Vocabulary and Cultural Notes:

Mercedes [mə`seıdız] / [m<sup>ə</sup>r`seıdız] – from the first name of the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who distributed cars of the early Daimler company around 1900.

Nokia [`nOkiə] / [`noukiə] – started as a wood-pulp mill, the company expanded into producing rubber products in the Finnish city of Nokia. The company later adopted the city’s name.

Pepsi [`pepsi] – named from the digestive enzyme pepsin.

Prada [`prα:də] – an Italian high fashion house named after the founder Mario Prada, who founded Prada in Milan 1914.

Rolls-Royce [ֽrəulz `rOıs] – name used by Rolls-Royce plc and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, among others. In 1884 Frederick Henry Royce started an electrical and mechanical business, making his first car, a Royce, in 1904. He was introduced to Charles Stewart Rolls on 4 May that year. The pair entered into a partnership in which Royce would manufacture cars to be sold exclusively by Rolls, and the cars would be called Rolls-Royce.

Samsung [`sæmsAŋ] – meaning three stars in Korean.

Sharp [∫α:p] / [∫α:rp] – Japanese consumer electronics company named from its first product, an ever-sharp pencil.

Sony [`səuni] – from the Latin word “sonus” meaning sound, and “sonny” a slang word used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster, “since we were sonny boys working in sound and vision”, said Akio Morita. The company was founded as Tokyo Tsoshiu Kogyo KK (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) in 1946, and changed its name to Sony in 1958. Sony was chosen as it could be pronounced easily in many languages.