Pronouncing a name in someone’s own language

[Brightun]

There’s an issue in my team. One member’s name is the same spelling as an English name but the pronunciation in their language is markedly different. Some team members are struggling with this and say they feel stupid/pretentious putting on an accent to say the name. I think they should make the effort and get over it. They are refusing. Team member is saying they feel discriminated. Who is BU?

I know a Tanya who will politely but firmly pull you up if you say Tan-ya. They are two different names.

One of my young team is a girl with a foreign name and everyone mangled it; I stamped that out within a couple of days of her starting. It’s so rude.

I agree it's sometimes not possible. I'm irish and my son has an Irish name. It's impossible for non Irish people to say his name the way we say it. The Irish language fits the Irish accent. Same with other languages.
I unfortunately butcher many European names with my accent and it just can't be helped.

There is a vowel sound in Russian that much as I’ve tried, I can’t get mouth to hold the shape for: рыбы

But I can say rooba. Which my Russian colleagues find acceptable from me, if they do good naturedly tell me it sounds a bit fishy 😉

Your team member is a dick, in any language.

And I would ask the bearer of said name how to say it, try to say it correctly myself, ask if I was saying it correctly and take it from there. I don't speak German for example, but would try to get it right. I'm better with Spanish /Portuguese /Italian but would still ask if unsure. The only problem is having some context so I know what language the name comes from.

So rude of the team but sadly so common. I'm seeing it in schools with Ukrainian kids, they don't respond to the anglicised versions of their names (thinking names with an i pronounced as ee and not eye like Iryna, Ivan etc) and yet the teachers are not prepared to say the poor kids' names correctly so they'd have a fighting chance at recognising their name!

I gave up studying Russian years ago because of that vowel sound! Hopeless 😳

I think you’ll probably have a fair idea of whether the mispronouncers are struggling with the pronunciation or whether they are deliberately being difficult.

Ive had it my entire life. I let it go as a youngster, but now I pull people up on it. It’s my name, dammit. Pronounce it properly. If it’s something simple like Alex-an-der vs Alex-arn-der (similar to my issue) then just pronounce it the way the owner if the name tells you to. It’s their name!

As for Beth vs Beff, well, it’s not impossible or difficult for people to say. So say it properly!

Hang on, I'm intrigued! What is this vowel sound?? Is there a link to someone pronouncing it on youtube or something so I can hear it?

I have easy name and some English people did that.
I just started missprounouncing their name. I mean like their names are foreign to me🤷🏻

And ffs. How many times have i got my name spelled with one letter wring in an email. People have one chance to correct and then Thomas will become Thamas and Jane is Jana.... Until my name is right😂

It depends. I’m assuming people are actually physically struggling with how it’s pronounced. My sisters ex was Welsh and his name was geraint, as it’s spelt but you’re supposed to roll the ‘r’ which I literally can’t do despite being Welsh myself! Of course people should try their best though. It’s hard to judge without hearing the name

They’re all as bad as each other. It seems to all be about being the biggest victim these days, rather than just all making an effort to do our best by others. Team mates should try to pronounce the name in the correct way, person with foreign name should accept they live in the UK, and it is unlikely their name will be pronounced perfectly. Everyone needs to put their egos aside and grow up.

Crossed posts!!

Foreign people seem to manage the names... It's not that hard in most cases to say the name right and not change letters in it...
Again, no need for accents but changing for example E for A and M for N is ridiculous

.org

I'm still traumatised lol

If the employee was African and his name was Oluwafemi and the colleagues decided his name was too difficult so they called him something else, it would be deemed racist and there would be outroar. I think it's the same thing. Either they make an effort with the name or it gets forwarded to HR to deal with with the racist colleagues.

Oh I think that didn't work:

Russian vowels:

OH has a name from her culture/religion, 4 letters long, 2 rhyming syllables. She's been so consistently called the wrong thing that she now goes by the mispronunciation. One of her cousins asked me on a night out meeting his partner to call him by his mispronounced name because it's how his girlfriend says it :/

I think some people care and some people don't care, if someone has expressed that they do care though and people crack on with the mispronunciation then they are dickheads

I have a very common British name, even shared with someone very famous. It never fails to amaze me how people pronounce and spell it though. I assume I've seen every variation by this point, I've seen people spell my surname 3 different ways in the same document. It's amazing what you can do with 7 letters

It's downright racist to be honest

You cant anglicise somebody's name unless they do it themself

Nobody has an issue saying Thierry Henry

I have a foreign name, no English person pronounces or spells it correctly. Sure it gets a bit boring, but seriously, who cares? It’s give and take.

Also lots of foreign people can’t make the ‘th’ sound in ‘the’ or ‘there’. Would you give them a hard time for that?

I know a Tanya who will politely but firmly pull you up if you say Tan-ya. They are two different names.

If I saw a name badge with Tanya on it I would say Tan ya. Because my accent has flat A's. If it were DH he would say Tarn ya. You can't know until you are told how the person wants it pronounced. However, I would only need to be corrected once.

Many years ago I worked with a Karen who pronounced it kay ren and she spent many hours correcting people.

I had an Italian friend called Laura , pronounced Lowrrrrra. I always called her Lowra as I can't roll my R's.

True. All football fans manage

Tee Erry On Ree

And all the foreign UK club managers too! They don't mistake those!

My name is Mary and because I am Scottish the correct pronunciation is quite different from the English way of saying it. It irks me a little to hear English people say 'Mehrry' but I think if they tried to pronounce my name properly it would sound stupid!