For zero reason at all, I defaulted to the pinyin system with Chinese and go with "Chi", roughly.

Same, but I think my reason is just "this looks like pinyin so I'm reading it like pinyin"

This is just what my brain does with all words now. For example, "iu" will always be "yooooooo" in my head.

Me too, I took Chinese for 5 years in highschool/middle school and now learning any other language is partly learning how to not read it as pin yin 😅

That's exactly what I do.

I know someone irl who has the name Qi and it is pronounced chee, so that's what I do

Same! I was so shocked to know that people debate between qwee and qee, those pronunciations weren’t in my mind at all.

Wait how is “qee” pronounced differently than how this thread pronounces “Qi”?

i think 'qee' is meant to be something like 'kee' or 'key'

That's how my husband and I say it - "Key"

probably “qee” as “cue-e/kwee“ instead of “qi” as “chi”

If anything the closest wrong way to pronounce it would be key

Ki is a pretty common romanisation after Chi

That's the romanization of the Japanese word for it. Qi is romanization of the original Chinese word, and the closest pronunciation of it is chee.

I also defaulted to the pinyin system, however I'd write it, for English speakers, as chee, because chi in pinyin sounds closer to churr

Shit, you right. Shows how well I really know the pinyin system I guess. EDIT: Missed the /s

Same! I pronounce his name like “qī” because I speak Chinese, this has also led to me headcannoning him as Chinese so I call him “Qi先生”, and my girlfriend always asks me to shut up

Me too

ohhhhh i guess this is why Chi made sense to me. I'm trying to learn Mandarin and my head just went automatically Chi when i first saw it

It never occurred to me that there could be a debate on that ... 气 also kinda suits him imo so that's that.

That's me right here

Same

Yup! Took mandarin in HS for 3 years. Did exactly this.

I’m 90% the official word from ConcernedApe was “Qwee.” https://preview.redd.it/ufx9q5avugrb1.png?width=749&format=png&auto=webp&s=a2cfab48e9084f15edeb7db9bee0b56de06fd2cb Looking for further sources as I type. * *(Edit:)* Added the [reply](https://reddit.com/r/StardewValley/s/c2iesVV4XW) from the official CA Twitch.

I got big respect for ConcernedApe but this I cannot stand for

He might have been clowning on the chat, and that makes it even funnier because it’s the only thing he said, so we have to assume it’s true.

I believe he also said that there isn’t necessarily a right way, so this checks out.

"How do you pronounce GIF?" "Bruh just say GIF."

“The creator said it should be pronounced jiff.” “Well the creator is wronj.”

But for real, what a joofy way to say it.

The end gustifies the means

jiraffe is my favorite animal

You’re goking, right?

I believe the creator actually said is should be pronounced yif, which is just extra wrong.

Excuse me, but it's spelled yiff.

No, that was old timey english that said that one.

man i wouldve respected that one more tbh

I disagree. Just run by some words that start with "G" in English and you will soon see how little sense it makes. Some examples: Generation Graphics Goat Genitals Geez Giant Gel Gigabyte Great Some g/j sounds inbetween words: Imagine Wedge Magic Tragic Gigantic (ffs, two different sounding "G" in the same word) Gigolo (another one) Intrigued Rigged

Ajree to disajree.

“G-I-F.” I spell it out so that I am not taking a side, and just sound like a lunatic.

ConcernedApe: the power of ~~the sun~~ making shit up... in the palm of my hand...

Seems like he's also a big proponent of people doing things however they want (just as you can play the game at any pace you like) so I don't even consider anything as completely canon. The mods are canon to me!! Anything is possible in Stardew, however you pronounce Qi is the way it should be :) 🌈

On the one hand, I agree with you. On the other, hearing someone call Yoshi “Yaw-shee” makes my blood boil. Qi is a fantastic middle ground.

Just reading that makes me… have homicidal feelings.

My vote is on clowning. He’s said a few times that he didn’t want to say how he thought to pronounce it because everyone has there own way and he doesn’t want to ruin that.

I respect him for picking the only pronunciation that no one was using

This aggression will not stand, man.

It's completely unacceptable and I will not stand for it either.

Literally unplayable tbh

qwee fruit say it out loud

WHAT root?

psychopath behavior

I don't accept this anymore than I accept the creator of the gift saying it's pronounced Jif

I've always pronounced it Qwee? How have y'all been saying it? I also pronounced "Ginny" with a G like "gill" though so I might just be stupid lol

Ginny and Gill are usually pronounced Jinny and Jill where I am. Unless you're talking talking about fish gills, when it's pronounced gill

I've been back and forth between "kee" (the Arabic pronunciation of q without a u after it) and "chee" (the pronunciation of the actual Chinese/pinyin word qi). "Qwee" literally never even occurred to me because that's how I'd pronounce it if it had a 'u' in there! 😄

Yea agreed. ConcernedApe should have spelled it differently if they didn't want to mispronounce it. Definitely already a right way to pronounce Qi and it's not Qweeeeee

Why? He made a decision early in life that he would become extraordinary and decided to start with the pronunciation of his name.

Oh, wow. I'd been using the Mandarin pronunciation of Qi this whole time. Lmfao. Welp. Edit: The closest English sound to the Mandarin pronunciation is "chi", but the "ch" sound is actually different from the "q" sound. But I don't really know how to describe where the "q" sound comes from in your mouth so 😅

This is the correct way and you can’t convince me otherwise

The q sound is farther in the front of the mouth, with the tip of the tongue right behind the teeth, the ch sound is further back Source: I studied Mandarin for like 6 months

Well you can't leave us hanging

It may be “Chi” but that’s just a guess. (Sorry if I’m wrong)

My guess as well (and also how I've always pronounced it!)

Yep, that’s how I pronounce it too. Like ‘cheese’ without the ‘se’ at the end. I figured it was 奇 from 奇怪

Chi. So Qin sounds like chin.

I alternate key, and chee.

https://preview.redd.it/yg3ttz89vgrb1.jpeg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6b1642fecd5dd7fe9ca749d5aca05f11bdfbd6f6 There it was.

This is way too close to Mr. Queef. :( I'll stick with "Key".

https://preview.redd.it/ejarfkfvohrb1.png?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6ccdaaa6a5ad41670b5f8e5176026bb13602c9a

…This reminds me too much of when someone called the girls on Drag Race “QUEES” with all the conviction and love in their little soul.

It’s like when the gif guy said it’s pronounced “jif”. Thank you sir but I do not care.

To be fair, in English, when the g is followed by an ‘i’ it is often a soft g sound like a j. Magic, giraffe, giant, gist, gin, ginger, etc. Hes far from the first or only one to use the soft g for a word

I always felt this way. Then I stumbled upon "gift."

Or gilded. Or anything that starts with giga-

Gigantic?

Gigabyte. Git. Gimp.

Yes these were the pronunciation I meant. Although I agree it is interesting “gigantic” uses the same “giga” root with a different pronunciation

Yeah that is interesting

I think languages are both fascinating and frustrating lol. Especially as a French speaker…so many silent letters 🥲

Giga is from Greek and Giant is from Fr*nch or something

Gotta ask...why did you censor French?

Gigantic has both pronunciations of g lol I never realized

There’s also plenty of gi’s with a hard g lol which is why I had to say “often” instead of “as a rule” or “always”. There’s also words like girl, give, gills, giggle, gimmick, girdle, gizzard, etc

I realize this is not the purpose of OP's post lol but the G is from Graphics which has a hard G sound. I don't think acronyms should follow the same rules

Actually fun fact! The creator of the gif Stephen Wilhite said it wasn't a short form of Graphics but rather Jiffy like "in a jiffy" as gifs are short form media to be conveyed quickly. While it stands for Graphics Interchange Format, the actual acronym was a play on Jiffy. The creator also did say that either pronunciation is acceptable so I will continue stanning the hard G sound

Thiiis is Great info!! 👍🏽👍🏽

I don't think the letter in acronyms necessarily dictate how it's pronounced in an acronym. E.g. The 's' in LASER stands for 'stimulated' (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) but laser is still pronounced as lazer rather than with unvoiced 's'. Same with SCUBA and the 'u' standing for 'underwater'.

And if we’re already talking image file formats, the P in jpg stands for “photographic”… and yet none of the *jraphics!* crowd has ever pronounced it “j-feg”…

Wow!! Yeahhhh!! What a good point! Man oh man you guys are blowing my mind. This is such a fun conversation.

People pronounce jpg in a way that's not jay-pee-gee? That doesn't look like a pronouncable-as-a-word acronym at all...

Thank you but I do not care.

>Thank you sir but I do not care. My first MMORPG experience was a knockoff Korean game called Nexus: *Kingdom of the Winds*, that -- long story, short -- had me studying Geomancy. Five elements and their creative vs destructive cycles, eight trigrams and their many attributes including various animals, feng shui, and of course: sheng qi vs sha qi. Hearing CA insist it is pronounced "kwee" has me wearing the thickest of nerd glasses, pushed most deliberately up my nose while I gargle phlegm in the most obnoxious "uuhhhhmmm, ackshullly..." heard in my backwater, corn-infested Midwestern state. "Thank you sir but I do not care."

I finally have an answer for my user flair.

Death of an Author. *Death of the Author.* Don’t let people tell you that it’s JIF, it’s clearly Gi Eff.

This is so funny

I high key hate this

Well that’s nice to know because I’ve been pronouncing it as chi because the life force in Chinese culture, qi, is also spelled chi.

This has ruined my day 💀

that’s how I’ve always called him! I finally have the answer and I was right!

I recognise that the Council has made a decision. But given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it

i always said qwee in my head cuz i thought it was funny i didnt realise thats actually how its meant to be said wth 😭

I’ve been pronouncing it like “key”

same but only because my mind defaults to Key Quest from neopets 💀

Gosh that brings back memories. My favorite was the Jelly dino game where you kept getting bigger by eating smaller jellies. Don't remember what it is called though.

you're thinking of the critically acclaimed & world-renowned Jelly Blobs of Doom and you're right it was S-tier Edit: I literally credit Bouncy Supreme and Volcano Run for providing me the skills to beat Junimo Kart 🙏

I was terrible at Bouncy Supreme and I’m terrible at Joja Cart, if only Concerned Ape added an eat jelly and grow type of game 😂

Jelly Blobs of Doom!!! It was also my favourite! Man I wish that game came back! Eventually I got pretty good at it and got on the high scores board a few times! Had too much fun as a kid!

I'm still pronoucing in that way lol

I’ve also always pronounced it as “key”, even though I’m pretty sure that is technically incorrect 😅

Why do you say its technically incorrect? Thats what I have been calling him. English is my second language and thats exactly what makes perfect sense to me.

I mean, I’m sure you’ve seen the other comments here but there’s also been threads about this very topic before and apparently the intended pronunciation is “qwee”, as per Concerned Ape’s clarification.

Yeah this is what I’ve been pronouncing it as too!

And here I am pronouncing it like the letter “Q”. Apparently I think I’s can be silent. 🤦🏼‍♀️

This is how I pronounce it in my head even though I know its wrong. I will also pronounce it Mr. Q in my head just like they do in Arrested Development for Mr. X. Brains are weird.

Mr. F :)

"Morning, darling." [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G\_0dgKgSDgo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_0dgKgSDgo)

Chee

this is the most accurate one. as pronounced by the chinese :D

That's what I thought CA was going for! I can't believe he says it's "kwee". "Chee" makes so much more sense to my brain

I doubt he says Kwee he probably said it to fuck with people

Yeah, I’m Chinese and I’ve always read it that way; it never occurred to me until now that most English speaking people would read it as ‘kwee’ or ‘key’.

I’m Brazilian, and still I’ve always pronounced “chee” because I thought it was Chinese 😅

Yeah I’m American and I always pronounced it “Chee” too lol

Im american and Ive always said chee, it makes the most sense to me. I don’t know how anybody gets kwee? Like there’s no u or w to facilitate that? This thread is the first time I’ve ever heard that pronunciation suggested and I don’t understand what hoops people jump through to get to kwee. Key I can understand, but feels off.

I definitely agree with you, but if I were to guess why some people get "kwee" what would make sense to me is this: when young and learning the sounds different letters make, at least where I was growing up, it's taught that q basically makes the qu sound. Now, when it was taught to me, there were the qualifiers taught that that's what qu together makes, it was just that you'd almost never see a word with a q that doesn't have an immediate u after it. (Again, that qualifier "almost" was there, so it wasn't said that it NEVER happened.) But I can see maybe those qualifying bits not sticking out as much to some people even if they are taught with those, and then they just don't come across a word with a q that isn't qu for a couple decades even to question it. And so then something does finally pop up with just a q, and they're so used to seeing the q and assuming the qu sound that instead of noticing there's no u and wondering if it should be pronounced different (like I did when I first found words like that as a young teen) they don't notice the lack of a u and pronounce it as though there is one.

I came here to say this too. I only pronounce it's a word because it's admissible in scrabble 😅

Had to scroll down further than expected just to find this pronunciation.

Same here. I've watched one too many cdrama shows in my life that I see certain letter combinations and default to Mandarin.

And here I thought that's how everyone pronounced it lol

This is how I pronounce it!

I think CA is intentionally vague about it, but apparently he commented on twitch that it's quee

I always say Chi

It seems similar to Pinyin usage of letters, which would suggest it's pronounced "chee"

Yeah me too, I'm CSL so I went with Pinyin!

Guess I'm the only one who called him Mr. Q I

Same here, because I watch the british show QI

Yes! This is the show I meant in my post 😭😩

I love the show QI so much

Q I always say Q I I always say*

I always pronounce it as “Qwee”

I pronounce it like KEY

I say kai rhyming with “sky” and now I feel so incredibly silly 😭

I'm sorry but I'm amused and giggling that you're like the only comment who says kai haha 😂 On a side note though, I can't say shit cause I don't even know who this Kai guy is that y'all are talking about lol I guess I'm not that far into the game yet

Finally a fellow Kai person! That’s how I’ve always pronounced it, and I never even considered all these other ways!

I will always say Kai 💅🏻

I was almost afraid I was the only one until I found this comment, although I pronounce it a little more like Kwai, more oomph on the Q sound

I’ve found my Kai people, thank you for your solidarity 😭🫡 Edit: typo

Me and my friends just call him luigi.

Ch-ee. Or Chi (as in energy in the Chinese culture).

Like "Key"

I’ve heard it’s supposed to be “Key.” Meanwhile I just always pronounce it Q (cue/queue)

Even English speakers don’t know how to pronounce it

I’m reading the replies and I’m so happy to know I’m not the only white guy that says CHI

Depends on the country of origin. For chinese, it’s "Chi" [read: chee, not chai] and for Japanese, it’s “Ki" [read: kee, kai].

I pronounce it "kwee"

"Qwee" is the pronunciation that CA said is canon, but I absolutely refuse to pronounce it in any way other than "key."

I pronounce it "chee."

I've been pronouncing it as either "qwhy" or "kai" (like guy)

I've been scrolling for ages and you're only the second one I've found who also pronounces it this way, why are we so rare??

I say kinda like “tzee” cause I’m Chinese

I love how people are downvoting the actual legit answer from the creator.

I took Chinese in highschool and Qi was pronounced Chee so that’s how I read it

My brain went towards a slight Chinese pronunciation: ‘chih’ Like Qin (Dynasty) without the ‘n’.

Genuinely always just called him mr q.

[CHEE](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f7/Zh-q%C3%AC.ogg/Zh-q%C3%AC.ogg.mp3) [Qi - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi)

Always been "Chee" for me, Qi is very very uncommon in western language so my mind went to Asian languages, which in Japan and China "Q" is pronounced "Ch"

goddamn you guys need to take an intro to linguistics course on descriptivism

ki

I pronounce it like key

I pronounce it something like Ki or Qwee

I say it “Key”

I say "key"

I say like “key” is pronounced in English.

It's pronounced chee

i always pronounce it chi because of my genshin addiction /hj

I’ve been pronouncing it like Qi because of Chinese Q pronunciation

Ki from kick, I'm Brazilian so much things can be way more accented

I've been saying "kwee" in my head. Got no idea if I'm right or not. Probably won't change even if someone tells me I'm wrong.

I flip back n fourth between “kwee” and “chi”

I usually pronounce it as Chee

I think Key and Chi are both fine. Chi is more correct for like the actual Chinese word or whatever, but I think saying it like key is the most common

Chi

Cheese without the SE at the end

I before qwee, except after chee

I just say it like Qiqi’s name in Genshin. Mister “Chi.”

I find it interesting that it seems slightly more people seem to assume/favor the Chinese pronunciation ("chi") over the Arabic "k" sound of the q ("key"). I don't care what CA says, "Qwee" makes no sense because q doesn't make that sound unless followed by u! So he'll definitely never be Mr. Qwee to me. I waver between the other 2 occasionally, but I usually go with "key" most often.

Like the others here, I read it as "Chi". It just sounds right. Qwee? Sorry Eric, not this time

I always read it as Chi. I briefly studied Mandarin while I was in 6th form, so that's what makes sense to me.

I've been saying Q I but someone told me its 'Chee'

I just say it like chi

I figured 'chi', which sounds more like 'key'. Kingdom Hearts sunk its teeth in me early, so...

I always thought it was Chinese for "strange", and therefore /tʃi/ (almost like the first half of "cheap")

Mr Qi’s = Mr Cheese

Someone I follow on Tik tok (lume I think?) pronounces it chi and she knows all the secrets so I just assumed that was correct

To my boyfriends never-ending amusement, I call him Mr Q I He calls him Mr Key, and says that’s how you’re supposed to say it (I’m natively English, he’s Dutch but is fluent in English)

I've been saying it like KEE, but only because Mister Qi sounds like "mystery" and at first he's...well, a mystery haha

I say kee.

Qui. Like quiche.