to hate people who put on an accent when they say a foreign word?

[JustAHolyFool]

It really grinds my gears. I was talking to someone the other night and he started talking about the "bella figura" thing in Italy, but every time he said "bella figura" he said it in an Italian accent.

Dreadful.

I speak German but if I say, I don't know, Doppelganger or Reichstag or something, I don't put on a German accent to say it.

My best friend also does this, trilling her r's like a good one if she mentions anything Spanish.

Why is it so annoying? Is it annoying? Is it just me?

(and San Tropeh for St Tropez, not Saint Trop-ezz)

It depends if the other person will know what you are saying and if you speak a foreign language/are foreign it's difficult to not pronounce something correctly. I can't bear all the tv chefs calling chorizo (choriso/choritho) (whichever takes your fancy) as choriTZo. As a Spanish speaker (not native) I can't pronounce it any other way other than the correct way.

Apologies, I meant to say Oaxaca is pronounced wa-ha-ka, not wa-ha-ha, which would sound like an evil laugh. Perhaps I should refrain from discussing linguistic minutia at 2am.

Spoony, very interesting to know the pronunciation of Jamacha, I would never have guessed that.

I think YABU. If you speak a language why should you mispronounce it to keep other people happy? I had enough of pretending to be less clever than I really in order to fit in at school. I don't think I should still have to do it now. I speak pretty good French and Spanish and actually enjoy the sound of the words correctly pronounced.

Nice is pronounced Neece and used to be part of Italy - true story.

Here, have a glass of "Bo-Joo-Lay-Noo-View" - as once overhead in Tesco Sidcup one December.

YABVU obviously, mange-tout, mange-tout.

(I am somewhat bourgeoise a complete snob and wince at the way the British pronouce Calais.)

please tell me how to pronounce properly 'Kant' and 'can't' without sounding rude

I think it's often a question of concentration. If you think about it you can pronounce things perfectly - I can do that in French - but if I'm conversing my habitual speech sounds are more evident because I'm thinking about what I am saying rather than how I am saying it, IYSWIM.

DH can pronounce all English words correctly if he really concentrates. So, for example, he can say "birthday" perfectly well if he thinks about it but in conversation it will come out as "burzday".

YABU.
(Am I being unreasonable that if I heard the OP asking for a crossONT in a coffee shop in the UK, I'd feel very judgemental and wonder if they had ever ventured beyond their own backgarden.)

My EX boyfriend used to order his food in McDonalds using an American accent, used to make my skin crawl!!! Dick!

YANBU

And the poster who said xenophobic? Seriously?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

But how else are you supposed to pronounce foreign words?

Paris - Paris (not Paree, that is a tad wanky)
But what about croissant?
Chorizo?

Words that are accepted in English (e.g. restaurant) - fine to pronounce them with an English accent, but otherwise, I think it's best to try to pronounce them using the correct accent.

Ikea definitely pronounced Eekaya (as near as I can write it anyway) in Norway/ Sweden. Shall we all start pronouncing it like that from now on, then?

Apropos your communiqué:

Perhaps you should construct a cordon sanitaire around yourself to avoid any inconvenient liasons, contretemps or menage trois with the declasse.

Norty cumfy!

I can tell that the OP is Irish anyway, which throws a lot of these pronounciations and assumptions out of the water! My guess is that the objection stems from the common tall poppies syndrome.

what is the common tall poppies syndrome...?

tall poppies must be cut down, don't be getting above yourself, it was far from chorizo you were reared......

Lot of tall poppy syndrome in Australia too...

Why does 'chor-ee-tho' sound wanky but 'I-bee-tha' doesn't?

I'd never say the former but always the latter.

Touché KobayashiMaru

I just had to share your post with DH, which typically, I never do.

I'm sure the op doesn't mean people who already speak other languages fluently? I know exactly what she means!

The worst is my cousin who went to the US for a hol and when she was telling me a few stories about people she had met, said it in their American accent.

Cringeworthy.

The funny thing is people can still have arguments about how things should be pronounced even after they've been anglicised.

Take Copenhagen. The Danish name is København and pronounced somewhat differently to either of the two common pronunciations