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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