera brand, one isn't. :D
 
simon ess said:
We say Nikon.

Americans say Nykon.

Japanese say Neekon.
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The Japanese pronounce it Nikon, not Neekon. The Japanese for Japan can be Nihon or Nippon (Nihon is more common recently) Nihon is pronounced Nehon (not as long as Neehon),Nippon is pronounced Nip-on.

I speak fluent Japanese, my son is Japanese and lives in Japan and is also a photographer who has a "Nikon" camera.
 
In TV advertisements here in the UK it is pronounced Nick - on. I think it is different in other countries.

big soft moose said:
just buy a canon its easier (admittedly theres the whole canon or cannon thing but the pronouciation is the same)
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The what?


Steve.
 
so it's pronounced Neekon by the Japanese? ... nearer an e than an i .. the two e's being short

so we should pronounce in Kneekon
 
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As a Japanese word it's 'Kneekon' (even the 'kon' is somewhere between 'ko' and 'kong' (not a pronounced 'n' as we would do in the UK), but in reality it's whatever gets you understood. In the US I'll happily Nykon with the best of them :)
 
BillN_33 said:
so it's pronounced Neekon by the Japanese? ... nearer an e than an i .. the two e's being short

so we should pronounce in Kneekon
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There is no "should".....There is no "correct", and the Japanese couldn't give a stuff. :D
 
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BillN_33 said:
just guessing but I reckon the marketing department, (in 1948) tried to make the name sound like Nippon, (i.e. the name for Japan)....... and a carry on from the founding name ... so N(i)kon is the probability as I cannot recall hearing, (I was in Japan regularly for 8 years), Nyppon
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You are right they definitely don't say Nyppon. The founding company was a Nippon Kougaku. which they made into Nikon. (apparently my son seems to think that was because the name Nihon and Nippon had a bad rep after the war)
 
Timothy Powell said:
You are right they definitely don't say Nyppon. The founding company was a Nippon Kougaku. which they made into Nikon. (apparently my son seems to think that was because the name Nihon and Nippon had a bad rep after the war)
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Just been reading my Nikon Rangefinder Book by Robert Rotoloni

Before war and early post war Nippon Kogaku, K.K produced all the lenses for Canon Cameras, (up to mid 1947) .......... they were an optical, (Kogaku) company

The name Nikon was decided upon and "appeared" in September 1946 which was the first time the word Nikon is/was ever seen - lens production carried on but the first Nikon Camera - the Nikon model I was not produced until 1948
 
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にっぽん
BillN_33 said:
Just been reading my Nikon Rangefinder Book by Robert Rotoloni

Before war and early post war Nippon Kogaku, K.K produced all the lenses for Canon Cameras, (up to mid 1947)

The name Nikon was decided upon and "appeared" in September 1946 which was the first time the word Nikon is/was ever seen - lens production carried on but the first Nikon Camera - the Nikon model I was not produced until 1948
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日本光学 - Nippon (or Nihon but post war was probably Nippon) kougaku literally translates as japanese study of light. Canon was apparently originally called 精機光学工業 seukikougakuKougyo. don't know where they got canon from.
 
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Back in the early 'sixties, a review of the Nikon S2 (the rangefinder that preceded the 'F') suggested that the name "Nikon" was chosen to rhyme with "Zeiss Ikon", simply because the Nikon 'S' was an improved copy of the Zeiss Contax, with which it shared its lens mount (more or less).

According to my Austrian friends, the German company's name should be pronounced Tsaiss-eekon. So, if the logic holds, we should pronounce the Japanese name Neekon.

:pompous:
 
andyscott said:
Who knows, haven't all of their users moved to Fuji yet?
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Now Japanese F words are another story

I worked in Nigeria in a JV Steel factory - Brits and Japanese - the first day I arrived the Brit MD, who was a bit of a rogue, introduced me to the three Japanese managers, and because we all had difficulties in pronouncing Japanese names each had a shortened name

So - I'd like to introduce you to Mr Takahashi, we call him Taki for short ... the bow of respect and smile followed

and I'd like to introduce you to Mr Kobayashi, we call him Koby, for short ......... the bow of respect and smile followed

and finally Mr Fukushima, who we call .. well you guessed ......... the bow of respect and smile followed

with all due respect to my Japanese friends and I still have a few
 
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You have open a whole can of worms @sduk . Did you get the answer you were looking for? What are you going to stick with?
 
... that's pants...
 
Timothy Powell said:
にっぽん


日本光学 - Nippon (or Nihon but post war was probably Nippon) kougaku literally translates as japanese study of light. Canon was apparently originally called 精機光学工業 seukikougakuKougyo. don't know where they got canon from.
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Their first camera was called 'Kwanon', and the name apparently stemmed from there. A Leica 'homage' apparently :)

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/3671172128/canon-marks-80-years-since-the-kwanon-its-first-camera
 
Who cares how it's pronounced as long as its used.
 
At this rate we will get to the never ending debate over sco(e)nes and sco( n )nes......:D
 
And Bath.
My sister is from Bauth, Avon but I'm from Baff, Somerset.
Same place, different accent;)
 
Same with Solihull.

For people on the posh side it's Sohlihull.

Everywhere else it's Solly'ull.
 
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