Phonetics

[DaveProka]

Hi Jacques,<BR><BR>When my father came here after the war, he butchered our name and now few people pronounce it properly unless they are from Europe. As a result, I´m curious about other people´s names. Could you give us a phonetic pronunciation of your name and the design team name Mertens-Goosens. For instance, I´ve been using it in conversation as Jock Mar-tens with a soft j sound and the accent on the last syllable. Is this wrong?<BR><BR>-Dave P<BR>

[jacquesmm]

I have no idea on how to explain that . . . There are several hundred Mertens in the US. It is a German name but my family is Belgian and French.<BR>You can pronounce it the German or French way, it doesn´t matter to me. When I lived in Miami, many pronounced it Martinez . . .

[Leon_Steyns]

I have similar "problems" in order to get anglo-americans to pronounce my name right, because of the tongue-twisting sounds. Any suggestions from your side of the pond?<BR><BR>Hey Jacques, if "americanised" your name would turn out something like "Jack Martin"... <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_smile.gif"><BR><BR>Greets, Leon Steyns.

[DaveProka]

Suggestion- be patient, or stop caring. Most of us have a problem with pronunciation of names. I´m guessing it´s because there are so many nationalities represented here that it becomes a difficult process. You have to try to match the name with a geographic origin, often relying on guesswork, then simulate an accent out of respect, creating a backward attempt at de-Americanizing it. This usually ends in a valiant but awkward approximation.<BR><BR>Also, I find, anything over five letters, and folks lose interest fast. <BR><BR>-Dave Prokowiew <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_smile.gif">

[Ken]

83% of my students are of Mexican ancestry. One Maria is ma-REE-ah, another Maria is mard-ee-AH. hey-suis (like suit) and GEE-zus are both Jesus. BE-a-tris and bee-AT-riz are both Beatrice. Is Anna an-ah or ahnah? Jessica is Jessica, except when pronounced hey-seek-AH.<BR><BR>In one class there are three Haleys, ah-LAY, holly, and HAY-lee. Monica can be moan-EEK-ah or MAUN-ick-ha.<BR><BR>Then there are the other children of color, with homebuilt names like Analiliannalyn, Blowme (Blow rhymes with plow and the e is silent) she-TADE, which is spelled S-h-i-t-h-e-a-d, and worse.<BR><BR>Anyone care to tell these children there names are pronounced wrong?<BR><BR>Most people have forgotten how to make the sounds of languages other than their own, and anyone with the cognitive level necessary for boat building is well beyond the early childhood window for phoneme acquisition and development. If it really bothers someone to have their name mispronounced there are three choices. Either relocate to a place where the name is commonly properly pronounced, adopt a different name, or patiently continue to educate those caring people who actually try to learn. As Shakespeare supposedly wrote, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

[SnakeDriver]

During my mil service, when confronted with an unfamiliar name pronunciation, and since we needed to establish trust & a team atmosphere, we would butcher it several times then just either shorten it to "Ski" [for example] or, with a sly grin, we´d give up and say "Corporal Alphabet!" To which they would respond [grinning] with a loud & thunderous "Here, Sir!" Worked fine and we built unit cohesiveness & esprit-de-corps.<BR><BR>Lesson learned: Don´t take yourself too seriously all the time and get on with the business at hand. ´Nuf said.<BR><BR>It´s Miller time!

[JimW]

One of my favorite names of all time was known as the alphabet man. Jomaladine Abdujaparof the eastern bloc sprinter (bicycle racer). There are several really tough names of cycling stars that I can now rattle off as well as Phil Ligget can after just a few seconds of practice. I actually got to speak to Jomaladine just after the 96´ olympic road race in Atlanta. The one which was Lance Armstrongs last pre-cancer (dignosis) race. He was actually rittled with tumors at the time of this race.<BR><BR>Jim

[Laszlo]

Then there was my friend´s father who serverd in the Army with a guy from Texas name F J Jones. Since many at that time were unfamiliar with the Texan custom of using individual letters of the alphabet as complete names, when he filled out his enlistment forms he wrote:<BR><BR>Last name - Jones<BR>First name - F only<BR>Middle name - J only<BR><BR>So of course at his first roll call, the sargeant bellowed out, "Jones, Fonly Jonly!"<BR><BR>I, of course, have never run into any problems with people mispronouncing my name <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_smile.gif"><BR><BR>László István Mórocz<BR><BR><BR>