In her post, Linda asked:

This question is for @CocoPop: What are your thoughts on the pronunciation of foreign names in other languages such as English? Do you think people should put more of an effort into pronouncing people's names in the original way or should foreigners expect their names to be butchered by speakers of other languages?

@all: If you also want to share your thoughts on this topic, please feel free to do so in the comments.

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My response...

So the way I see it, the only way you can expect people in any given country to pronounce foreign names as they’re pronounced in their country of origin, is to expect them to know the language in the first place. For instance, in English, we pronounce Arnold Schwartzenegger’s name as [ʃwórtsǝnɛ̀gʀ] and some people even say [swórtsǝnɛ̀gʀ]. This is a far cry from the actual German pronunciation of [ʃvɑ́:tsn̩.ʔɛgɐ]. English speakers who don’t know German would never imagine that there's a break in the voice after the [n] in the original pronunciation, and I daresay most American speakers could never manage the actual pronunciation in a hundred years. And why should they? English (and all world languages for that matter) has its own sound system that's more than capable of taking this and any other foreign name and anglicizing it so that it rolls off our tongues more readily. Sometimes we do these names justice; sometimes we don't.

I have Italian-American friends named Battaglia who pronounce their own name as [bǝtʰǽgliyǝ]. I don’t speak Italian, but I know the g isn’t supposed to be pronounced. These people actually speak Italian at home and don't say the [g] in Italian but do say it in English. Similarly, I know a lot of Turks have surnames that end in -oğlu where the ğ is also meant to be silent. Should people from other countries be expected to know this? I think not. I mean, where would it end? Would we also be expected to apply tones to Chinese names and clicks to African names? Don't roll your eyes at me... what's good for the goose is good for the gander; if Schwartzenegger wants his name pronounced perfectly, so should Máo ZéDōng!

Another point that only truly bilingual people will understand is that interrupting speech in one language with an accurate foreign pronunciation from another language can be somewhat disruptive to the flow. Where I live in Florida, almost everybody speaks both Spanish and English and we mix the two languages all the time. But when we use English words in Spanish, we always adapt them to Spanish pronunciation. For instance, when it’s tax time, everyone refers to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as the intérnal rébeñu in Spanish because it's tedious to shape your mouth in the middle of a Spanish sentence to accommodate an English phrase. English has lax sounds and Spanish has tense sounds; it's like mixing oil and vinegar. The other day, my sister and I were talking in English about our brother’s ex-girlfriend, whose last name is Fiallo, and we both said fee-áy-ow without batting an eye. Had we been speaking Spanish, we would've said [fyáyo], which is the correct Spanish pronunciation.

And my last point is that when people purposely pronounce foreign names with the proper pronunciation in the middle of English speech, it can sound a little pedantic. Especially French, for some reason. Just watch an episode of Frasier and you'll see what I mean. I was at Starbucks this one time, and this American woman came in. The girl at the counter asked her what she wanted and she said “I’ll have a pain au chocolat”. She was American, but she pronounced pain au chocolat with a perfect French accent... and the girl was flummoxed. She had absolutely no idea what the hell this woman was asking for. So she repeated it again with the same French accent and the girl said “Could you please point to it?” The woman actually rolled her eyes and huffed while hesitantly pointing at A CHOCOLATE CROISSANT! I thought that was so unnecessary and rude of her. First of all, most Americans call it a chocolate croissant. And the poor girl had probably never been out of the US... when the woman said pain au chocolat, the girl obviously heard something like pao shook lah and probably thought to herself This bitch must think she's in a Chinese restaurant! Really, lady? Now you're just showing off!

Having said all that, I do think that if you're from another country and you have a challenging name, you should give people a break and teach them how you want them to pronounce it if you’re going to be around them a significant amount of time, like at a new job or when making friends. If you're just waiting for the barista to call out your name in Starbucks, take what you get because you’re not in your country and everyone ain't a polyglot. As long as you get your coffee, what's the big deal? My first name is Uly pronounced ooly, but when Americans see my name, they invariably say yooly. Do I care? Not in the least. If it was going to break my heart to have my name mispronounced, I would've told the cashier to write Greg on my cup. As we say in English: Call me whatever you like — just don't call me late for dinner! badum pshhh! :)

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Linda, now that you have my take on this, where do you stand?