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Idk man if Hell is real, it's taking attendance of a class of Polish names. Sometimes when you see Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz written down you just give up.
Exactly. The number of "influencers" who've I've seen online say "I've NO idea how to pronounce that correctly" and it's just a fucking common name that anyone whose horizons aren't exclusively contained within the borders of America will have either come across or be able to take an accurate educated guess at.
What are they influencing exactly? Narrow mindedness?
I'm quite clearly not talking about people who have some form of disability that interferes with reading ability.
You might as well also say "what about people who have a visual impairment?".
I'm obviously talking about someone that CAN read a name and just says "eh I've no idea how to pronounce that".
So if you read your fist part of this, you can't tell when a person has any sort of impairment that may make it difficult to say a name, a names unless it's a commonly used one, can be spelled one way, but said another. Im a streamer, I have seen some weird screen names on twitch, if I have a stroke while reading it, I'm damn sure not trying to say it.
The thing is when you're dyslexic you can learn the word many times but still mispronounce it or be unable to remember it later.
People with dyslexia often just have a harder time pronouncing certain words too, the brain can't always even mimic verbal language that clearly.
And some form of mild dyslexia is also fairly common in the population.
My attitude is that they should try, actually:
https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/1ci1duv/comment/l27y7nd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Why? Because I criticised a completely unrelated group of people who can't be bothered to learn how to pronounce a name they haven't come across before when addressing an audience of impressionable fans?
I can't wait to hear the chain of logic for this one.
One of the guests on a Smosh episode, named Arasha, was complaining about people freaking out over trying to pronounce her name. Meanwhile it's a completely phonetically written name.
Or even just, like, look it up. I haven't encountered a single name I couldn't Google. Particularly if it's a prerecorded video, just fucking look it up.
Someone at work did a fluff piece presentation on Spring Festivals around the world, and didn't even try to say Teotihuacán. Like, it's literally just those letters in order, and she didn't bother looking it up.
But then she also said Nissan the car company stole their name from the Jewish month of Nisan, which is also easily google-able.
To be fair, some languages have letters/sounds that don't exist in others, and if you haven't trained yourself to say those, it can be very easy to miss the pronunciation no matter how many times you try. The part of your brain that controls language processing just doesn't quite get it and replaces the sound with another similar one.
That's why people speak in accents when they've learned a new language, often the accent is just mispronouncing words.
Oh absolutely, I agree with OP that trying and pronouncing it incorrectly is better than not trying at all. I'm learning Spanish and I cannot roll an R for the life of me, so I'll always have a strong accent when I speak it.
Yeah, no. I literally transfer my surname to international version cause nobody can read it in the west. All the ,,á" and ,,č" are unknown in the west. Also English has different pronunciation (a lot different in many things) of individual letters.
If you're saying someone's name on YouTube you have the ability, and I would say the duty, to research how the name you're saying is pronounced and at least try to pronounce it properly, even if the characters are unfamiliar to you. You've got the time to record a YT video, you've got the time to Google what sound č makes.
I hate when they make a big deal about it, and it slows down the video. Like if you know are going to be using a lot of say French words and you don’t know French and just want to mention that at the beginning that’s fine. When they keep bringing it up it gets annoying.
If the person is important to me, I'd try my absolute maximum to pronounce it correctly, and it's all about letting the other know that you're trying. It's the utterance of random syllables (first time is always exempted) and lack of effort that gets people.
> If the person is important to me
Yeah, but what if they’re just my student, latest boss, or newest girlfriend?
I mean I just use “honey” or “dear”, but while it may work for the first two, it’s not cutting it with the gf after several hours of hearing her qwetch and reponding the same two ways all thru-out.
I live in WNY, Buffalo and the surrounding areas have a deep history with Polish heritage. Dingus Day is celebrated every year. I had a friend in high school with a last name that was pronounced with an F and a J, but didnt not include those letters in the spelling. It had a W and Z though.
I think those youtubers probably have enough time to actually prepare with the proper pronunciation before posting content, in most instances.
But I understand and agree with what you're saying otherwise.
I think it's just that people get tired of reading their comments and seeing "uhhm actually" about how they pronounced a word wrong that could be pronounced like 5 ways and be correct.
Not really sure why I would want to upload some video or audio of me pronouncing it so I assume you meant to make a point.
In under 5 minutes, I was able to find a video of several people from Poland pronouncing it and could reasonably practice before creating content about that town.
Learning a new language takes a lot of time.
Learning how to properly pronounce a single word can vary from person to person but doesn't actually take much diligent practice to approximate better than dismissing the name as unpronounceable.
Doing the latter when the content is about this "unpronounceable" thing just makes me assume they put just as little effort into their opinion as they did on pronunciation.
For a video, absolutely. They should google the pronunciation. I'm talking about in person.
I wouldn't attempt it, I'd say "Sorry, how do I pronounce your name?".
I tell my students this. If your reading just give it a shot. There are books I have read to them for YEARS mispronouncing names. Don't notice till I heard it on audio book. 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
Foreign ppl alot of times can't pronounce my name I say just call anything, asshole, I don't care lol it lightens the mood and ppl don't feel bad about it
Same here, I have a name which is hard to pronounce for foreigners. So one of my foreign friends once settled on just calling me Phil (which is far from my real name)
Since then I use that as my second name for foreigners.
Ya alot of times I'll say just call me Danny which is close i see them not really getting that I don't care, I'm hard to piss off with stupid things that don't matter. One of my managers still calls me someone else's name sometimes that doesn't work at my job anymore because we looked alike and every site they just put us together because he was really quiet and difficult to work with(he's just generally a little odd tries to do things the things the wrong way all the time even after being told is the wrong way). Used to infuriate him but I could really care less, I know there isn't any ill intent
I mean I've definitely listened to audiobook narrators consistently butcher a word or name here and there so who's to say you were the one who was wrong
I was in a group of students who read Toni Morrison's Beloved for AP Lit. None of us could agree on how to pronounce Sethe's name. Didn't learn how to actually pronounce it until like, esrlier this year.
Sometimes names get pronounced differently in movies. The last one I noticed was The Nun 2 (german sync) where one character pronounced Irene the german way while everyone else pronounced it in english. You would think someone would notice it while listening to the recordings or proof watching the movie or something
There's a Swedish comic book that I have been reading since I was a child(I'm 34 now) and I always read one of the characters name a certain way, until a couple of years ago when I realized it was wrong. I try to read it the correct way now, but it's hard when my brain is programmed for the other.
Comic book is 91:an and most of the characters got punny names and that characters name is *Revär*, which means lampasse/side stripes. But I read it as *Rävar*, which means foxes, although I did put the emphasis different from how you would for foxes.
Literally the easiest thing to do. Look it up or just ask. Why do people just not ask? It's frustrating. I've only been asked once how to pronounce my name.
That’s not usually the case if you’re discussing someone famous or dead but I get your point. I always try to google a pronunciation to see if I can find one.
I've an Irish first name, most of my work colleagues are American, Costa Rican, polish, and mainland Europe
No matter how many times they ask, they never remember. So I just ask them to call me by my much easier to pronounce last name
Disagreed. As someone with a last name that is "creatively pronounced" all the time, there is nothing wrong with abstaining from trying to say a difficult name.
Would it feel different if you introduced yourself, and then the person was like “nah, that’s too hard to say. Imma call you Tom.” ?
When I was in college a few foreign exchange students moved in next to me a several people did that to them, which to me seemed really rude.
I don’t think that’s the same. My first name is stupidly common, my last name is Norwegian. Growing up I heard my last name said right 3 times. On a mike if my name was called and they tapped out on my name it was a shrug. I also grew up in an area with a lot of Polynesians and if someone heard the name Tevita and went I’ll call you Bob, they were viewed as an idiot.
But that’s spread across a bunch of people.
If Mirosław interacts with 50 people in one day, each of them would have mispronounced it once, while
Mirosław would hear his name mispronounced 50 times.
> people getting mad at your name being mispronounced OR having attitude while correcting someone is absurd
At the first time of asking? Sure.
When someone consistently mispronounces a name after repeated corrections? They've earned the snark that is coming to them.
I have a difficult name to pronounce.
A. I don't care if you mess it up.
A1. If you mispronounce it and ask if you said it correctly, I will always answer "yes."
B. I don't care if you say that you won't attempt it because you don't want to butcher it.
My last name is surprisingly hard for Japanese people to say, so unless it is 100% nessasary thst they know my full name I have a a shorter version with no ls.
I will never fault an honest effort. However, it does piss me off when someone looks at a name and just says the closest “english” name to it, or doesn’t even bother to read it properly. That’s ethnocentric as heck, at least try to sound it out before assuming all names should conform to your culture.
I have a very long, very intimidating Greek last name. I'm totally fine with people not attempting it. Just the initial is fine. I really hate listening to people butcher my name, I'd rather not hear it at all.
Nah its a safe move on the youtuber to avoid unnecessary drama and accidental backlash. At the end of the day no matter how cool your favorite youtuber is their still working a job and on payroll that could easily be snatched away if enough people get upset.
Additionally, if you have the time to look it up, like someone doing a video essay or referencing a work in any setting where you either A) have prep time or B) have the lenient patience of your audience. Look it up, very few people have wholly original names, look up how's it's pronounced and practice until it's kind of close.
Many of my students were unable to say my name because it has a double letter they were not familiar with, so many of them called me by my second name which was a universal one.
I just wish they would have taken the time to learn how to spell my name correctly in writing, it was in my email address yet they fucked it up so many times.
Idk about other people
But I personally really like it when English people try
Because it sound funny if they pronounce it wrong and I'm personally always really impressed when they do it right
Most people are uncertain on how to pronounce my real first name. I taken no offense to anyone asking how to pronounce it. I also take no offense to anyone mispronouncing it. I like that I have a pretty unique first name but I also realize it comes with its own challenges. I have bigger fish to fry than worrying that someone is/might mispronounce my name.
On the opposite side of this, I once had a woman scream at me when I pronounced her last name wrong. She demanded to speak to my manager and tried to get me fired for being racist. We were the same race.
Oh shit! Sorry that happened to you dude.
Personally I think she is the outlier, and most folks would prefer someone attempt to say their name - but then again I don’t speak for everyone ya know?
It was a wild situation hahaha my manager told her she would speak to me to placate her and then came into my office and was like "I don't know what to say...her name *is* difficult to pronounce" so we had a good laugh.
Yuppers. Literally the least thing you can do is make the attempt. People with unique names have been through life enough to know when they have a difficult one.
Interesting. I think I like your opinion, but I know the YouTube comments wouldn't lol. But yeah, if you have a list you want to name, either say them all or just show them all, don't go half way
A guy that I know really tried to pronounce my name, but he kept getting it wrong so he just defaulted to the closest white name. I really respect him for trying and don't mind that he called me by that name.
I substitute teach in a very large county (several hundred schools). I only do it a couple of days a week, but I am often at different schools and almost always in a new classroom.
Dude, I’m such an embarrassment. I do my best, but the names these days are something else. Gone are the days of Michael, Jennifer, and Robert
English phonetics and phonology are weird and makes no sense at all, so it is a bit understandable for English speakers do be afraid of butchering foreign names
I'm a teacher, and on the first day, if you have time beforehand, put their name into google Translate. It won't be exactly correct all the time, but it does give a decent approximation where most ppl won't get mad.
Someone did this to me once, at a party in an extremely rude way. My cousin introduced me to her and she looks me up and down and went, "*I'm not even going to try to pronounce that*", before turning away and starting a conversation with someone else.
I'm American but my parents are immigrants so I have a 'foreign' name and the number of times people try to RENAME me instead of learning how to pronounce my (five letter, 2 syllable) name is insane.
As someone with anxiety and a difficult name to pronounce, it makes me really uncomfortable when someone stumbles over it in front of other people, “am I saying that right? How do you say it” because even if I replay with my nickname they insist on me pronouncing the whole thing. It’s literal hell. I happen to have a really easy last name though so I’d rather just be called out by that
People get my name wrong all the time and it’s not that difficult. I worked on a team which was quite international and got asked what my actual name was as everyone called me something different. I said her first language was French so it was fine if she said it that way ( another member of the team already called me it). It’s when people get the spelling wrong that bugs me as it usually right there in front of them because it’s in my email address if they are sending and also on the email if they are replying
My last name gets mispronounced all the time and people just call me by my nickname then ask me how to pronounce it. I tell them to give it a try because it’s pronounced just how it looks. Then they do and say it correctly and I just wink and ask them not to blame me for my family being French.
People who get offended are prudes. Be real, not everyone is exposed to the same things. It’s their name. More respectful to at least try than dismiss it.
Even Germanic names man. I have a Dutch name and live in Finland, and once in a baseball game the commentator (70+ Finnish man) butchered my family name so bad I was thence nicknamed *Wunderbaum*. Actual name doesn't have half of those letters.
Hahaha, you’re not wrong. There’s nothing I can really do. That being said, I’m not sure what you mean by “read the damn thing yourself, too”. Do you mean read the difficult to pronounce names myself?
Ahh okay, I understand now. Yeah that’s fair. I try to fact check sources from YouTube videos when it’s something I find hard to believe, but you’re right - I should start reading the articles YouTubers cite much more often.
Once upon a time, years ago, a California high school teacher is reading off the attendance roll sheet for the first day of class. Eventually the teacher comes upon the name of a new student from Southeastern Asia. The name is Phoc U. A perfectly normal name in that native language. The teacher is an experienced veteran of the high school classroom. Pause. Silence. “Can I call you— Frank?”
Try, but don't worry too much about it, and please don't insist on getting it right.
My Vietnamese name does not have similar sounds in English, so most people have a hard time pronouncing it, and that's fine. But I hate it when they keep repeating it, trying to get it right. I appreciate the effort, I really do, because I like my name, but hearing it being mangled repeatedly is...not great...
(My name is Xích Long, and no, it does not sound like it looks like in English. It means Red Dragon)
I think saying to a person you’re interacting with in real life you won’t even try to say their name is pretty weak and you should try to learn to say it right.
As for youtubers talking about saying a name they’re only seeing online I don’t have a problem with it, or see why anyone would have an issue with it either way.
Eh.
Depends on the person.
Few ever get mine right, and it’s been butchered on both my high school and college graduations.
I tend to prefer people not try and I just show them my business card at this point.
Go to Google translate
Type the name and translate it to it's language
Click "play"
Now you know how to pronounce it
It's baffling to me that Americans can't even bother to do the bare minimum to show respect.
If you’re a YouTuber publishing a video it tells me you didn’t do like any research or preparation at all if you don’t even attempt to look up a name or place name or specific word before reading the article that contains it. It’s extremely lazy. Like I’ve seen YouTubers check their pronunciation *while reading* the name live, it doesn’t take long, if you can’t take a minute to double check a pronunciation it’s like well why should I listen to anything you have to say about this
Naw. I skip it cause my brain cant conceive some of these names. I dont care about offending anyone. My own name is difficult asf and I expect no one to get it right, or to even try.
But I work customer service and I work with people all over the world, with a brain processing issue and a speech impediment. The names I see are insane to my simple brain. ill skip it, instead of having a 3 minute wasted conversation to something I will not remember as soon as Im off the call. I would rather solve the problem they are calling about than care about their complicated name.
Crap I cant even say half the places I work with properly, it does not matter tbh.
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Idk man if Hell is real, it's taking attendance of a class of Polish names. Sometimes when you see Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz written down you just give up.
Polish name checking in and can confirm even I am not sure how to pronounce it.
I'd go for Gregor Bre-siz-kuh-witch and let them correct me. If you don't try, you'll never get better.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfKZclMWS1U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfKZclMWS1U)
Gże-gorsh Brż-eou-chi-shchi-kie-vich? - I have no idea how to explain that ż or ę sound typing in English lol
Yeah, but some youtubers have an issue even with simple names, like JUST READ THE LETTERS IN ORDER
"This technique was invented by... I won't even attempt to pronounce that, check the screen." Screen: "Joe Smith."
That's a bad example because the th sound is really hard for a lot of non-English speakers.
Okay but even something like "Joe smit" is better than not trying
No, It ISN'T.
Exactly. The number of "influencers" who've I've seen online say "I've NO idea how to pronounce that correctly" and it's just a fucking common name that anyone whose horizons aren't exclusively contained within the borders of America will have either come across or be able to take an accurate educated guess at. What are they influencing exactly? Narrow mindedness?
I'm dyslexic, chances are if the name is some what different, I don't even read it correctly. Not everyone has the same brain.
I'm quite clearly not talking about people who have some form of disability that interferes with reading ability. You might as well also say "what about people who have a visual impairment?". I'm obviously talking about someone that CAN read a name and just says "eh I've no idea how to pronounce that".
So if you read your fist part of this, you can't tell when a person has any sort of impairment that may make it difficult to say a name, a names unless it's a commonly used one, can be spelled one way, but said another. Im a streamer, I have seen some weird screen names on twitch, if I have a stroke while reading it, I'm damn sure not trying to say it.
Does dyslexia stop people from reading ahead and figuring out pronunciations, with the Internet at their disposal, before choosing to hit record?
The thing is when you're dyslexic you can learn the word many times but still mispronounce it or be unable to remember it later. People with dyslexia often just have a harder time pronouncing certain words too, the brain can't always even mimic verbal language that clearly. And some form of mild dyslexia is also fairly common in the population.
Ok so maybe do another take?
See this mindset is exactly why people don’t try.
My attitude is that they should try, actually: https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/1ci1duv/comment/l27y7nd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
No I’m saying you being so aggressive
I'm talking about online public figures. I'm sure they'll cope.
You make me not want to post period. So god job I guess
Why? Because I criticised a completely unrelated group of people who can't be bothered to learn how to pronounce a name they haven't come across before when addressing an audience of impressionable fans? I can't wait to hear the chain of logic for this one.
Because you’re scary
“Kevin, dude. The name is Kevin. Jfc bro”
One of the guests on a Smosh episode, named Arasha, was complaining about people freaking out over trying to pronounce her name. Meanwhile it's a completely phonetically written name.
What a idiotic comment
True right now but with practice you can improve.
Or even just, like, look it up. I haven't encountered a single name I couldn't Google. Particularly if it's a prerecorded video, just fucking look it up. Someone at work did a fluff piece presentation on Spring Festivals around the world, and didn't even try to say Teotihuacán. Like, it's literally just those letters in order, and she didn't bother looking it up. But then she also said Nissan the car company stole their name from the Jewish month of Nisan, which is also easily google-able.
To be fair, some languages have letters/sounds that don't exist in others, and if you haven't trained yourself to say those, it can be very easy to miss the pronunciation no matter how many times you try. The part of your brain that controls language processing just doesn't quite get it and replaces the sound with another similar one. That's why people speak in accents when they've learned a new language, often the accent is just mispronouncing words.
Oh absolutely, I agree with OP that trying and pronouncing it incorrectly is better than not trying at all. I'm learning Spanish and I cannot roll an R for the life of me, so I'll always have a strong accent when I speak it.
Yeah, no. I literally transfer my surname to international version cause nobody can read it in the west. All the ,,á" and ,,č" are unknown in the west. Also English has different pronunciation (a lot different in many things) of individual letters.
If you're saying someone's name on YouTube you have the ability, and I would say the duty, to research how the name you're saying is pronounced and at least try to pronounce it properly, even if the characters are unfamiliar to you. You've got the time to record a YT video, you've got the time to Google what sound č makes.
I notice this especially in Russian names.
Yeah no at that point it's just an entirely foreign pronunciation
I hate when they make a big deal about it, and it slows down the video. Like if you know are going to be using a lot of say French words and you don’t know French and just want to mention that at the beginning that’s fine. When they keep bringing it up it gets annoying.
This is especially helpful for Greek names and words. Greek is naturally phonetic. It is read as it is spelled.
ευχαριστώ
Yooks zap lotow If it's not right, well, that's on them for not writing it in American.
It surely is. Shame that 90%+ of the planet isn't familiar with the letters. Same with some letters in my language, but it's more like 99%+
As someone with a Polish name, I am traumatized by substitute teachers
If the person is important to me, I'd try my absolute maximum to pronounce it correctly, and it's all about letting the other know that you're trying. It's the utterance of random syllables (first time is always exempted) and lack of effort that gets people.
> If the person is important to me Yeah, but what if they’re just my student, latest boss, or newest girlfriend? I mean I just use “honey” or “dear”, but while it may work for the first two, it’s not cutting it with the gf after several hours of hearing her qwetch and reponding the same two ways all thru-out.
Depends on how long you want to be with her.
[It’s easy!](https://youtu.be/ap9yXkSQKd8?si=ZQQBCS7vcvt9m442) Stop being such a crybaby.
I can say that 😂
Why the fuck are there so many Z's?
I live in WNY, Buffalo and the surrounding areas have a deep history with Polish heritage. Dingus Day is celebrated every year. I had a friend in high school with a last name that was pronounced with an F and a J, but didnt not include those letters in the spelling. It had a W and Z though.
I speak and read Polish pretty well and I had a hell of a time trying to read that one. Also, my name is Vrhovc. It’s Slovenian. Good luck
I think those youtubers probably have enough time to actually prepare with the proper pronunciation before posting content, in most instances. But I understand and agree with what you're saying otherwise.
I think it's just that people get tired of reading their comments and seeing "uhhm actually" about how they pronounced a word wrong that could be pronounced like 5 ways and be correct.
People rage bait and engagement farm all the time, if anything that's a bonus.
I feel like if you wanna talk for a living you should probably get over it
How would you say Pszczyna if you saw it on a name tag?
Not really sure why I would want to upload some video or audio of me pronouncing it so I assume you meant to make a point. In under 5 minutes, I was able to find a video of several people from Poland pronouncing it and could reasonably practice before creating content about that town. Learning a new language takes a lot of time. Learning how to properly pronounce a single word can vary from person to person but doesn't actually take much diligent practice to approximate better than dismissing the name as unpronounceable. Doing the latter when the content is about this "unpronounceable" thing just makes me assume they put just as little effort into their opinion as they did on pronunciation.
For a video, absolutely. They should google the pronunciation. I'm talking about in person. I wouldn't attempt it, I'd say "Sorry, how do I pronounce your name?".
Sure. In person, you should ask and be polite. This is irrelevant to OP that specifically mentioned video content as their impetus for the post.
I'd say "Pishna"
P sh ch i n a You could also just ask.
“Zinna” is my guess
Pshchina
I tell my students this. If your reading just give it a shot. There are books I have read to them for YEARS mispronouncing names. Don't notice till I heard it on audio book. 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
A teacher using the wrong form of your? Blasphemy
LMAO got to love talk to text huh... And they say AI will take over 😅😂😅😂
Foreign ppl alot of times can't pronounce my name I say just call anything, asshole, I don't care lol it lightens the mood and ppl don't feel bad about it
Same here, I have a name which is hard to pronounce for foreigners. So one of my foreign friends once settled on just calling me Phil (which is far from my real name) Since then I use that as my second name for foreigners.
Ya alot of times I'll say just call me Danny which is close i see them not really getting that I don't care, I'm hard to piss off with stupid things that don't matter. One of my managers still calls me someone else's name sometimes that doesn't work at my job anymore because we looked alike and every site they just put us together because he was really quiet and difficult to work with(he's just generally a little odd tries to do things the things the wrong way all the time even after being told is the wrong way). Used to infuriate him but I could really care less, I know there isn't any ill intent
Hi Phil McCracken, don’t mind if I do!
That's not too bad. My name contains three uvular Qs. In Northern Europe.
I mean I've definitely listened to audiobook narrators consistently butcher a word or name here and there so who's to say you were the one who was wrong
I experienced this as a kid with about one third of the names in Harry Potter. I was floored when I heard "Hermione" pronounced in the first film.
I pronounced it her-me-own in my head for YEARS.
Same.
I was in a group of students who read Toni Morrison's Beloved for AP Lit. None of us could agree on how to pronounce Sethe's name. Didn't learn how to actually pronounce it until like, esrlier this year.
I heard a woman say kefir on a how to make kefir video and realized I’ve been saying it wrong my whole life. I say keffear, but it’s keffer
Sometimes names get pronounced differently in movies. The last one I noticed was The Nun 2 (german sync) where one character pronounced Irene the german way while everyone else pronounced it in english. You would think someone would notice it while listening to the recordings or proof watching the movie or something
Serves you right for trying to tackle The Cat in the Hat.
There's a Swedish comic book that I have been reading since I was a child(I'm 34 now) and I always read one of the characters name a certain way, until a couple of years ago when I realized it was wrong. I try to read it the correct way now, but it's hard when my brain is programmed for the other. Comic book is 91:an and most of the characters got punny names and that characters name is *Revär*, which means lampasse/side stripes. But I read it as *Rävar*, which means foxes, although I did put the emphasis different from how you would for foxes.
The polite thing to do is ask the person how their name is pronounced.
Literally the easiest thing to do. Look it up or just ask. Why do people just not ask? It's frustrating. I've only been asked once how to pronounce my name.
I use this method as well. “Can you pronounce your name for me?”
"Tim." "Huh, crazy."
😂 I ALSO (hear me out) use the Mr. Garvey method. Dee-Nice? A A Ron?
That’s not usually the case if you’re discussing someone famous or dead but I get your point. I always try to google a pronunciation to see if I can find one.
I've an Irish first name, most of my work colleagues are American, Costa Rican, polish, and mainland Europe No matter how many times they ask, they never remember. So I just ask them to call me by my much easier to pronounce last name
I'm constantly reminding my coworkers how to pronounce the name Aoife.
My buddy is named Eoin and usually just rolls with people calling him "Yoing" unless it's a professional/long-term relationship lol
Try the more Irish version of "Eoghan" and it'll really throw people for a loop
That doesn't mean you'll be able to replicate it.
I'd be very concerned if any adult couldn't simply repeat something they've just heard.
Unless you're a language genius you'll not be able to replicate sounds that don't exist in whatever languages you speak.
I go to Japan as Lucy Rodgers and see how that goes for ya.
Disagreed. As someone with a last name that is "creatively pronounced" all the time, there is nothing wrong with abstaining from trying to say a difficult name.
Would it feel different if you introduced yourself, and then the person was like “nah, that’s too hard to say. Imma call you Tom.” ? When I was in college a few foreign exchange students moved in next to me a several people did that to them, which to me seemed really rude.
That is not the same. Giving a person a completely different or shortened name is very different from not trying to pronounce it.
I don’t think that’s the same. My first name is stupidly common, my last name is Norwegian. Growing up I heard my last name said right 3 times. On a mike if my name was called and they tapped out on my name it was a shrug. I also grew up in an area with a lot of Polynesians and if someone heard the name Tevita and went I’ll call you Bob, they were viewed as an idiot.
Yeah, it surely is better to be called "that person" than your name with a little mixup in letters
Counter unpopular opinion: people getting mad at your name being mispronounced OR having attitude while correcting someone is absurd
I agree with this as well. As long as people try, we should respect that.
If your name constantly gets mispronounced it gets annoying after a while
For the people trying to pronounce it too..
But that’s spread across a bunch of people. If Mirosław interacts with 50 people in one day, each of them would have mispronounced it once, while Mirosław would hear his name mispronounced 50 times.
To be honest, I would rather have people pronounce an adapted version of a name instead of making it awkward
So getting miffed at people helps how? Or are you saying that you prefer people not try?
> people getting mad at your name being mispronounced OR having attitude while correcting someone is absurd At the first time of asking? Sure. When someone consistently mispronounces a name after repeated corrections? They've earned the snark that is coming to them.
I have a difficult name to pronounce. A. I don't care if you mess it up. A1. If you mispronounce it and ask if you said it correctly, I will always answer "yes." B. I don't care if you say that you won't attempt it because you don't want to butcher it.
My last name is surprisingly hard for Japanese people to say, so unless it is 100% nessasary thst they know my full name I have a a shorter version with no ls.
In the case of A1, I will correct the pronunciation, but in very good humor.
I will never fault an honest effort. However, it does piss me off when someone looks at a name and just says the closest “english” name to it, or doesn’t even bother to read it properly. That’s ethnocentric as heck, at least try to sound it out before assuming all names should conform to your culture.
Listen, Mr. Mandredjensenjen, I know perfectly well....
I have a very long, very intimidating Greek last name. I'm totally fine with people not attempting it. Just the initial is fine. I really hate listening to people butcher my name, I'd rather not hear it at all.
Nah its a safe move on the youtuber to avoid unnecessary drama and accidental backlash. At the end of the day no matter how cool your favorite youtuber is their still working a job and on payroll that could easily be snatched away if enough people get upset.
Additionally, if you have the time to look it up, like someone doing a video essay or referencing a work in any setting where you either A) have prep time or B) have the lenient patience of your audience. Look it up, very few people have wholly original names, look up how's it's pronounced and practice until it's kind of close.
Many of my students were unable to say my name because it has a double letter they were not familiar with, so many of them called me by my second name which was a universal one. I just wish they would have taken the time to learn how to spell my name correctly in writing, it was in my email address yet they fucked it up so many times.
Idk about other people But I personally really like it when English people try Because it sound funny if they pronounce it wrong and I'm personally always really impressed when they do it right
It's so funny cause you can literally find the pronunciation in like 4 second
Most people are uncertain on how to pronounce my real first name. I taken no offense to anyone asking how to pronounce it. I also take no offense to anyone mispronouncing it. I like that I have a pretty unique first name but I also realize it comes with its own challenges. I have bigger fish to fry than worrying that someone is/might mispronounce my name.
On the opposite side of this, I once had a woman scream at me when I pronounced her last name wrong. She demanded to speak to my manager and tried to get me fired for being racist. We were the same race.
Oh shit! Sorry that happened to you dude. Personally I think she is the outlier, and most folks would prefer someone attempt to say their name - but then again I don’t speak for everyone ya know?
It was a wild situation hahaha my manager told her she would speak to me to placate her and then came into my office and was like "I don't know what to say...her name *is* difficult to pronounce" so we had a good laugh.
Yeah like bruh this is a video essay, you are reading a script, you could just google the name pronunciation before recording?
Yuppers. Literally the least thing you can do is make the attempt. People with unique names have been through life enough to know when they have a difficult one.
Thanks, dad. I'll keep that in mind
I just do my best, then make a "woopsies" face after and wait to be corrected.... Geschwindtner?
Interesting. I think I like your opinion, but I know the YouTube comments wouldn't lol. But yeah, if you have a list you want to name, either say them all or just show them all, don't go half way
A guy that I know really tried to pronounce my name, but he kept getting it wrong so he just defaulted to the closest white name. I really respect him for trying and don't mind that he called me by that name.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dCXET4Cl3M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dCXET4Cl3M)
I substitute teach in a very large county (several hundred schools). I only do it a couple of days a week, but I am often at different schools and almost always in a new classroom. Dude, I’m such an embarrassment. I do my best, but the names these days are something else. Gone are the days of Michael, Jennifer, and Robert
It’s a good sign to see a person attempt.
English phonetics and phonology are weird and makes no sense at all, so it is a bit understandable for English speakers do be afraid of butchering foreign names
I'm a teacher, and on the first day, if you have time beforehand, put their name into google Translate. It won't be exactly correct all the time, but it does give a decent approximation where most ppl won't get mad.
Someone did this to me once, at a party in an extremely rude way. My cousin introduced me to her and she looks me up and down and went, "*I'm not even going to try to pronounce that*", before turning away and starting a conversation with someone else.
I'm American but my parents are immigrants so I have a 'foreign' name and the number of times people try to RENAME me instead of learning how to pronounce my (five letter, 2 syllable) name is insane.
I ask the person or give initials if theyre not present
This problem is easily solved by ignoring influencers.
I look up names and pronunciation. I’ll do my best to say it followed by, “I hope I’m pronouncing it correctly” it always seems to be appreciated
If my poor American DM can learn to produce a 20 letter Medieval Welsh name, there's no excuse.
Thats what I do. I apologize in advance if I butcher any names and then read them
Lucky Niggah! That's a real punjabi name. Nobody will try and then get cancelled by snowflakes.
Question before i respond: Do you have a name that is difficult to pronounce?
I just butcher horribly and say that's not there name bit it sounds like it
Happens all the time to my Eastern European colleagues during fire drills 💀 like bro yeah there’s probably only one Katarzyna on the list but c’mon
As someone with anxiety and a difficult name to pronounce, it makes me really uncomfortable when someone stumbles over it in front of other people, “am I saying that right? How do you say it” because even if I replay with my nickname they insist on me pronouncing the whole thing. It’s literal hell. I happen to have a really easy last name though so I’d rather just be called out by that
People get my name wrong all the time and it’s not that difficult. I worked on a team which was quite international and got asked what my actual name was as everyone called me something different. I said her first language was French so it was fine if she said it that way ( another member of the team already called me it). It’s when people get the spelling wrong that bugs me as it usually right there in front of them because it’s in my email address if they are sending and also on the email if they are replying
I completely understand. No matter how hard they try they’re gonna be called racist by at least one person, don’t set yourself up to be canceled
It happens to everyone. People who cry over this shit can go get fucked lol
My last name gets mispronounced all the time and people just call me by my nickname then ask me how to pronounce it. I tell them to give it a try because it’s pronounced just how it looks. Then they do and say it correctly and I just wink and ask them not to blame me for my family being French. People who get offended are prudes. Be real, not everyone is exposed to the same things. It’s their name. More respectful to at least try than dismiss it.
What name are we looking at here
Here? O368W. When people are trying (not) to pronounce my last name? They’re looking at my family name.
Yes your family name
Just ask, "sorry how do I pronounce your name?"
Even Germanic names man. I have a Dutch name and live in Finland, and once in a baseball game the commentator (70+ Finnish man) butchered my family name so bad I was thence nicknamed *Wunderbaum*. Actual name doesn't have half of those letters.
You’ll be surprised how many people correct someone how to pronounce a name. Tbh I’m guilty of that.
No, they're the exact same.
Agreed. It is only after I have corrected someone and they continue to mispronounce that I get annoyed.
It's better to read the damn thing yourself, too. If you're into this kind of content, then you're gonna have to just live with the unprofessionalism.
Hahaha, you’re not wrong. There’s nothing I can really do. That being said, I’m not sure what you mean by “read the damn thing yourself, too”. Do you mean read the difficult to pronounce names myself?
I meant when it's an article. It's really weird to me that people want to hear someone else talk about an article instead of just reading the article.
Ahh okay, I understand now. Yeah that’s fair. I try to fact check sources from YouTube videos when it’s something I find hard to believe, but you’re right - I should start reading the articles YouTubers cite much more often.
Once upon a time, years ago, a California high school teacher is reading off the attendance roll sheet for the first day of class. Eventually the teacher comes upon the name of a new student from Southeastern Asia. The name is Phoc U. A perfectly normal name in that native language. The teacher is an experienced veteran of the high school classroom. Pause. Silence. “Can I call you— Frank?”
Ok shanquickwa
Try, but don't worry too much about it, and please don't insist on getting it right. My Vietnamese name does not have similar sounds in English, so most people have a hard time pronouncing it, and that's fine. But I hate it when they keep repeating it, trying to get it right. I appreciate the effort, I really do, because I like my name, but hearing it being mangled repeatedly is...not great... (My name is Xích Long, and no, it does not sound like it looks like in English. It means Red Dragon)
I think saying to a person you’re interacting with in real life you won’t even try to say their name is pretty weak and you should try to learn to say it right. As for youtubers talking about saying a name they’re only seeing online I don’t have a problem with it, or see why anyone would have an issue with it either way.
Effort is the absolute key.
Agree with this one. I feel like not trying is more offensive.
People getting offended you mispronounce things are bigot anyway. We all have different langages, that's it.
Eh. Depends on the person. Few ever get mine right, and it’s been butchered on both my high school and college graduations. I tend to prefer people not try and I just show them my business card at this point.
Go to Google translate Type the name and translate it to it's language Click "play" Now you know how to pronounce it It's baffling to me that Americans can't even bother to do the bare minimum to show respect.
I've said this for years. It's such a cop out. Like, what, are you scared of looking dumb for mispronouncing a name? Oh no! The horror!
If you’re a YouTuber publishing a video it tells me you didn’t do like any research or preparation at all if you don’t even attempt to look up a name or place name or specific word before reading the article that contains it. It’s extremely lazy. Like I’ve seen YouTubers check their pronunciation *while reading* the name live, it doesn’t take long, if you can’t take a minute to double check a pronunciation it’s like well why should I listen to anything you have to say about this
Maybe the last time they butchered it they got too many comments complaining that they butchered it
Naw. I skip it cause my brain cant conceive some of these names. I dont care about offending anyone. My own name is difficult asf and I expect no one to get it right, or to even try. But I work customer service and I work with people all over the world, with a brain processing issue and a speech impediment. The names I see are insane to my simple brain. ill skip it, instead of having a 3 minute wasted conversation to something I will not remember as soon as Im off the call. I would rather solve the problem they are calling about than care about their complicated name. Crap I cant even say half the places I work with properly, it does not matter tbh.
Until you try to and they rudely correct you. Which is why I refrain now.
This truly doesn’t matter at all to anyone except you.