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Why does EVERYONE mispronounce Mario in the UK?

Honey Bunny said:
Every pronunciation guide online has it as aw-tom-uh-tuh, identical to automaton.

This is not correct: https://youtu.be/8ffrz7usz6Y?t=3s

This is correct: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/automata

Get with it, games press!
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You don't seem to understand... That is the English word. Again, I believe the word in the title of the game is the Latin word and NOT the English word.

If it is the Latin word the games press is saying it about as correctly as they can, considering.
 
This is kinda crazy. He's says "Mario" like March or Martin.

That really should be the end of it.

Where you are from and what language you speak doesn't matter.
 
I'm backing up OP on this. My mother is Scottish and I have first hand heard it. Also, Canadians are big on Mary-oh. Drives me nuts since they say it in game and also I lived abroad (Sicily) and no Italian I ever met said Mary-oh.
 
People need to learn some basic phonetics and the IPA so I can actually gauge how people are pronouncing it :P Typing "marry-oh" or "merio" isn't helpful when either of those could be enunciated in a huge number of ways. I'm from the UK and pronounce it maɹiəʊ.
 
Z.. said:
You don't seem to understand... That is the English word. Again, I believe the word in the title of the game is the Latin word and NOT the English word.

If it is the Latin word the games press is saying it about as correctly as they can, considering.
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I'll add that the word "automation" is probably influencing the tendency (for certain English speakers) to place the stress on the third syllable as opposed to the second (as in "automaton") because it is a much more common word.
 
Desperado said:
I can't tell what you're objecting to, but I'll assume it's that I hear the sound from that clip and conclude that it sounds like the word "war." Again, I'll repeat myself:
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It's a clear "a"-sound, like in bar/car/far/jar/tar. So both Mario and Wario are pronouced the same.

(Bar-io)
(Car-io)
(Tar-io)
(Jar-io)
(Far-io)
Mar-io
War-io
 
Desperado said:
Essentially, the pronunciation of your own dialect affects the way you hear words. It's difficult for us to distinguish specific sounds that are not quite found in our own dialect, so we approximate.
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Thing is, in both cases these are sounds that do exist in your dialect.

For Mario, I'd recommend you take the "Mari" as you say it in calamari and add an oh at the end. That's it.

As for Wario, just take the wah sound from wah-wah pedal and add rio in the exact same way as you do in Mario at the end. War is pronounced differently and sounds different.
 
Had an Italian friend who was - merry oh .... So yeah I wasnt about to start calling him mAh Rio so it's easier to just stick with one word .
 
Z.. said:
Your input is as anecdotal as mine. Back up your claim with some substance and I'll concede you may be right. Like I said, it may be regional! I'll refrain from further engaging in pointless back and forth and turn this matter into something simple, irrefutable evidence:
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How about no?

My input is from knowing my dad for my entire life. You're 1) not English, and 2) not Italian. I have nothing to prove to you how people pronounce my father's name. That is insulting.
 
Z.. said:
Thing is, in both cases these are sounds that do exist in your dialect.

For Mario, I'd recommend you take the "Mari" as you say it in calamari and add an oh at the end. That's it.

As for Wario, just take the wah sound from wah-wah pedal and add rio in the exact same way as you do in Mario at the end. War is pronounced differently and sounds different.
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Innit Wahri-o, though?

Also, let's clear this up with an ironic example as best for clarity.

Mar... as in "to scuff" a la calamari, ergo: Mario.
 
deadduck said:
You're in England, we use the English language, it's ours, not some bastardised English used by Americans or fancy foreign pronunciation.

Over here it's "Marry-oh" and that's right.
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This is not about different English pronunciations. It's about a fictional character with a name that has a particular pronunciation and some of us can't seem to replicate it properly. You might counter with "that's how we pronounce the name 'Mario' here," and that's fine, but it's still wrong when we're talking about this particular fictional character, because that's not how he pronounces it in several games. Us Americans bastardize it to some degree as well (by leaving out the rolled 'r'), but it still sounds closer to the canonical pronunciation at least to my ears.

Personally I don't think we should ever localize names, unless it's impossible to replicate the sounds in the local language - I still find it comical that "Jesus" wouldn't even recognize that name if you were to say it to him.
 
I love how everyone is explaining the way they pronounce Mario using ambiguous phonetic descriptions that people with different accents are almost sure to interpret differently.
 
Nexus Zero said:
Why do all Americans mispronounce twat?
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This is not comparable, since it is not someone's name where there is a clear example of how it is supposed to be pronounced to everyone who uses the word - it's also not a word that people should be using anyway, unless they are one.
 
KLonso said:
I love how everyone is explaining the way they pronounce Mario using ambiguous phonetic descriptions that people with different accents are almost sure to interpret differently.
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I know, some people even pronounce it Wario!...

Or rather, Wadio.
 
One time in a GAME just after E3 a typical nerd in a trenchcoat butted into someone elses conversation and corrected them on the pronunciation of Miyamoto.

It was the most I have ever cringed in my life.
 
KLonso said:
I love how everyone is explaining the way they pronounce Mario using ambiguous phonetic descriptions that people with different accents are almost sure to interpret differently.
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Well, the alternative is to use the International Phonetic alphabet which approximately no one understands.
 
CookTrain said:
Really?... I don't think that's a very UK sounding Mario.
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It's not exactly, more of an exaggeration of the way an American would hear the short 'a' sound made in a UK accent.

KLonso said:
I love how everyone is explaining the way they pronounce Mario using ambiguous phonetic descriptions that people with different accents are almost sure to interpret differently.
Click to expand...

hey, I tried:

Desperado said:
In Italian, and in Charles Martinet's voice acting:
['ma rio]

Brits tend to pronounce it approximately as:
['mæ ɹioʊ]
(but this almost sounds like ['mɛ ɹioʊ] to Americans)

Americans tend to pronounce it approximately it as:
['mɒ ɹi oʊ] (often with r-color in the first vowel)
(but this almost sounds like ['mɔ ɹi oʊ] to Brits)
Click to expand...
 
There are dozens of different accents across the UK - and that's just looking at England, not even counting Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The difference between the north and south is staggering too.

Venture further than the most metropolitan city in the country and you'll realise how differently many people interpret the same language.

It's the beauty of the UK actually, the sheer diversity on show.
 
Dan27 said:
How about no?

My input is from knowing my dad for my entire life. You're 1) not English, and 2) not Italian. I have nothing to prove to you how people pronounce my father's name. That is insulting.
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What's insulting is you categorically refusing to accept my claim on an emotional basis despite it being very well substantiated.
What's insulting is you hiding behind sentiment the minute you realize you've backed yourself into a corner.
What's insulting is you using fallacious and baseless arguments against me like my nationality and my age and acting self-righteous about it because your own personal anecdotal experience has conditioned you to believe you have supreme authority to declare me wrong simply because I am, to you, a foreigner.

It's really quite simple, you proclaimed yourself superior to me based on fallacious arguments. I DO believe you when you say that that was the way you called your father, but how in the hell does that immediately correlate to me being wrong?

Fact of the matter is that you declared with self appointed magnanimous authority that your way was THE correct way, and that you are to be trusted in this matter over me because you are partially Italian.

Maybe you aren't wrong. But what is absolutely certain is that I am also not wrong, so your debunking of my claims was both petty and petulant.
 
It won't be long before the UK are saying Maar-io anyway. All UK games press are becoming more and more Americanised. Look at the likes of Eurogamer and Videogamer.com. They've all started saying things like bay-ta (intead of bee-ta).
 
Z.. said:
What's insulting is you categorically refusing to accept my claim on an emotional basis despite it being very well substantiated.
What's insulting is you hiding behind sentiment the minute you realize you've backed yourself into a corner.
What's insulting is you using fallacious and baseless arguments against me like my nationality and my age and acting self-righteous about it because your own personal anecdotal experience has conditioned you to believe you have supreme authority to declare me wrong simply because I am, to you, a foreigner.
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I think you might be taking things a bit too far here m80.
It's a silly thread about how British people don't pronounce Mario.
 
Z.. said:
OP edited to better reflect what my intended meaning was. Ravenous Gaf is unforgiving...

Seriously. After living in London for over 2 years it never ceases to amaze me how every single british person I've met insists on saying this name wrong. Especially since one of my closest friends who I hung out with frequently while living there is called Mario. Every time we introduced him to anyone he would correct them but it had no effect. It was always Marry-oh and there was never any effort to correct it. Always Marry-oh.

Quite literally everyone else I've encountered says it right, why are you guys specifically incapable of saying this word correctly?

Why always Marry-oh UK folk? Why every single time?

It's Mari as in CalaMARI, not Marry.

Edit 3:



Good idea. Skip to 1:45 (sorry, am on mobile).
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Er...everyone does not! Aside the GIGANTIC generalisation (London is not the UK) you are also not taking accents into account. Cockney's also say 'avin it for example, but most of the UK retains the H.
 
Can a mod please change the thread title to:

Super Mario Skinny Dipping (Forgot His Diphthong)

It is even funnier due to Euro beach attire and lack thereof.
 
I mean they're both English language pronounciations so they're both wrong. Saying one is better than the other is extremely arbitrary. Just say it how you like or make the effort to do the real thing.
 
It's worth noting that english southerners pronounce their A's differently than the rest of the UK.

They seem to add an "r" after the "a" for some reason.

Bath becomes "Barth", Blast becomes "Blarst", Cast becomes "Carst" and so on.
 
Z.. said:
Example #1

Example #2

Example #3

Example #4

Example #5

Example #6

Example #7

Example #8

Example #9

Example #10
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I'm a bit late to the party here, but having read the OP, I thought he might have a point, that we UK folk (generally) pronounce it wrong, and the (general) US pronunciation was closer to the Italian. However, these examples surprised me, and it has changed my opinion. The Italian pronunciation sounds somewhere in between the US and UK. I'd say most of these sound more like a UK Mario than a US Mario, at least in terms of the length and tone of the 'a'. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
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