How do you pronounce "Vivi"?

DWill

Ok this is crazy, but I have been laughed at because I pronounced this name as it is. Here's the scenario, I have a female co-worker and evry one in office calls her "FIFI", including me of course. One day I was sending out an email to everyone but I couldn't find her name in the database…So at the end of my mail, I wrote in:

"Pls pass this along to FIFI, as I can't find her email add"

I got tons of reply immediately after that asking "WHO IS FIFI"?

So I went to this "FIFI" and told every one, This is FIFI!!!

Man I still remember the smirk on every one's face when I said that, and immediately one of them corrected me saying "It's spelled V-I-V-I". To my shock I blurted out V-I-V-I, it's pronounced as VIVI!, then everyone started laughing and still insisting it's FIFI!!!

Naturally I didn't give up, so the next day I brought with me an episode of OP, with Princess Vivi of course, and let some of my co-workers watch. My point of course, was for them to hear Vivi's name pronounced properly(It's in Japanese, but with English translation). So when Vivi's name was called, I immediately said "See it's pronounced as VIVI". Of course they didn't accept it, saying it's "Japanese, so it doesn't count".

Finally my last resort was to go to an online dictionary and look for a word very close to vivi's spelling. I found VIVID, and again let others hear how it's pronounced(the online dictionary has audio pronunciation). Still they didn't accept and still insisting I was wrong, and they were right with the FIFI thing.

I gave up after that and to this day I call that girl FIFI. I'm not a natural born English speaker, but I can communicate using the language. I work at an American MNC based somewhere in Asia, where people insist their first language is English, but....ahh nevermind. I'm an expat and I use American English, as the people over here keeps on insisting they use "British", although to be honest...ahhh again nevermind. So how exactly is Vivi pronounced in your location?

Lobster Pot-Sticker

Fi-Fi is a name I believe, but Vivi being short for Vivian would be pronounced (Vih-Vey). But Princess Vivi is two of the same kanji characters, so it's pronounced (Vee-Vee).. but sometimes it romanized as Bi-Bi… uhuh [and isn't short for anything]

sorry, that's all I know… which probably isn't much help.

CosmicDebris

In Japanese, the "V" sound is more like a soft "B". I remember in early scanlations they used to spell her name "BB", LOL. But it's supposed to be Vee-Vee. It is NOT Fifi. Fifi is a name…people usually name their poodles Fifi for some reason, lol. Two different names, pronounced differently.

DWill

Well it is spelled V-I-V-I, but they pronounce it as F-I-F-I.

SSM

I pronounce it Vee-Vee.

Seal of Legends

I've always pronounced it Vih-vee because I'm a stupid American like that. -_- No, really, it's just out of habit since before "Princess Vivi" came into my life, there was a friend of mine who's name was Vivian, so having her nickname be "Vivi", that's how my pronunciation of it came to be.
And it's just stuck to me, so I haven't felt the need to stress every vowel I see when faced with the name "Vivi".

Mister_Anbu

I go with "Vih-vee"

Dark_Kaomi

Vih-vee here. Or Vee Vee. Either way.

windtriforce

I pronounce it as "Vee-Vee".

RuNa

"VEE-VEE".

To people who say "Vih-vee": When pronouncing Tifa, do you say "Tif-ah" or "Tee-fah". The later is the correct one.

stephen

I pronounce it "amazing album"

Greg

Very well .

King Kobra

I prounce it like it's pronounced in the anime, despite the spanish dub pronouncing her name like the word for Baby in spanish (they surely poked fun at the fact she cries a lot)

PS:

My sister can't pronounce SHREK

I dunno why. she just can't.

Kazu-kun

It's pronounced VEE VEE

Her name is Nefetari Vivi

I have a teacher who pronounces bullet as Boolet and monster as munster.

Gorlom

Have you asked the co-worker in question what her name is pronounced like? It's pretty much up to her (or at least her parents)

I got a friend named Jacob that is pronounced "la-leh".
Pronounciations for names doesnt allways abide with the normal pronounciation rules for that language.

Buuhan1

Always pronounced the name how it looked, Vee-Vee.

Gorlom

Are we talking about his coworker, the princess in OP or the name in general?

Elric

This post is deleted!

Elric

The thread is about the coworker whose (real/full?) name is spelled like Princess Vivi's but pronounced like a poodle's.

Buuhan1

I pronounced it "Vee-vee" looong before I even heard of OP, that's how I always pronounced the name. It wasn't till I came into this fandom that I started hearing all this "vee-vee" is a very unnatural and foreign way to say the name and that "Vih-vee" is the proper pronunciation of the actual name mumbojumbo.

cubo

why breaking the communication line?! MAke it as straight as possible, ask her!

Elric

Dude, it's a girl. You send them emails or point at them but you sure as hell don't talk to them.

Xaravir

In certain Latin-based languages, like German, the V is transliterated as an F. In fact, in German, the V makes the same sound as an F and a German W takes the role of an English V.

cubo

@Elric:

Dude, it's a girl. You send them emails or point at them but you sure as hell don't talk to them.

nothing is better than a direct communication.

grab your family jewels, be a man, and talk to them!

To quote OP: Rufy is not scared to talk with Admirals, are you scared to talk to….. a girl?

Additionally, they might like the fact that somebody is treating them as a person, and not only as "girls".

Malintex_Terek

I pronounce it "Vah-Vey".

Lobolover

Fifi is a dog name.Is more or less pronounced Bi Bi.And a note to those co workers-could you ask them how,if its make,published and broadcasted in japan does the japaneese version NOT count?

Gorlom

@Lobolover:

Fifi is a dog name.Is more or less pronounced Bi Bi.And a note to those co workers-could you ask them how,if its make,published and broadcasted in japan does the japaneese version NOT count?

It doesn't count because it doesn't prove anything. There are lot of families with nobility acestory in europe with "von" in their name where the v is pronounced as an f. And reversely theres a bunch of nordic monarchs where the f in Gustaf is pronounced as a v.

THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW HOW HER NAME IS PRONOUNCED IS TO FRIGGIN ASK HER.

Seriosuly, is it so hard to understand that the normal pronounciation rules you are used to does not necissarily apply to names?

Shigan

[Vivi]. That's pretty simple, really.

kosenki

@Xaravir:

In certain Latin-based languages, like German, the V is transliterated as an F. In fact, in German, the V makes the same sound as an F and a German W takes the role of an English V.

German is not Latin-based. German is Germanic (though there are some adopted words from Latin-based languages within it).

What's interesting is, in original Latin, "v's" are pronounced as "w."

How fun.

Tizoc

'Viv-eee' or something like that

Xaravir

@kosenki:

German is not Latin-based. German is Germanic (though there are some adopted words from Latin-based languages within it).

What's interesting is, in original Latin, "v's" are pronounced as "w."

How fun.

By Latin-based, I meant that they used the Latin alphabet. I didn't mean what language family it was in.