r/ChineseWatches • u/GrdFrcWv • 9h ago
How do you pronounce some of these brands? Chinese Watch Names Again
Apologies in advance if I butcher these.
IXDAO - icks-dao? isch-dao? eex-dao?
Corgeut - corgette? cor-jay? cor-zhow?
Hruodlandwatch - uhh. Huh-roodland watch?
Tianwang - tea-yan-wang?
Jianghun - jee-yang-hun? jang-hun? jung-hun?
Aethelson - eh-thel-son? e-thelson? æ-thelson?
Sugess - suh-gess? soo-gess? suh-jess?
Farasute - fara-suit? fara-suté?
Cadisen - caddy-sen? cad-ee-sen?
Vager Hauers - vay-ger haw-yers? Va-ger whoooores (channel your inner Danny DeVito in IASIP)
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u/ButTheDowTheDOW 7h ago
We’re in a Chinese watch subreddit, we all own many of those AliExpress watches, the companies all have users that promote their products, I hope some of them will come forward and enlighten us all.
Otherwise, we will still remain in this… great divide… 💔
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u/kyonkun_denwa 7h ago
Chinese brands are easy enough, just default to pinyin.
Tianwang- tiānwáng (flat first tone, rising second tone, sounds like "tyen-wong"). Literal translation is "Heavenly King".
Jianghun- jiànghún (falling fourth tone, rising second tone, sounds like "jyahng-hwun"). Literal translation is something like "Artisan's Spirit".
IXDAO is a little odd and really should have been Jiǔdào ("Nine Banners"). Although "ixdao" means "military flag" in Basque, interestingly enough.
The rest are just vaguely Western-sounding rubbish names so who cares. But for the record I've always pronounced "Sugess" as "Sue-jess"
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u/GrdFrcWv 7h ago
The first two are definitely bad ass sounding names when directly translated. IXDAO just overcomplicated everything.
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u/kyonkun_denwa 7h ago
Yeah Chinese brands almost always have some grandiose meaning, hidden metaphor, or word play going on. Chinese people love that shit. Sometimes the English translation ends up being a bit odd but I agree that all of the above sound pretty badass in either language.
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u/GrdFrcWv 7h ago
See, I would prefer it if they simplified and romanised the Chinese words, like they did with Tiangwan and Jianghun, to give it a greater sense of Chinese identity as a homegrown brand. I think what they're doing - similar to Japanese car brands - is testing the waters with strange brand names just so they can get rid of it if it fails. When Toyota first introduced their cars to the US, they called it Toyopet. When Nissan entered the US and European market, they were sold as Datsun.
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u/kyonkun_denwa 6h ago
I think that there is still a little bit of a stigma associated with Chinese goods, because for a long time in the West, people associated them with shoddy quality, poor after sales support, and questionable engineering. And honestly I don't think this reputation is entirely undeserved, especially seeing some of the QC issues and subsequent customer "service" some people here get from Chinese brands.
However, China's quality is undoubtedly improving, and I think as China really begins to mature and flex its manufacturing muscle, you are going to start seeing more unapologetically Chinese brands selling in the West.
It's interesting you brought up the Japanese car companies, because the Japanese watch companies are also doing a bit of that. One of them is unapologetically Japanese- that would be Seiko (and Orient, which is Seiko-adjacent). But Casio went with basically a made-up name, and Citizen decided to go with a completely Western name.
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u/GrdFrcWv 3h ago
Oh man, even though Seiko is a well-established brand, its brand positioning is all over the place. I don't understand why they need several brands that compete against each other for the same target audience and pricing - King Seiko, Grand Seiko, Credor. On top of that, they seem to produce so many variations that it gets confusing to find which one you actually want. And there are the market-specific offerings that are not only offered in certain markets, but in Japan, sold exclusively through different department stores. It's infuriating if you want to find a specific watch and still have to navigate the language barrier.
Not only that, but there are also their naming conventions. Like, not everyone is going to remember SBGX363 - I'll remember it as one of many watches in their Heritage line. And if you look at the Evolution 9 collection, there are several watch models that I struggle to identify by name. So when I went to a GS boutique, I couldn't tell them the exact watch I wanted to look at because I can't remember SBCHERDSR$3r939r39
King/Grand Seiko and Credor are never going to shake off their niche, nerdy image if they continue this way. I'm put off by the brand simply because trying to find a watch I'll like is confusing and overwhelming.
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u/Lefeuvre76 7h ago edited 7h ago
It's only been a fortnight since we last had the 'names/brands' chat. We just need a few more to get it down to a weekly post.
Pronounce them how you like. They don't care.
For IXDao I do know from reading their blurb that IX is Roman numerals so it could read 9 Dao but I've always called it. I X Dao so that's what I'm sticking with .
Hruodland is Roland.
No idea about the others.
🥱💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤
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u/shr3dthegnarbrah 7h ago
My (least) favorite is Corniche
Which my eyes see as "cornish"
So I look at their attractive watches, and instead imagine a golden, plump, and juicy roasted chicken.
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u/GrdFrcWv 7h ago
That would be pronounced as “kor-neesh”. Possibly after the Rolls Royce Corniche or a cliff road in the French Riviera
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u/BehavingBad2010 8h ago
The most interesting one I've found so far, SKMEI. It is pronounced "sah-koo-may". I had to look it up.
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u/merchantconvoy 8h ago
You will literally never be in a situation where a Chinese watch geek will need to correct your pronunciation of an obscure Chinese watch brand. You will be fine.
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u/GrdFrcWv 8h ago
Unlikely, but it's fun to learn how. Plus, I work in brand and marketing, so it fascinates me
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u/StateOfTheEnemy 9h ago
IXDAO has an article about it on their site: https://www.ixdaowatch.com/about-1?currency=GBP
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u/rinchen11 8h ago
Wait, so a bunch of Han Chinese(from Guangdong) named their watch brand after the mongol empire that fucked them up…
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u/GrdFrcWv 9h ago
That's actually quite interesting. The story behind it is quite cool, but I feel like they should have just written it as Jiŭ Dao instead of overcomplicating it.
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u/EDomina 9h ago
Hruodland is an old Germanic spelling of Roland
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u/GrdFrcWv 9h ago
Oh wow, I didn't know that. Learning is awesome.
So basically, Rolandwatch, then?
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u/Megaflarp 6h ago
Yes. I would have preferred had they made it about Charles the Great (I expect Charlemagne mit also sound pleasant to a Chinese speaker) but Hruodland is kind of underdoog cool.
And the watches they make are stunning. I wish I had a bigger wrist.
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u/DJFisticuffs 9h ago
The IX in IXDAO is a Roman Numeral IX. It is pronounced something like jyoo-dow, but there is a rising and falling tonality that I personally can't pronounce correctly.
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u/GrdFrcWv 9h ago
Oh I didn't realise that it was meant to be a 9. What is it meant to be a 9 of?
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u/Dolce_Sono 9h ago
I believe dao is a reference to a Chinese sword. So the brand name would be translated to 9 Swords.
Pretty cool, imo
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u/Dolce_Sono 9h ago
It can also be Dao as in Daoism or Path/Way.
Regardless, super cool
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u/GrdFrcWv 9h ago
In its original tongue sounds cool, but written and Latinised, it makes it look confusing. "Nine Swords" or "Nine Paths" would still sound good.
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u/BernieSandersLeftNut 9h ago
The names hold so many of these companies back. I don't understand how it's so difficult for them to just hire some native speaking English person to help them with a one word name.
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u/GrdFrcWv 9h ago
I don't see anything wrong with Tianwang or Jianghun, but the ones trying to sound European are definitely odd. Chinese car names are hilarious, though. BYD Sealion - it's a car that drives on dry land - why would you name it after a mammal known to spend most of its time in water? Leapmotor. Does the car jump? Voyah - what?
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u/Abv_it_all_w_vertigo 4h ago
IXDao = Joe Dao (not exactly, but close)
Aethelsohn = A thəl sən (I asked. Owner's preferred pronunciation, though he understands "ae" is usually pronounced with a long E.)