Do you change your accent mid-sentence to pronounce foreign names?

[ShapelyBingoWing]

Not a current situation, but something that's played on my mind many times since knowing this person.

I used to have a colleague called Joao, a Portuguese fellow. We didn't work particularly closely together but he was known for getting very annoyed when those further down the pecking order than him didn't say his name the Portuguese way. He did seem happy for his superiors to call him "Jow".

I can't think of anyone else I've ever come across insisting that their name is pronounced their native way. In fact, nearly everyone I know whose name doesn't gel well with the English accent has always introduced themselves and then said "call me X" (X being a version of their name that an English accent can easily manage).

I don't really know what the reasonable expectation is in this situation. It must be frustrating when people always say your name wrong but equally I've seen how difficult people seem to find a mid sentence accent change...most people simply tried to avoid ever actually addressing him by name!

Isn't it a bit rude not to want to or even try to pronounce someone's name correctly?

I don't think it's an accent change, just pronouncing the name correctly!

I work in an organisation with lots of non-white-british women and many of them have names from their first language. I always try my best to pronounce it how they do.

I don't really think of it as an accent change. It's someone's name, it is what it is.

I work with multiple nationalities and am therefore pronouncing all kinds of names throughout my day. I try to be as faithful as I can to the correct usage, and I'm sure those people forgive the odd instance where a sound is a bit tricky for an English speaker.

Most MNers would want things done Joao's way & will say yabu.

MNers get very het up about Niamh & other Irish names not just pronounced but also spelled the "correct" way even for people who don't live anywhere anyone else Irish.

Me, meh. I introduce myself in Spanish with a Spanishfied version of my name. This is fine by me. A teenage Mexican friend was Hilda, a German name which the family all said in a Mexican way (they would have spelled it Jelda if they wanted it said the German way). Another Mexican friend was Elizabeth (which they also spoke using Spanish language rules for pronounciation... I'm not sure if her parents even spoke English, come to think of it).

João sounds like a twat.

The ão sound is very difficult for non-native speakers to make. If you hold your nostrils and can still say it your way, then you're doing it wrong. Portuguese speakers with blocked noses can't say it .
No one in Brazil can say my name, I made a nickname that they can say.

lljkk has just mentioned a name rather close to my heart and birth certificate I have spent many an occasion teaching people how to say it.

I might not have been very clear. It was definitely an accent change this guy was after. Whereas normally an english pronunciation of a name is acceptable IYSWIM? So for example, I have a Mexican friend called Jesus...he doesnt expect an accent change but we pronounce his name "Hay-sus". In our own accent.

The guy I worked with had actually developed an English accent himself as he's been living here since he was a child. So he himself would change accent mid sentence to introduce himself.

I do sometimes

Depends. People sound pretty twatish if they suddenly say " we're going to Bar-the-lona next weekend, but names I think, should at least be attempted. Not that they have to be perfect. I have a team of 15/20 non Brits and I try to at least approximate their given names.

How are you supposed to say that name then? If anyone can spell it out?

Make your best attempt at saying the name the way it should be said and that should be fine. DH doesn't lecture people on the correct way to pronounce our surname (although he does laugh at the way Brits, including me, say it) but it's offensive when people don't even try to say it properly.

I think that it's courteous to give it a good go. We had a Welsh colleague called Illtud and everyone got it right after a couple of attempts.

I always get confused over Lucia and I had a few in my group over the years. Unless the surname points to the owner's origin, it's hard to know how to pronounce it.

Out of curiosity, can anyone tell me how you do say Joao in an English accent? (Half the reason I have the specific name...I really have no idea how the English tongue manages a very Portuguese sound.)

It's not changing your accent to pronounce your own name correctly, even if you speak with a native accent otherwise. It's just pronouncing things correctly. How weird would it be to intentionally mispronounce your own name?

It's unreasonably to be so sensitive. What a snowflake.

It's not changing your accent to pronounce your own name correctly

It very much was a change in accent, even if it was just reverting back to his native accent.

You have to make the effort for someone's name, surely?! You wouldn't seriously call a Spanish guy called Jesus...Jee-zus ...would you? I would find that incredibly lazy and rude.

With other words, there is no agreement really, is there? People do it differently.

I am all over the place self, too. I pronounce chorizo the Spanish way, but not paella. I couldn't tell you why

I'd make the effort to pronounce a name correctly. Seems rude not to.

Oh...just read your last comment, OP. The accent thing is a bit odd, yes. I have a friend called Angelique and we call her Ann-jel-eek, not Ahnnn-zhe-lick. I'd feel a twat putting on a French accent.

3DGlasses You get what I mean! It's been quite hard trying to be clear that I really am talking about a change in accent.

Exactly. You make an effort to say the name correctly but it will have your own accent.

my exs relative is called Joao, he pronounces it "Jwow" so that's how we say it.
I had a French girl in my nursery years ago called Jadaine my colleagues pronounced it 'Jud-aine' but I always said "jah-daine" her mum told me my pronunciation was right.
It's important to say people's names how they want to you, it's about respect. If it's hard to say then just learn by practicing the correct pronunciation it's not that hard.

This reminds me of a woman who joined the company I used to work at. When my colleague Kwabena introduced himself to her, she said "What? I can't pronounce that. I'm going to call you 'Dave' instead!"

Want you to. Not want to you 🤦🏻‍♀️