The name of Xiaomi is constantly on the lips of people who are more or less interested in mobile technologies. This Chinese company has long moved away from producing exclusively smartphones, trying itself in a wide variety of related technological areas. But when talking about Xiaomi, we are constantly confused about the pronunciation of the company name. It is sometimes called Xiaomi, then Shayomi, then Chayomi or Xiaomi... It must be said that most people mistakenly pronounce the name of the Chinese brand. How to speak correctly?
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What does Xiaomi even mean?
First of all, let's figure out what this word means. Xiaomi in Chinese consists of two characters, the first meaning “small” and the second meaning “rice”.
小米
That is, translated from Chinese xiaomi means “small grain of rice” or “grain of rice”.
The concept of the brand means approximately the same thing as the phrase “Bread is the head of everything,” which is symbolic for a Russian person. In the Chinese version, rice is a symbol of this prosperity.
Accordingly, according to the ideas of Chinese marketers, Xiaomi brand products are also necessary for every person, just like rice, which is present on the Chinese table every day.
How to correctly read and pronounce the company name
Anyone can pronounce the name Xiaomi incorrectly, so even manufacturers are accustomed to the fact that buyers never learn the correct name of their brand. However, the popularity of this manufacturer is not waning. However, learning the correct name can be very simple, because there are not many letters in the alphabet, all that remains is to combine them.
For example, this is what the transcription of the brand name looks like:
- 小 - Xiǎo [xiao];
- 米 - mǐ [mi].
As you can see, the word consists of two hieroglyphs, so you need to read the name based on how each of these syllables is pronounced. As for the meaning of these hieroglyphs, they are translated as “small” and “rice”, in general, those definitions that are associated with China.
But what is much more important is how to pronounce Xiaomi correctly, since the Chinese language has several features that lie in pronunciation. The meaning changes dramatically depending on the tone in which the word was spoken. There are four tones in the language, and the fifth is zero. To make it easier for Europeans to read the name, they developed the so-called Pinyin system, which will teach you how to pronounce Xiaomi.
If you follow it, you can distinguish two correct options:
- As we have already said, the first option is Xiaomi, with the emphasis on the second syllable.
- The second option is less popular - Shaomi.
The most popular is the first option, although this word is not only read as Xiaomi, but also pronounced as Syao-mii.
Vice President says Shao-mi
It is curious that, according to Xiaomi Vice President Hugo Barr, the correct pronunciation of the brand sounds like “ show me the money, but not a “show”, but rather a shower.”
He also notes that the first syllable should sound slightly longer than the second. Correct pronunciation must be accompanied by an exclusively soft letter sh.
On the other hand, Hugo Barra is Brazilian. Perhaps his knowledge of the Chinese language and the pronunciation of various words depending on the region of China where there are a large number of local dialects may be lacking. Perhaps the English-speaking Hugo simply has difficulty with the syllable “sya”.
However, there are only two correct pronunciations of the brand - “Xiao-mii” and “Shaoo-mmi”. Forget all other options. Especially the xerox-like sound of xiaomi. This is game.
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