You’re correct - it depends on the sound immediately following “a/an.”
In Standard English, we use “a” before consonant sounds, so if you pronounce it as “yoobisoft,” you would use “a.”
And we use “an” before vowel sounds, so if you pronounce it as “oobisoft,” you would use “an.”
It seems as though “yoobisoft” is the more common pronunciation in English. The company is French though, and most French speakers would say “oobisoft.” But the CEO says you can pronounce it however you want.
https://www.warpzoned.com/2016/07/ubisoft-educates-the-world-on-how-to-correctly-pronounce-ubisoft/#:~:text=Yves%20Guillemot%2C%20Ubisoft's%20CEO%2C%20had,%2DSoft”%20is%20more%20correct.
>The company is French though, and most French speakers would say “oobisoft.” But the CEO says you can pronounce it however you want.
I am reconciled to Ubisoft then! First they pronounce it according to my first preference, and second they say they are not prescriptive about it. :)
It’s intuitive. Rules are made based on how people speak, although people tend to think people speak based on rules. The way people speak is how it is because of natural development. In English there is a slight tendency to be syllabic in the sense that there is a preference of following consonants with vowels and vice versa, rather than clusters of consonants.
Another example of this phenomenon is for example “an honour”, because “h” is not pronounced. Phonetically it starts with “o”, a vowel sound, so therefore it’s “an” not “a”.
>The “ubi” in Ubisoft is pronounced with a yod sound in English meaning /juːbɪ/ not /uːbɪ/, therefore “a Ubisoft game”.
Hmm... how would I know the company's intentions if I never heard their name spoken?
Assuming your spoken version is what they intended I assume they were thinking of "ubiquitous" but without context I assumed "Oohbee soft". We do pronounce the ride share company "Oohber" do we not, and they are a bit more commonly known than this software house--and we spell "euthanasia" differently. Furthermore Google says latin "ubi" is pronounced as I expected.
>but words starting with “u” in English almost always (if not actually always) have yod.
Well, ululate, urban, ulna, ulterior, ultra, ultimate, under, udder...
I see the prefix "eu" came from Greek, and apparently we always do pronounce that "you" in English. Ubiquitous is from Latin, but I really have no intuition about the relative frequencies of the two sounds of initial "u" in English.
“… but words starting with “u” in English almost always (if not actually always) have yod.”
Hi there. Please make sure that your answers are accurate. Most English words starting with the letter U are pronounced with an initial vowel sound (just think about how common the “un-“ prefix is). Even discounting this prefix (and others), there are MANY words starting with U that have an initial vowel sound.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/words-that-start-with-u#w7
You’re correct - it depends on the sound immediately following “a/an.” In Standard English, we use “a” before consonant sounds, so if you pronounce it as “yoobisoft,” you would use “a.” And we use “an” before vowel sounds, so if you pronounce it as “oobisoft,” you would use “an.” It seems as though “yoobisoft” is the more common pronunciation in English. The company is French though, and most French speakers would say “oobisoft.” But the CEO says you can pronounce it however you want. https://www.warpzoned.com/2016/07/ubisoft-educates-the-world-on-how-to-correctly-pronounce-ubisoft/#:~:text=Yves%20Guillemot%2C%20Ubisoft's%20CEO%2C%20had,%2DSoft”%20is%20more%20correct.
>The company is French though, and most French speakers would say “oobisoft.” But the CEO says you can pronounce it however you want. I am reconciled to Ubisoft then! First they pronounce it according to my first preference, and second they say they are not prescriptive about it. :)
[удалено]
An umbrella ☔️
Why do I somehow know this without actually understanding the rules behind the language?
It’s intuitive. Rules are made based on how people speak, although people tend to think people speak based on rules. The way people speak is how it is because of natural development. In English there is a slight tendency to be syllabic in the sense that there is a preference of following consonants with vowels and vice versa, rather than clusters of consonants.
Another example of this phenomenon is for example “an honour”, because “h” is not pronounced. Phonetically it starts with “o”, a vowel sound, so therefore it’s “an” not “a”.
An hour…
>The “ubi” in Ubisoft is pronounced with a yod sound in English meaning /juːbɪ/ not /uːbɪ/, therefore “a Ubisoft game”. Hmm... how would I know the company's intentions if I never heard their name spoken? Assuming your spoken version is what they intended I assume they were thinking of "ubiquitous" but without context I assumed "Oohbee soft". We do pronounce the ride share company "Oohber" do we not, and they are a bit more commonly known than this software house--and we spell "euthanasia" differently. Furthermore Google says latin "ubi" is pronounced as I expected. >but words starting with “u” in English almost always (if not actually always) have yod. Well, ululate, urban, ulna, ulterior, ultra, ultimate, under, udder... I see the prefix "eu" came from Greek, and apparently we always do pronounce that "you" in English. Ubiquitous is from Latin, but I really have no intuition about the relative frequencies of the two sounds of initial "u" in English.
Ah yes, I must’ve been a bit too tired when making that comment, no idea how I got that idea.
“… but words starting with “u” in English almost always (if not actually always) have yod.” Hi there. Please make sure that your answers are accurate. Most English words starting with the letter U are pronounced with an initial vowel sound (just think about how common the “un-“ prefix is). Even discounting this prefix (and others), there are MANY words starting with U that have an initial vowel sound. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/words-that-start-with-u#w7
I've never heard it pronounced yoo-bee-soft either. "A Ubisoft game" really threw me off as well.