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Pronunce it as close to the way the say it as possible unless they tell you otherwise. At least attempt to say it correctly.

Well, when I was working with Americans in Costa Rica last year there was one girl who always tried to pronounce my name (Hannah) the way I said it rather than the American way. I told her to just pronounce it how she would. It was difficult for her, it came out more like "HAR-nuh".
I think there is some degree of flexibility necessary. For example, I don't think it is reasonable to insist that an English-speaking person pronounce the Russian name Alexei in the native style because it's just not easy for us. However, I don't think that means you should pronounce a French Genevieve's name "JEN-uh-veev".

Well,

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I think that in many cases it isn't a person's fault if they "Americanize" a name - they are just speaking in their natural accent. Isn't it just as rude to demand that a person shrug off a lifetime of natural speech and try to say a name in another language as perfectly as a native speaker does? Sometimes you just CANNOT do it.

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My friend Akiko from Japan could not make the "th" sound to save her life, nor the hard "r", so should I have freaked out at her for saying things "incorrectly? No. She just can't do it. Same with us saying her name - in Japan, there's not stress on any particular syllable, so us saying "a-KEE-ko" was incorrect, but trying to force ourselves to interject a tonally flat "akeko" in our conversations with her would have been very difficult, and probably STILL incorrect anyways.

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I do try to say foreign names as correctly as I can. I certainly don't say "my god, what an awful name! How un-Canadian it is! I will give you this other name instead, that's better".

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And I think being assigned a name from the other culture in a class is actually to teach people how to pronounce the names of that culture correctly, ironically for your arguments.

My feeling is, as long as you can prn the sounds, you ought to prn the person's name the way he or she wants.

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P.S. This thread should be called Altered Pronunciation or Ethnic Pronunciation since Americans are by no means the only people in the world who can't or don't prn names correctly.

This message was edited 10/6/2009, 11:15 AM

Do you try to say a person's name in the same way they introduce themselves, or do you feel it's okay to pronounce it as it would be said in your own language?
I always try to pronounce a name the way the person says it. There are some names I might have problems pronouncing but I would try my best. I would never change the pronunciation to how the name would be said in my own language unless the person said it was okey. It's not so much that the name might be pronounced wrongly that is problematic but rather that you don't even try.

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On the other hand I think that if you have a name that is common in many countries you should be able to adapt to the country you're in. I had a friend from England when I was younger, her name was Sarah and she hated when people said Sarah the Swedish way. She even claimed that Sarah pronounced the English way was not the same name as Sarah pronounced the Swedish way.
I've lived in both Ireland and France, countries where my name (Caroline) is quite common and has two different pronunciations, which also are different from the Swedish pronounciation. I never tried to make people pronounce Caroline the Swedish way. I always introduced myself with the French / English pronunciation. And I actually love the fact that my name is so international and adaptable and has so many different pronunciations.
However, it did annoy me when I introduced myself as Caro-LINE in Ireland and some still insisted on calling me Caro-lyn.

I think it's genuinely awkward for Americans who speak only American English to attempt the vowels and consonants of other languages, and I don't think it's desirable to ask them to do it because it presents a social distraction and that's not pleasant or polite. You don't want to draw too much attention to the letters and sounds of a name every time it is spoken, you want to focus on the person. But I have seen what I think you are talking about - Americans who don't even attempt to say the name with the right stress and main vowels, in a way that gives the impression they think speaking another language is either beneath them, or that they think it'd be pretentious. It is embarrassing for everyone. Like Solunastra's example of deliberately saying "MAN-yoo-ul" for a Spanish speaker introduced as Manuel. Yuck. It reminds me of a quirky Vietnamese friend of mine named Hoang who, in high school, was constantly addressed by the "popular" boys as Whang, as a way of deliberately showing rejection (they rejected him for being quirky, not for being Vietnamese, but in doing so they used his foreign accent against him).

This message was edited 10/6/2009, 9:57 AM

My grandpa's name was changed and he wasn't even an immigrant. He was born in America and when he was first in school, they decided to change Marcello to Marshal. He never made a big deal about it though and he kept Marshal for the rest of his life. That's kind of been the way I think about it, I don't really care, if someone wants to call me something else to help their pronunciation, then go right ahead. I had a French teacher who decided to keep calling me Veronique and I just went with the flow.

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However, after having taken Japanese for a long time, I can't stand the Japanese pronunciation of Veronica. The teachers would call me Bay-lo-ni-ka. Granted, this was a good seven years back and the Japanese now have a way of spelling Vs so that they call me Vay instead of Bay, but I preferred that they called me by my nickname. Nikki is far easier to pronounce. But I also have a Japanese nickname, which is generally based on physical appearance or personality.

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Wow, did I answer your questions? I'm off in anecdote land today. Um, I try my best to pronounce people's names in the way that they want me to. I recall being in band and having to pass out schedules and there was this Vietnamese kid with the name of Vingh that I always got. I wouldn't give him his schedule until I pronounced his name right, which usually took a good three or four tries. I think if people want to change their names for easier pronunciation, then that's their decision and I'm okay with it. If someone immediately tries to change their name though, that's kinda rude.

This message was edited 10/6/2009, 9:10 AM

It drives me crazy that my sister-in-law's student lists in China are full of kids named Sherry, Eddie, Tiffany, etc. I think it's sad that the kids have changed their names so that American teachers can pronounce them easier.

I am the only one who is disappointed by how most of the other responses present the issue as if only Americans do this? My first name is Giovanna and I guarantee you that if I go to any country that isn't Italy (not just America) people will say it wrong. You either live with it (I was called gee-ah-VOHN-ah for eighteen years) or you change it (Gianna, "John with an -ah," is much easier for people to understand). To expect people with a different language and different phonetic rules to readjust the way they understand language just for you can be unreasonable. If an Emily went to Japan, would anyone agree that she has a right to be disgusted after repeatedly being caller Emery? No. That sound doesn't work that way in Japanese, just like there are some sounds in other languages that don't work correctly in English. To pronounce every single name in the world correctly is an unfair standard.

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Sorry for the rant, but I don't like how people complain about "American pronunciations" as if they're worse than others. It is what it is.

My great-grandfather was from the Philippines. His name was Prudencio, but he thought it was too strange of a name for the Americans to warm up to, so he told everyone to call him Leo. While I adore the name Leo and associate it with him, I can't help but wonder why he didn't just keep Prudencio. It WAS his name, and such a big part of who he was.

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So, I guess it kind of makes me sad when foreigners change their names to suit American taste. If I meet someone from another country, I try to pronounce their name the best I can. This country is a melting pot, and you're going to meet a lot of different people. Might as well get used to it. :)

I simply respect how people want to be called. I have a knack for languages, so I can get the hang of saying anyone's name correctly if they want me to. But in most of these situations, I'll ask the people about their pronunciation preferences and they honestly don't mind. I don't think I'd really mind either. I think it would be interesting to be called slightly differently depending on the language. Sometimes when I'm in a Spanish-speaking setting, I just have people call me Luz. I don't really care what people call me (as long as it's not a name I hate). You say you "believe a person's name is special to them." But it's really nothing sacred to a lot of people. Some people love their name, some people would love to have a chance to be called something else. I think for your English class, you should let the kids choose whether they'd like to take on a foreign name or not. Some people prefer to, while others don't.

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There's one point I agree with you very strongly on though. Americans "Americanize" foreign names and words entirely too much with no thought to the correct pronunciation. It's stemmed from some cultural superiority complex, and it's just rude when people prefer that someone pronounce something culturally correct, but then many won't even make a real effort. I do think that many Americans are more inconsiderate than most in that regard because, culturally, not enough energy is focused on understanding of cultural differences. In America, differences are generally tolerated, but they are rarely understood.

It doesn't bother me if people in other countries change the pronunciation of my name to suit their accent. I find a lot of people find Rosemary difficult to say (I especially noticed it in Morocco and Tunisia) so I often just introduce myself as Rose. I just find it easier.

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And I suppose I instinctively Anglicise people's names, especially if they pronounce them with sounds which are unfamilliar in my language. I think most people do and I don't really see the problem with it. If someone protested then I might change but I think it's a fact of life of living in a foreign country.

I don't like it

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As much as I wouldn't expect someone to call me Kimberly well outside of an English speaking country, I actually get rather sad when people come from other countries and change their name to something like Dean or David or Angel or Felicia (four cases I know). But recently Angel actually went back to being called Xingxing (we call her Xing). My sister has a friend Rafael (Rafa) from Brazil so his name is actually pronounced like Hah-fah. I would never dream of being like "I'm calling you Rah-fah because this is America, you should pronounce it like the American pronunciation." Yeah we sound like a welcoming country. Come to America, but first things first, get rid of your name!

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America is such a mixture of cultures I don't feel any reason to Anglicize them as if we're England. Sorry to say, America wasn't even purely founded by the English, even in the time of the revolution. That said I would ask said person to be patient with me pronouncing their name if it was something really out there that I couldn't seem to grasp.

I know EXACTLY what you mean!!

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My birth name was Katy and I changed it to Kate / Kay because no matter where I went, there were always people who dropped the 't' in Katy so that it sounds like kady or kay-i, and I HATED it! (not a huge fan of the name anyway). It's horrible when someone doesn't pronounce a name correctly because of their accent, though admittedly it may not be their fault.

I feel that it's okay to pronounce it as it would be said in my own language.

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I feel that to move to a country other than the one of your birth, and then expect its natives to peform what if for them a tongue-twister is presumptous.

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People moving to America have long realized this. I have a Korean-born friend who realized that his name would be very difficult to pronouce for Americans, so he took an English name, David. My great-grandfather, who was born in Austria-Hungary, was Josef, pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable, but he didn't object to Americans pronouncing it with the emphasis on the first syllable. My great uncle was Jacob, pronounced in his native country YA-KUB, but he took the name Jack in America.

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If I moved to France, I know that people would pronounce my name, Janice, Ja-NEES, and I'd be okay with that. Why should they try so hard to pronounce something that is difficult for them?

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Immigrants to America have adapted themselves to America, and that's how I feel it should be.

I think people's wishes should be respected regarding their own name's pronunciation. I think an accent is to be expected when someone who doesn't speak the language of origin pronounces a name, but one should make an effort not to butcher the name. (So if Manuel introduces himself "mahn-HUEL," it's acceptable for a non-Spanish-speaker to say "man-WELL" but not "manual").

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If I don't have a pretty good idea how to say a name, I ask.

I pronounce it the way it is in their language most of the time. A teacher at my school is named Kaoru, and everyone says "cow-roo" in a very obvious American accent. I usually say it in a real Japanese accent unless I'm talking fast in English, but if I'm talking to someome who says it American then I feel like I'm making them feel stupid if I say it TOO authentically, so I say it somewhere in the middle... so I pretty much say it both ways. She doesn't really care. My half-sister Sarah gets called Sara a lot because of the language where she lives, and now she just introduces herself that way most of the time.