The first E in Mercedes sounds slightly different from the other two in German, mostly because the rhotic sound [r] modifies the tongue placement for the preceding E, forcing you to say it as either an open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛ], or a mid near-front unrounded [ɛ̽]. The [r] prevents the vowel from being a Close-mid front unrounded vowel [e] like the 2nd and 3rd occurrences of E.
Or more simply, the first e sounds more like “bed” while the second and third sound more like “may”, assuming you’re reading this with a standard American dialect.
not true in German, there all Es sound exactly the same
Same in Spanish
Same in Czech
Same in Italian
Same in Russian
At this point this thread is just making fun of English having no phonetical uniformity at all.
When I, as a German speaker, pronounce Mercedes, every e is slightly different.
The first E in Mercedes sounds slightly different from the other two in German, mostly because the rhotic sound [r] modifies the tongue placement for the preceding E, forcing you to say it as either an open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛ], or a mid near-front unrounded [ɛ̽]. The [r] prevents the vowel from being a Close-mid front unrounded vowel [e] like the 2nd and 3rd occurrences of E.
Or more simply, the first e sounds more like “bed” while the second and third sound more like “may”, assuming you’re reading this with a standard American dialect.