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 Fri Jan 18, 2008 22:15 pm Vorsprung durch Technik or what? |
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Hi Torsten,
I´m sorry but I don´t understand why you think off that slogan as being a nightmare to pronounce.
Is it because they say it in German or do you think it were pretty stuck up claiming to have a "Vorsprung duch Technik"?
Puzzled Michael |
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| Fri Jan 18, 2008 22:27 pm Vorsprung durch Technik or what? |
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Hi Torsten,
It's strange how the pronunciation of German slogans and words changes on UK TV. Yes, that mantra for Audi has been used here for some time and is spoken in a very English way and by a very English actor, Geoffrey Palmer. The firm Braun is referred to as if to rhyme with English 'brawn' and if you use the correct pronunciation, most sales assistants will look mystified. Likewise 'Audi' is pronounced correctly whereas you would logically expect it to follow the 'Braun/Brawn' pattern. Strangely the final 'e' is not pronounced in 'Porsche' but no-one would omit it from the name of the German poet, Goethe.
Alan
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| Fri Jan 18, 2008 22:43 pm Vorsprung durch Technik or what? |
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| Fan of Arabian horses wrote: | Hi Torsten,
I´m sorry but I don´t understand why you think off that slogan as being a nightmare to pronounce.
Is it because they say it in German or do you think it were pretty stuck up claiming to have a "Vorsprung duch Technik"?
Puzzled Michael |
Hi Michael,
I was referring the pronunciation rather than the meaning of the phrase. Try to pronounce the three words the way a native English speaker with no knowledge of German would and you'll see what I mean.
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Torsten
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| Fri Jan 18, 2008 23:07 pm Vorsprung durch Technik or what? |
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Oh yes,Torsten, I´ve tried. Whisperring it, the result was anything like "wörsprang dörk tecnic".  Whatever that could mean and no matter if it were due to what an English native speaker would make of it. You´re right, sounds quite awful! |
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| Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:19 am Vorsprung durch Technik or what? |
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| Yankee wrote: | If the Urban Dictionary is any indication, however, the word "fahrvergnügen" has resulted in a variety of (mis)interpretations.  |
It also resulted in a lot of bumper stickers that showed the little stick man dancing instead of driving, and the word was changed to "Fünkengrüven". That bumper sticker came out a few years before the popular one that said, "NO FAT CHICKS". |
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| Sat Jan 19, 2008 10:48 am Vorsprung durch Technik or what? |
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I was living in Germany when VW first came out with its "fahrvergnügen" ads in the US. Every time I talked to someone back home, I inevitably got the question "What does farfernoogen mean?"
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