[Opinions] Re: WHY does no one know how to pronounce my name
in reply to a message by aoife
Um. Well. Possibly because your name isn't written in English.
Unless people either speak and read Irish Gaelic or (like me) have come across Aoife before, then of course they aren't going to know how to say it. They're going to have to guess. As you're from Ireland, I'm sure you know that while English and Irish share an alphabet the writing system is radically different, which means an English-speaker's attempt at pronouncing a name written in Irish is usually going to be wrong.
So why get mad about it? People can't be expected to magically know the rules of Irish orthography. I have two names, one English, one otherwise. Do I except people to be able to correctly read my non-English name? Of course not. They don't know the language.
While I understand that it might be annoying to always have to tell people how your name is said and spelled, there's really no sense in getting mad about it. Unless it bothers you that some Irish people don't know the Irish name, but that's a different argument.
Unless people either speak and read Irish Gaelic or (like me) have come across Aoife before, then of course they aren't going to know how to say it. They're going to have to guess. As you're from Ireland, I'm sure you know that while English and Irish share an alphabet the writing system is radically different, which means an English-speaker's attempt at pronouncing a name written in Irish is usually going to be wrong.
So why get mad about it? People can't be expected to magically know the rules of Irish orthography. I have two names, one English, one otherwise. Do I except people to be able to correctly read my non-English name? Of course not. They don't know the language.
While I understand that it might be annoying to always have to tell people how your name is said and spelled, there's really no sense in getting mad about it. Unless it bothers you that some Irish people don't know the Irish name, but that's a different argument.
This message was edited 1/23/2015, 12:38 PM