How to pronounce ikea

You’ve been pronouncing IKEA all wrong

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Ross Johnson, a graduate student studying mechanical engineering at Stanford University, is a pretty smart guy. But recently, he learned something that shook his worldview.

Johnson was at a party where he made some new Scandinavian friends. They told him Americans all make one huge mistake when it comes to their favorite Swedish ready-to-assemble furniture store.

«I learned that IKEA is not I-kee-ya. It’s Ee-kay-uh,» Johnson says. «That blew my mind.»

It’s true. The correct pronunciation of IKEA has a long «e» sound at the start, instead of a long «i» sound, and emphasizes the second syllable, «kee.» Most Swedes stand by this pronunciation.

When IKEA opened its first US location in 1985, the company realized that most Americans would mangle the pronounciation. Marty Marston, product public relations manager at IKEA US, told ABC News that the company just decided to go with it.

When the first IKEA billboard went up over 30 years ago, it featured images of an eyeball, a key, and a person saying «ah.» Promotional videos in the US also use the American pronounciation.

But on visits to the mothership in Sweden, Marston, a 25-year veteran of the company, uses the original pronounciation. Otherwise people «look at me in a funny way,» she said.

According to these IKEA employees, either pronunciation is okay.

Because whether you’re assembling a DIY dresser or trying to pronounce the company name, IKEA aims to make your life easier.

For its 75th anniversary, it’s about time we learn how to pronounce “IKEA”

But despite IKEA’s global dominance, much of world still can’t correctly pronounce its name.

“IKEA” is an acronym for the founder’s name, Ingvar Kamprad; the name of his family farm, Elmtaryd; and the location of that farm, in the village of Agunnaryd, in Småland, Sweden. “When Ingvar founded IKEA in 1943, he of course pronounced it with a typical Swedish accent: “Eee-KEH-Yah,” explains a spokesperson to Quartz.

It’s not “AYE-kee-yah,” as English speakers pronounce it, or “IK-yah,” as the Japanese might say.

At the July 3o IKEA catalog launch in New York City, a life-size replica of young Kamprad’s first backyard office gave a clue to how he intended his enterprise be called. On the side of a windowless shack was a large marquee showing the company’s logo, designed by Kamprad himself. Note the acute accent on the letter E.

It’ll take some practice to retrain our tongues, but the increasingly globally minded Swedish company isn’t particularly anxious to correct the longstanding error. “It’s only natural that people pronounce ‘IKEA’ and the Swedish names of its products with a local accent,” says a spokesperson. “That’s absolutely ok!”

Even Kamprad, who passed away in January, was at peace with the differing pronunciations of IKEA around the world. Around the time IKEA began expanding internationally in the late 196o’s, the accent on the “e” curiously disappeared from the logo.

IKEA’s lax attitude toward the pronunciation of its name runs counter to that of other global brands that have insisted on one pronunciation. When Hyundai first entered the US market, it obsessed over getting Americans to use the Korean pronunciation “High-yoon-day,” Fearing that the name was too close to “Honda,” the company ran advertising campaigns using the Korean pronunciation, only to cede in the end to the American “Hun-day.”

“After a good fight, Hyundai learned the sometimes annoying truth that correct pronunciation is often determined democratically,” explains international management professor Adam Wooten in Desert News. “In fact, there are many times in daily life where fighting for original, ‘correct’ pronunciation is futile and adapting our pronunciation to the will of the majority may be best.”

We’ve been pronouncing ‘Ikea’ wrong this whole time

Even though the world is just starting to get their head round constructing Ikea’s various furniture, there’s still one thing most of us don’t know about IKEA: how to pronounce its name.

Apparently, people have been mispronouncing the Swedish company since it first arrived in other countries, saying ‘I-kee-ya’ instead of the totally different but correct ‘ee-KAY-uh.’ Wait — what?!

It sounds so wrong, but IKEA’s Scandinavian reps confirm that the authentic way to say the brand is with a long ‘e’ (not ‘i’) sound at the beginning, followed by the emphasised second syllable ‘KAY.’

Of course, the clever execs knew all along that the new market would butcher the name, so they actually embraced American and British accents from the start. When the company launched in the U.S. in 1985, they specifically decided to use the alternate pronunciation, IKEA U.S. spokeswoman Marty Marston told ABC News. They even ran a billboard campaign with the images of an eyeball, key, and a person saying ‘ah.’ So really, don’t blame yourself for the misunderstanding.

‘I think they realised back then that Americans and Brits would automatically pronounce it with an «i» sound,’ said Marston, who changes her pronunciation when she visits the Swedish headquarters. ‘I have to make a point out of saying it the way they do or they will look at me in a funny way,’ she explained.

If you still don’t believe it, just check out this handy video of two employees demonstrating the pronunciations:

Now the only thing left to learn is how to say all of their products.

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IKEA Revealed How To Pronounce Its Name & You’re Probably Doing It Wrong

You’re probably using the wrong word for that place with the furniture and the cheap meatballs.

IKEA just gave Singapore (and the rest of us) a crash course in Swedish pronunciation, with a mind-blowing reminder about the real way to say its name.

Hint: It’s not «EYE-KEE-UH.»

IKEA Singapore casually dropped the real pronunciation in an Instagram post this week.

It’s pronounced «EE-KAY-UH,» according to the company itself.

IKEA has shared the pronunciation a few times over the years, but it’s an easy thing to forget — especially when everyone around you says it a certain way.

But don’t beat yourself up if you don’t nail the pronunciation, because IKEA isn’t even a real word. It’s an acronym that combines founder Ingvar Kamprad’s name with his boyhood farm, Elmtaryd, and the name of a nearby village, Agunnaryd.

And no, you don’t have to know how to pronounce any of those names, either.

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