Pronunciation of "TUV"

[Torsten]

Hi, you might have heard of the TUV organization (tuv.com) which is a German based company with subsidiaries around the world. My question is, how do you pronounce TUV in English? Do you pronounce every single letter separately or is TUV an acronym?

Thanks,
Torsten
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jamie (K)]

I've never heard of this company, but since it's obviously an initialism, and written in capital letters, I think the only graceful way to say it would be by the names of the letters: [ti ju vi]. Since English doesn't have the sound [?], it would change to [ju].

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

I hadn't heard of TUV in the US either. But I've been in Germany for a long time so I wasn't sure if TUV had become well-known in the US.

Of course, anybody who lives in Germany and owns a car has heard of TUV. I agree with Jamie about the probable pronunciation in the US, but if I were having a private conversation in English with a German and wanted to talk about TUV, I'm quite sure I'd pronounce it the German way.

Amy
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Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Torsten]

Hi Amy and Jamie, many thanks for your responses. I also have learned about TUV USA very recently when I was preparing for a seminar about German companies operating in the US. Apparently, in the past couple of years the TUV group has been quite active in various countries and looks as if they are still expanding their operations in the US. I'm sure they have tight connections with all German manufacturers who are active in the US.
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[prezbucky]

Let's assume it's an acronym, and have a contest to see who can come up with the coolest official name for the firm.

Titmice
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