John Lewis appliances

How do you pronounce Miele?

This might seem a little frivolous for consumer advice but many people do care about pronouncing a name correctly and worry about appearing foolish if they get it wrong. For years I always pronounced it, “mealy” and so did everyone else in my neck of the woods. As I do prefer to get names right I always worried I could be showing my ignorance by mispronouncing it.

Eventually I sent an email to Miele. The reply advised it is pronounced, “meal-a”. Unfortunately the quality of this information didn’t live up to the high standards I expect from Miele because the letter “a” can of course be pronounced as it is in, “apple” or as in, “ape”. For a while I adopted, “Mealay” which is undoubtedly posher, but eventually I discovered the correct way to pronounce Miele (at least by Miele themselves in the UK) is, “meal-a” as in apple.

My recommended affiliates

Further online research & receive hard copy magazine & telephone support

Which? Online £1 trial offer

Which? offer - what's the catch? (My review)

At least 2 years guarantee on appliances at John Lewis (Consistently voted best retailer for customer satisfaction. Ethical business model)

Comments

  1. avatar Richmal says:

    thank goodness for that! now I can go buy A Meal-a (as in apple) AKA Miele Cat & Dog Vacuum without having panic attack,
    thanks for that!

  2. avatar Washerhelp says:

    Even some of the sales people don’t know how to pronounce it :-)

  3. avatar Tim says:

    At work, I sell spare parts for theese appliances in a call centre, miele is pronounced “me-lay” it’s funny what people ask for onoccasion over the phone such as “me-elle” and “me-lee” ah well. It’s all fun!

  4. avatar Miele Vacuum says:

    I bought the Miele Vacuum about four years ago and still think it was the best purchase decision I’ve ever made.And till date I am not sure how to pronounce it :)

  5. avatar Error Codes says:

    I service Miele appliances here in the US. I purchased a used Miele washer, and it’s proven to be a work horse. It’s funny to hear it pronounced wrong.

  6. avatar Adrian says:

    You’re all wrong,

    check prononciation at:dailymotion miele is a german brand

  7. avatar Washerhelp says:

    Hi Adrian: The video only shows how two people pronounce it in French, and they both pronounce it differently. The interviewer pronounces it Miele meal-A (as in apple) but the bloke being interviewed (presumably from Miele in France) pronounces it meal-eh (30 secs in). The people working for Miele in the UK told me it’s Miele-a as in apple. Clearly the mystery continues ;-)

Comment Policy: Comments are welcome but moderated before appearing. Please keep on topic. Email not compulsary (or published if entered) but useful if I needed to contact you personally about your comment.

What do you think?