According to my observation, Chinese developers have created a unique SQL pronunciation: /'sɜːkl/, which is good to listen to and read, very good. But this year I started doing database related work, and as a professional, I decided to do some research on SQL pronunciation.
Let's just say the conclusion, many people continue to use the pronunciation of /ˈsiːkwəl/, because the language used to be called "SEQUEL". But the more official pronunciation should be /ˌɛsˌkjuːˈɛl/ specified by the ISO standard. The basis for this claim is that a good person emailed Don Chamberlin (one of the inventors of the SQL language) [1] with the following content:
Hello Don,
I’m sorry to waste your time with such a silly question, but I’ve often heard SQL pronounced S-Q-L or as Sequel. I’ve also seen the official pronunciation listed both ways. According to wikipedia, you and Raymond Boyce created the language and it was shortened to SQL after some legal dispute. So my question is, is there an official pronunciation to SQL? Thank you for your time.
– Pat
To my delight, he replied back:
Hi Pat,
Since the language was originally named SEQUEL, many people continued to pronounce the name that way after it was shortened to SQL. Both pronunciations are widely used and recognized. As to which is more “official”, I guess the authority would be the ISO Standard, which is spelled (and presumably pronounced) S-Q-L.
Thanks for your interest,
Don Chamberlin
After seeing Don's email, I seem to have felt a little bit of Pat's excitement at the time. So I found the download address of ISO 9075 on the wiki , but after turning the bottom over, I did not find the content of the prescribed pronunciation.
First of all, I suspected that the standard version was wrong, and it turned out to be the case, because I found this sentence on the Internet: "The 1986 ANSI SQL standard declared the official pronunciation of SQL to be "es queue el"." [2]. It is said that in 1986, the pronunciation was specified in the ANSI standard.
This 86 version of the antique is not easy to find. First , the SQL-86 connection in the dialects on the wiki is gray, and then I heard an unfortunate rumor: "Being unable to find a copy and having ANSI unwilling to sell a copy, it seems that SQL-86 is lost in the age of the internet." [3].
In the end, I really had no choice but to give up the search for SQL-86, so let's put it on a blog and search for it together with the help of netizens. If there is no such standard, in fact, the above textual research is all untenable. For example, Don's email may be fabricated, and the few words on the Internet cannot be used as a basis.
But don't be sad, until we find SQL-86, we can still "prove" the pronunciation of SQL through official sources. Open this page https://www.iso.org/standard/63555.html , it is the official sales page of the ISO/IEC 9075-1:2016 standard, about 1160 yuan, [Tips] Don't click "Buy".
Continue to read the product introduction. At the end of the first paragraph, "an SQL-implementation" is written instead of "a SQL-implementation", which basically indicates that the official pronunciation should be /ˌɛsˌkjuːˈɛl/.
postscript
MySQL的读音是遵守ISO标准的，"The official way to pronounce “MySQL” is “My Ess Que Ell” (not “my sequel”), but we do not mind if you pronounce it as “my sequel” or in some other localized way."。[4]
Oracle is still the retro pronunciation /ˈsiːkwəl/. "SEQUL later became SQL (still pronounced "sequel").". [5]
[Warning] If you go to an Oracle interview, don't use the ISO pronunciation because someone was rejected for it (10 years ago): "If you can't pronounce it correctly, then I have doubts as to your ability to use it correctly. "[6]
References:
[1] http://patorjk.com/blog/2012/01/26/pronouncing-sql-s-q-l-or-sequel/
[2] http://www.learn.geekinterview.com/database/sql/sql-standardization.html
[4] https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/what-is-mysql.html
[5] https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14200/intro001.htm#i1712
[6] https://community.oracle.com/thread/632585?start=15&tstart=0