With new businesses booming across the world that are based in China, people are in constant confusion about how to pronounce certain names. Xiaomi is one of them. The Chinese manufacturer has literally stole the heart of millions from across the world and has been named Apple of China by its fans.
Today we’re going to take a look at how to say ‘Xiaomi’ when you’re speaking to somebody and how to pronounce “Mi’, the name Xiaomi’s products usually follow such as Mi3, Mi4, Mi Pad, Mi Power Bank (the link leads to a review), etc. Today we’re going to educate you about the other side of the name Xiaomi, mainly because the company is releasing its flagship phone Xiaomi Mi4 in India today and many of you are going to want to know.
How do you pronounce ‘Xiaomi’
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t exactly use the word X as you would in a word like “exactly”, or “Xenon”. You actually use the word X as a combination of S and H. That makes the the word sound like Shao-mee when said out loud. And that’s the correct pronunciation of the word. Shao-mee.
So the next time you see somebody who says the word Xiaomi as ‘Jiaomee’, perhaps laugh at them and then correct their mistake!
‘Mi’
For some reason, I have heard many people saying Mi3, Mi4 and other Mi products from Xiaomi as MI, as in they were speaking out two letters separately. There is no reason to do that. Mi simply is pronounced as “me”.
So when you go out to buy that shiny new flagship phone from Xiaomi, instead of saying “M.I.4”, which I know sounds kind of cool, say that you’re looking for “Me 4”. Because that’s how the devices are called.
The story of the word
Here’s something fun that you might find amusing as written by a Chinese administrator on Xiaomi’s MIUI forum:
As for the origin of Xiaomi, it can be dated back to 1950s, (First I think you need to know Xiaomi is a kind of cereal in China and we can make porridge with it.) When We fought with Japanese, we fought them back with Xiaomi and guns, so xiaomi represents solidity, and now xiaomi is a kind of cereal in our daily life, we Chinese often eat them and for some people they can’t live without xiaomi, so you may find xiaomi is very important in China. We call our cellphone Xiaomi, which has two meanings: one is we must work hard to lay a solid foundation; second we must make our cellphone very popular in people’s eyes, and even make people can’t live without our cellphone.
So there you have it. You now know how to say Xiaomi and Mi, and you also know why the company chose this name. Your geekiness has just got +100 XP!
What is your favorite Xiaomi product so far?
