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. Especially if going into a shop and asking for the brand by name. For years I always pronounced it, “mealy” and so did everyone else in my neck of the woods. But 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 that the correct way to pronounce Miele (at least by Miele themselves in the UK) is, “meal-a” as in apple.
Peter Tyson Appliances are an authorised Miele dealer and give high quality service coupled with special offers and competitive prices on carefully chosen white goods.
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!
Washerhelp says
Even some of the sales people don’t know how to pronounce it :-)
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!
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 :)
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.
IGotIt says
Hi, live in Germany (I am not german) and I just found this article today. So the answer is:
1) First, break the word in two: “Mie” “le”
2) Pronounce “Mie” just saying a long “me”. In german e+i= a long english “e”
3) Complete saying “le” this way “leh” (NOT “lay”).
4) Miele = mee-leh (putting more emphasis on “mee”)
Washerhelp says
Thanks IGotIT. From what I’ve gathered it’s pronounced differently even by Miele themselves depending on which country they are in :)
IGotIt says
Sure, It will be pronounced differently in several countries because (or perhaps) they don´t have germans working there ;-)
But in Germany, where the brand comes from, will be pronounced the way I explained.
Something similar happens here with words like “Apple” and “Pall Mall” they (germans) insist to pronounce them “eppel” and “pel mel” ;-)
#1WASHEr says
Just saw this today and thanks IgotIT, i got it.
Its actually really simple and funny also. Its pronounced pretty much like – A WASHER without the -r. Wash-uh.
1. Long German “Mie” as in i+e = long “ee”
2. French “le” as in french for “the”.
And taking the pun – I fery much like Zie Cherman washuh fon Meee-luh.