Peeve about the pronunciation of "Tamiya"

[Yello]

Where I live, on 3 different occasions where I've mentioned my Tamiya RC, I have instantly gotten "Ta Mie ya" in return. Once was in a discussion with a past coworker who owned dozens of various RCs (he's actually the guy who inspired me to get back into my then long-forgotten hobby). Another occasion was with a guy who works at my LHS. And finally today I was corrected byan acquintance I was speaking to today who, BTW, in the span of just 2 months now owns several extremely fast Traxxas vehicles.

Tamiya is pronounced "Ta mee ya" with an accent on the first syllable. An accent on the 2nd syllable is just fine too, in my opinion.

Is there any good reason why people believe it's "TaMIEya"?

[mongoose1983]

Actually, I can't find a reason for some people to call them Tamiya.

The TÁ-MEE-YA is correct.

How do I know that? Because of the promotional videos

[bjr250]

This has come up before and a Japan based member might jump in but I pronounce it like the following quote.

I can say 100% that the correct pronunciation is as follows... :

Ta (as in 'tap')

mi (as in 'mee')

ya (as in 'yak')

[]

2009 Thread

2007 Thread

2005 Thread

[Daves956]

I rep a lot of Japanese equipment and this is just one more word that got butchered. One builder is Niigata that only the Japanese builders pronounce right. English speaking people have been doing it for centuries so what is one more. It does however tell you something about the people who try to correct you for pronouncing things right.

[redzone]

easy thing to remember:

there are no LONG vowel sounds in japanese language...

[bjr250]

The host says it about 4 times in the first minute of this video.

[B.M.T.]

The host says it about 4 times in the first minute of this video.

Hmmm, there were some promo videos also uploaded by Tamiya there that I had not seen... The T2 Wheelie video almost sold me one

[94eg!]

To me it seems the Japanese pronounce it with only two syllables rather than three.... Tom-eah or Tom-yah

[OldSchoolRunner]

Really??? This? Oh boy!?!

[lawdog]

I have no idea. One of the most knowledgeable guys at my LHS actually tried to correct me to the "tam-MIE-ya" pronunciation. I politely smiled and kept saying the other, i.e., correct way.

Where I live, on 3 different occasions where I've mentioned my Tamiya RC, I have instantly gotten "Ta Mie ya" in return. Once was in a discussion with a past coworker who owned dozens of various RCs (he's actually the guy who inspired me to get back into my then long-forgotten hobby). Another occasion was with a guy who works at my LHS. And finally was with an acquintance I was speaking to today who in the span of just 2 months now owns several extremely fast Traxxas vehicles.

Tamiya is pronounced "Ta mee ya" with an accent on the first syllable. An accent on the 2nd syllable is just fine too, in my opinion.

Is there any good reason why people believe it's "TaMIEya"?

[WW-nut]

Does it really matter, surely there's more to life to worry about rather than how people pronounce Tamiya. Wouldn't lose sleep over it myself.

Just think England is a small place, but there's more than one way to say the word "bath" or "grass". If the person you are communicating with understands............... well hopefully you get my gist

[EddScott]

Addidas is a favorite on our house.

Wife says "A-DEE-DUS" The chav way IMO.

I say "ADDI- DAS" The way its spelt.

Tamiya is clearly "TAM-eye-YA" not "TAM-ee-YA"

[Tamiya Era]

Addidas is a favorite on our house.

Wife says "A-DEE-DUS" The chav way IMO.

I say "ADDI- DAS" The way its spelt.

Tamiya is clearly "TAM-eye-YA" not "TAM-ee-YA"

here we have three sayings : TAM-EE-Ya, TA-MEE-YA & Tamiya........

well the correct one is i guess : Ta-Mee-Ya...

As long as it is understood, then no matter how u pull it out from the mouth..lool

cheers..Tam-Tam_TOM

[94eg!]

Personally I would recommend Tuh-mee-uh. This is how they pronounce it on the phone at Tuh-mee-uh USA.

[Sayer]

Addidas is a favorite on our house.

Wife says "A-DEE-DUS" The chav way IMO.

I say "ADDI- DAS" The way its spelt.

Tamiya is clearly "TAM-eye-YA" not "TAM-ee-YA"

Well considering it's a potmanteau of Adolf "Adi" Dassler (the founder's name - his brother Rudi founded Puma) I don't know if there is a wrong way to say that made up word

[charlie787b]

An old school freind used to say "Tam-eye-ah" i wanted to punch him in the face every time.

[Skottoman]

I bet you are finding yourself saying the word "TAMIYA" outloud, in all it's forms as you read this thread.

My wife comes in and I'm staring at the screen saying outloud... "TA-MEE-YUH" "TA-MY-UH" "TAM-EYE-UH"...

Hahaha....

[chevyman3]

all i know is when i go to my 2 hobby shops if i say tam-i-ya i get corrected AND if i say Ta-me-ya i get corrected back to Tam-i-ya, so i just say what ever i feel that day and be corrected.

[B.M.T.]

Well considering it's a potmanteau of Adolf "Adi" Dassler (the founder's name - his brother Rudi founded Puma) I don't know if there is a wrong way to say that made up word

Well, I assume it would be Adi Das. Remember in Germanic languages, the i will make a y sound (or yé if it is a long sound) ... and single vowels are short. So pronounced Adydas by us english speakers.

I don't have that knowledge of Japanese though, but going by the guys on that Tamiya video, it's a short word that comes out "Tamyah", not like the voice over guy from the American ads from the 80's

[bakaguyjean]

I love this topic,because it show how screwed up the Japanese school system is.

To really understand how to say it you have to understand that Tamiya is not English even though it is Roman letters.

Japanese people are tought when the see the letter R that it sounds like L

They are also tought that when they see the letter I the sound is ee

So Japanese people spend thier whole life pronouncing English words in Roman letters wrong. Because they are tought this way from 3 years old.

So if Tamiya wanted to write thier name in English and not screwed up Roman leter Japanese they would have to spell it differently to get the right sound.

BUt Tamiya is Roman letter Japanese so you have to use the Japanese rules for pronouncing it. In Japanese you do not have letters without vowel sounds.

there is no M sound without a vowel attached to it. It has to be MA ME MI MO MU and nothing else.

So when a Japanese person says Cake it sounda like Cae kee.

Its a very screwed up system that will never be changed and this is why there are not so many people in Japan that do not do bussiness with overseas becasue they have to re learn everything that they have been tought for 3 years old.

And the name of the system is Romonjii, but the sound for this word is Lomongee

So Ta mee ya is the sound and its written in Japanese Roman letters "Tamiya".

[bakaguyjean]

easy thing to remember:

there are no LONG vowel sounds in japanese language...

The LONG vowel sound for ee is the letter I in Roman letters. Nakajima is Na ka gee ma if you want to say it correctly.

[bakaguyjean]

To me it seems the Japanese pronounce it with only two syllables rather than three.... Tom-eah or Tom-yah

Its three slyllables,they just say it fast. Ta mi ya

[EddScott]

You guys should try living in Wales. Welsh is "interesting" to learn. Don't know many languages that has so many words without vowels!

LL is like a "cla" kind of sound. So Llanelli is like "Clanecki" least that how some of my welsh friends pronounce it.

Heddlu is Police in Welsh and is sort of said "Hedthlee". DD is a bi like "th"

[skywhelp]

If the person understands what what you are talking about why do they find they have to correct you. I could understand if you said a word and they had no idea but they people get right on my wick Life is to short and language is only to share ideas anyway get the idea and leave it other wise where's the room for accents? English, for such a small place has a mad a mount of accents just think it changes from one post code to another then you add in all the young and old, classes sub classes, fashion groups etc etc non 1st language English speakers, no one would ever get a word out if they corrected it all to Queens English!

I bet those people would correct you sign language if you were to flambouant with you movements!

Anyway rant over

Ta mi ya fast fast is how it sounds in my head but if I heard my own voice saying it it would sound weird any way

[Grastens]

I just write it instead...

Having not spoken to anybody else about radio-controlled cars, it is only now that I have become self-conscious about how it is pronounced!