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Help[Opinions] The use of names you cannot pronounce.
...Before you jump on the title, please to be reading the full message. ;)
The long version: Suppose you really like a name. No, suppose you love it. Suppose you think it's pretty and spunky and overall just very nice for a child, and suppose you'd like to use it someday.
But suppose it's from a language you don't speak, whose sounds are incredibly difficult for you to wrap your tongue around. You can manage very similar sounds in your own native language, but you will never, never be able to recreate the name in its exact original pronunciation.
So you have a name that you love but will never be able to pronounce 100% accurately. The way you can pronounce it wouldn't be especially difficult or counter-intuitive to other English-speakers, but if someone who spoke the language heard it, they would know that you weren't pronouncing it quite right. Do you tell yourself that it's all right, that multi-culti names are in fact awesome even if they don't translate over exactly the same? Or is the fact that it will never be quite "right" impetus enough to keep you from using the name?
The short version: I now know without a doubt how Ruxandra "Ruxi" is pronounced, and there is no way in hell I will ever, ever be able to replicate the sounds on a regular basis. I'm not Romanian, I don't live amongst Romanians, and it's doubtful I'll ever learn the language--if I had a Ruxi, hers would always be an Americanized pronunciation of the name. And I'm not sure how I feel about that right now, and I'd like your thoughts on the matter.
Array
The long version: Suppose you really like a name. No, suppose you love it. Suppose you think it's pretty and spunky and overall just very nice for a child, and suppose you'd like to use it someday.
But suppose it's from a language you don't speak, whose sounds are incredibly difficult for you to wrap your tongue around. You can manage very similar sounds in your own native language, but you will never, never be able to recreate the name in its exact original pronunciation.
So you have a name that you love but will never be able to pronounce 100% accurately. The way you can pronounce it wouldn't be especially difficult or counter-intuitive to other English-speakers, but if someone who spoke the language heard it, they would know that you weren't pronouncing it quite right. Do you tell yourself that it's all right, that multi-culti names are in fact awesome even if they don't translate over exactly the same? Or is the fact that it will never be quite "right" impetus enough to keep you from using the name?
The short version: I now know without a doubt how Ruxandra "Ruxi" is pronounced, and there is no way in hell I will ever, ever be able to replicate the sounds on a regular basis. I'm not Romanian, I don't live amongst Romanians, and it's doubtful I'll ever learn the language--if I had a Ruxi, hers would always be an Americanized pronunciation of the name. And I'm not sure how I feel about that right now, and I'd like your thoughts on the matter.
Array
This message was edited 12/21/2007, 10:05 AM
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