4 ms·
Just a sidenote: I think the reason the term "WiFi" never caught on in Germany is that 1. It sounds really awkward in German (most speakers will pronounce the
by pluma 11y ago
Just a sidenote: I think the reason the term "WiFi" never caught on in Germany is that
1. It sounds really awkward in German (most speakers will pronounce the "W" as in German, i.e. "Vi-Fi").
2. WLAN is easier to say (think "V-LAN").
3. It can easily be confused with "HiFi" (which, btw, is commonly pronounced as "Hi-Fee" for some reason, creating additional confusion about the acceptable pronunciation of "WiFi" in German).
Another interesting(?) note: unlike WLAN, LAN is commonly pronounced with a long "a" in German. I'm pretty sure I've heard the word "LAN" used a lot less since WiFi became so widely used and most people seem to just use the German word "Netzwerk" (network) or even simply "Netz" (net). Confusingly, a lack of "Netz" ("Ich hab kaum Netz" -- "I have barely any net") can also refer to mobile connections (because "Handynetz" = cellular network -- and yes "Handy" is a faux-English word commonly used in German to refer to mobile phones because marketing is stupid).
- mjlee 11y agoI'd guess HiFi is pronounced Hi-Fee as it takes the "fi" sound from "High Fidelity".
- pluma 11y agoSure, but then WiFi would be expected to be pronounced the same -- yet I've never heard it pronounced as "Wi-Fee" in English.
- roel_v 11y agoEveryone except the British call it 'wee-fee' in Europe (well, I can't claim to have a representative sample for everyone, but at least among those I've heard about it) I was already starting to think that I was the weird one.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- denzil_correa 11y ago> 1. It sounds really awkward in German (most speakers will pronounce the "W" as in German, i.e. "Vi-Fi"). This would hold true for Dutch too but I don't think WLAN is used in the Netherlands. Permanent residents may confirm.