# Pronouncing English words when Speaking a Foreign Language



## pizzakid

So I wasn't sure where to post this, but this board seemed like the most appropriate, so here goes. 'English' is just used as an example in thread title..this idea is a slightly difficult to express, but here goes.

Let's say if you're speaking a foreign language, presumably to someone who speaks it as their native language, what accent are you going to use when pronouncing, say, your own name? 
Where I go to school most people are native speakers of English, and for language classes we have to make a lot of recordings and presentations in French, where inevitably an English name is going to come up. I just think it sounds veryawkward when someone is speaking French and then they turn back and say 'George Washington' or 'McDonalds' in an American accent. But if you use the pronounciation of the language you're speaking, it sounds as if you're making fun of the accent?..So generally, how do people get around this 'problem'?


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## Etcetera

Hi Pizzakid.

I guess I'm very lucky here, because my name, Anna, is among the commonest. When I introduce myself to other people, I always pronounce my name just the way I pronounce it in Russian (something like [an-nah]. No one had any problems so far.

A friend of mine is called Yekaterina (English Catherine). She is now living in the U.S. and she normally calls herself Katya, which is shortened form of Yekaterina and is, obviously, much easier to pronounce for a non-Russian.

Some people prefer to use English/French/etc counterparts of their names, though.


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## Grop

In France indeed we "francise" foreign words and phrases, including people names: we tell them using our natural (French) accent, only using sounds that actually exist in French.

This is not a question of being able to say them or not: otherwise there is a real risk of sounding snob or not being understood. If I have to, I will mark pauses before switching accents.

In Québec they seem to act differently. Sometimes on the Internet you find an English movie that has been dubbed by French-speaking Canadians who decided to say every English word with an English accent, even in the middle of a French sentence. To me (and my friends) this is really annoying (even if I understand every English phrase), a very good reason for suggesting "Wow, this sucks, let's watch an other movie (or find it subtitled)".

(Changing firstnames is a much more complicated issue).

Edit: Imants, I am glad you don't blame me for describing things as they are in my culture (although our preferences regarding dubbed movies are a bit off-topic). Btw here it is natural too to try to speak English with an English accent. What is not natural (in France) is to take a non-French accent when saying a foreign phrase while speaking French.


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## Imants

Grop said:


> In Québec they seem to act differently. Sometimes on the Internet you find an English movie that has been dubbed by French-speaking Canadians who decided to say every English word with an English accent, even in the middle of a French sentence. To me (and my friends) this is really annoying (even if I understand every English phrase), a very good reason for suggesting "Wow, this sucks, let's watch an other movie (or find it subtitled)".


It's a question of habit.
You may be annoyed by the Canadian way because you're used to the way you do it in France.

Your attitude reminds me of my schoolmates (not in Germany) who laughed at me for having British accent when speaking or reading English at school.
I guess they assumed that I was trying to sound posh, even though it was simply the most natural way for me to speak English.
I even tried to change my accent, but it was (and is) not as easy as I thought.
I don't blame you, though. I guess society can be mean without realizing it at times.

To answer the original question: Germans usually try to pronounce English names in the original way as well, like the way French-speaking Canadians do.


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## clipper

I think this is a very cultural topic. English and French words in Spanish are almost always pronounced in a Spanish way, whereas French words in English often keep their original French pronunciation (or at least something similar). A good example of this is the word "croissant".

I have to admit to having changed the way I pronounce my own name so as to avoid having to repeat myself so often when speaking in Spanish...


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## Etcetera

Speaking not of proper names, but just some foreign words that you may occasionally insert into your speech when speaking your native language - I would certainly try to pronounce them the way they must be pronounced in the language they come from. Maybe with the exception of some words which are used now almost as often as "native"
Russian words (e.g., merchandiser, manager, etc; their Russian pronunciation reflects, to an extent, the original pronunciation.

I'm sure there was once a discussion on this topic.


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## palomnik

A complicated issue, and one that is in a state of flux, at least in the USA. Obviously, there are a lot of names that are not Anglo-Saxon in the States. Nevertheless, traditionally names have gotten anglicized in pronunciation, sometimes to a detrimental limit (a third generation Polish American friend I had named Wysocky actually pronounced his name "Why-SOCK-ee", i.e. as if questioning an order for a Japanese adult beverage) but of late there has been a marked tendency the other way. Some radio announcers of Hispanic heritage will pronounce any and all Hispanic names with a decidedly Spanish accent, like a little eruption of Spanish in the middle of an English sentence. Perhaps even stranger is the Chinese announcer that reproduces Chinese names in English broadcasts with the even the correct tones!

To me, this sounds stilted; if it is by the announcer's choice I would call it a sophomoric and ultimately inane expression of racial pride; if it is the station's policy (and I have heard these on US public radio) I would call it a misguided attempt at political correctness. I would never expect an announcer on a non-English speaking show to go out of his way to pronounce an English word with proper pronunciation.

For that matter, even the English pronounce my (Irish) surname differently than it's pronounced in the USA. I would hardly expect any person to change his or her pronunciation to suit me.


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## BAS24

I usually play it by ear.  If I feel like the English word will be better understood, I will say it with Spanish accent. Also, it depends on the flow of the conversation. If I'm speaking English I don't interrupt the continuity of the sentence by throwing in a Spanish pronunciation. However, if it is the name of an organization which has not been translated by the organization and I am speaking Spanish, I pronounce it as I would in English. Upon reflection, it seems as if I have no set criterion and probably confuse more people than I help


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## viera

When I first arrived in France (from Toronto) I couldn't bring myself to pronounce brand names (Nivea, Palmolive, etc) with a French accent. After all, I _knew_ the _correct_ pronunciation, didn't I? But I learned fast, especiallly after a particularly embarrassing moment at the local pharmacy. I asked for Tampax, trying to keep a low profile. "Comment? comment?" was the reaction, the voices getting louder and louder, the people in the queue behind me becoming more and more interested, my face getting redder and redder.

I accepted that if I wanted to be understood I had to pronounce things their way and today, with nary a qualm, I say: un coc*a*, elle-v*i*sse presse-l*e*s, un âme-bure-gu*e*rre. But I still can't quite manage to say le Scrâble with a French accent.


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## lewis3wa

I am from Alabama in the United States and am 61 years old.  With the exception of a few years I have lived in the South.  My speech is slower and I have difficulty with throaty and rapid  pronunciations.  Generally, while overseas, most people accept my limitations.  Therefore, I speak as if in the States.

On my earlier trips, when trying to use local pronunciation, I received smiles or a laugh or two.


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## Diablo919

I listened to video in Dutch a while ago, and the guy was talking very fast, and all of a sudden you hear "drive by" in an American accent, so there's an example.


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## Outsider

I think it's almost impossible, when you're speaking a language at a natural pace, not to nativize the pronunciation of words from other languages. I find that trying to use the original pronunciation interferes with the flow of my speech. Probably, our brain and speech organs need to adjust to the phonology of the language we use in each utterance, so it's hard to switch back and forth in the middle of a sentence.

Also, you can come off as a pedant to some people if you insist on using the original pronunciation. As a language lover, I am of course a bit of a pedant, but even I have to admit that purist pronunciations often just get in the way of communication. I remain a pedant, but try not to be dogmatic about it.


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## Mate

*Moderator note: *


Please keep the discussion focused on the main questions:

 What accent are you going to use when pronouncing, say, your own name? 

 If you use the pronunciation of the language you're speaking, it sounds as if you're making fun of the accent?

 How do people get around this 'problem'?


Thanks.


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## Chaska Ñawi

Grop said:


> In Québec they seem to act differently. Sometimes on the Internet you find an English movie that has been dubbed by French-speaking Canadians who decided to say every English word with an English accent, even in the middle of a French sentence. To me (and my friends) this is really annoying (even if I understand every English phrase), a very good reason for suggesting "Wow, this sucks, let's watch an other movie (or find it subtitled)".



In Montreal, where the two cultures meld together very nicely on the whole, francophones usually _do _pronounce English words as they are pronounced in English, even when speaking in French.  The anglophones do the same thing with French words.  It isn't a conscious decision, as you suggest.

I have heard the same thing in Acadian French, where many English words have been incorporated into the language.  Basically, pronounciation of non-French words is a question of exposure.

This means that I can pronounce English words in my own accent in Quebec, but have to change that accent when talking with, for example, South Americans ... at least, if I wish to be understood.


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## alepre

Personally I work for an American Company, when I pronounce my name I say it in Spanish. I think trying to pronounce it in English, would sound like I want to make fun of the accent and the other person will not understand what my name is.

My name is Alejandro (very hard to pronounce in English).
I always say it in English, many times I add that it is the translation of Alexander, and, if necessary, I spell it.


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## ireney

*Moderator's note: Please do not give your personal opinion on the subject unless used as an example of your culture's "response" to that matter or, of course, its exceptions. When doing so make it clear to the reader that this is the case. *

We usually "hellenize" the foreign names but up to a point. In other words, and to take an example from a previous post, "Alejandro" would be pronounced "Alejandro" and "Alexander" "Alexander". _However_, any sound that does not exist in modern Greek will not be pronounced. A good example is the sound "sh" that sounds the same as "s" : "shoe" and "sue" would sound the same within a Greek sentence.

The languages that fare worse are French and Chinese, while Spanish are the "luckiest" of all. If a native Greek speaker pronounces the non-Greek word properly, most people will think that he/she is showing off.


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## Macunaíma

In Brazil foreign words tend to be pronounced the Brazilian way. It wound be very odd to pronounce an English _th_ sound, for example, while speaking, and sometimes we insert vowels to make the word less awkward for us to pronounce, so _McDonald's _becomes _Mek*i*'donaldj*i*s_ and _home theater_ becomes _houm'*tch*íater_. The same holds for names. Many people I know have German names (my own family name being German too) and their pronunciation is 'adapted' to a great extent: Kreitl becomes kráitel, Hilprecht becomes hil'présht, Loubach becomes Lou'báque and so forth. English names are not so radically changed because we are more accustomed to hearing them, but the _th_ sounds is never pronounced as in English.

On the other hand, while speaking English I tend to pronounce Brazilian names of cities with an English accent, but not people's names, and this is something I have observed among other Brazilians too.


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## thesmithtopher

When I was in Costa Rica, I would alternate with the English Chris (my name) and the spanish pronunciated "Cris".  I found it really depened on the amount of English spoken by the local person; if they spoke English I said it with English pronunciation, but if I were speaking to them in Spanish I would say it with a Spanish pronunciation.

What I do is pretty much mould how I pronounce things to whom I'm speaking with.  If I'm speaking with a fellow Canadian I will anglisize any foreign words because I know they'd understand it more.  If I'm speaking with someone in Spanish I use a Spanish accent with any inherently English words.

I'm watching a Telenovela right now called Dame Chocolate.  One thing I find interesting is how each character says other's names.  It's set in Florida so many of the Character's names are English.  Most characters, at the start, pronounced any and all names with a Spanish accent, except for the mother who would _always_ say English names with a 100% American accent "Qué haces BRUCE" switching back and forth everytime there was a name.  Now later on in the series there are more characters who are starting to do the same as her.

I find it harder to switch back and forth but the more I practice the more I do it.


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## Hakro

Nowadays we use quite a lot of English words when speaking Finnish. Depending on the context and the peaople we are speaking to, we can pronounce the English words like in English (as well as we can) or totally "in Finnish" (which is generally easy to understand for a Finn who speaks English but totally impossible for an English speaker) or somewhere between these two.

A special problem is that instead of prepositions we have cases, and according to the rules of Finnish language even the basic word can change. This rule is sometimes used also for English words and names. For example, "to the Beatles" can be said in Finnish "Beatleksille". No English speaker could pick up the name from this sentence.

When pronouncing Finnish words/names while speaking a foreign language I've decided to keep the Finnish pronunciation. I have two examples from France:

A Finn named Jussila (a very common Family name in Finland) had to introduce himself in a hospital (or somewhere) and he tried to help the clerk by pronouncing his name "in French". Well, it sounds like "je suis là" _(I am here)_. And the clerk said:
"Je vois bien que vous êtes là, mais quel est votre nom?" _(I can see that you are there but what is your name?)
_
Another friend of mine who was born in a small town with a Swedish name Grankulla, had to inform somebody in France about his birth place. He pronounced it "in French" and it sounded like "grand cul là" _(big ass there)_.


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## Chaska Ñawi

We have now reached our third moderator intervention, folks.

Personal opinions and experiences are acceptable in this forum only if they are framed in their cultural context.  Otherwise they do not advance our cultural understanding.

Further moderator intervention will consist of closing this thread, which would be a pity.  Please make sure that your posts shed some light on different cultures, not merely your own thoughts on the matter, so that we can keep this discussion running.

Thank you for your understanding.


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## alepre

Mateamargo said:


> *Moderator note: *
> 
> 
> Please keep the discussion focused on the main questions:
> 
> What accent are you going to use when pronouncing, say, your own name?
> 
> If you use the pronunciation of the language you're speaking, it sounds as if you're making fun of the accent?
> 
> How do people get around this 'problem'?
> 
> I am sorry for giving my personal opinion/experience; according to this comment, I thought personal experiences were required.
> 
> 
> Thanks.


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## Chaska Ñawi

No need for an apology!      As a new forero, your confusion was understandable.

Personal experiences add depth to our depictions of our culture, so they're helpful in that context.  It's just that they can't make up the entire post; we have to understand _how that experience reflects the culture_.

This is why Ireney posted a second note to clarify this.

And now, back to the topic .......


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## Cracker Jack

I my country where English is the medium of instruction in higher learning.  We have been taught American English and we pronounce English words as they are in English even though we talk in Tagalog or in our native dialects.  This is attributable to the influence of American influence during the colonial period especially with the arrival of Thomasites, teachers who arrived on board S.S. Thomas.

I am here in Spain and even if the pronunciation of English words are different,  I still pronounce them correctly.  When the sales person doesn't get it, I explain it.  When I buy movie ticket, I use the English title of the movie, ex. Die Hard (_Jungla Cristal_), Spiderman (not Speederman).


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## lizzeymac

What accent are you going to use when pronouncing, say, your own name? When speaking a foreign language I pronounce my name as I do in English.  If someone has a problem managing 'Lis" (liz) or Elisabeth I don't take offense but I try to help them get it right if they ask for help.  I will pronounce American place names as they do in the foreign language for clarity's sake, unless I am asked how we pronounce it.
I work very hard to pronounce proper names and place names as close to their native pronunciations a I can manage. 
Or, I pronounce it however the person pronounces their own name- as Palomnik mentioned, Americanized versions of foreign names are often very surprising. 
Living in NYC and having gone to public school, I don't actually think of Spanish as a 'foreign' language so I am surprised and a bit irritated when I hear newscasters mangle common Spanish names - it seems unlikely that they have never heard them pronounced correctly. It seems rude and lazy not to even try to get it right.

If you use the pronunciation of the language you're speaking, it sounds as if you're making fun of the accent?
 If I can't mange to say the word correctly and I see people wincing I try to avoid the word until I can practice.  
While visiting other parts of America I have gotten more grief for the inverse offense - not pronouncing 'croissant' and 'van Gogh' and 'picadillo' like an 'American.' 

How do people get around this 'problem'?
I work in the arts with many foreign language speakers, but usually only for short periods of time- 4-8 weeks per project - so it's hard to pick up the correct pronunciation for a new language in such a short time while getting on with your job.
Me and any of my co-workers avoid the words they can't pronounce until we can practice and get it right.  We are currently working on a project with a Polish theater company and none of us are doing very well with the strings of consonants in the names.  In our spare time we are all listening to a recording of the play in Polish on our iPods to try to get an ear for Polish  (it's a beautful language!).


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## libero30

I think that this problem is even more pronounced for tonal languages. I speak Punjabi and obviously my name is difficult to pronounce for English speakers, even though to me it's phonetic. I just try and pronounce it in English even though it doesn't sound similar, I've just gotten used to it. Even now when I meet other Indians in Britain I pronounce my name in English even though they'd be able to say it. I suppose it's better than mixing languages whilst having a conversation as it interrupts the flow.


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## CrazyArcher

Interesting topic 

I guess switching to another pronunciation in the middle of a sentence would be pretty hard for anyone. The example with Quebec movie overdubbing looks more like an curious abberation and not a norm. In general, folks over here don't tend to think too much and say foreign words in a pretty straightforward way.

Personally, I'm invlolved into music and when I talk with fellow musicians our speech has plenty of English words. I tend to prounce them in an almost-English way, with smooth 'r' and correct 'th' (not substituting it with [s]), but I don't fully set my speech on the 'English mode' - all the intricities that form "English accent". There's also a bit of Italian terms that I use, like 'vibrato' or 'tremolo', and I pronounce them like they should be pronounced in Italian (not [veeb-rei-teu], like English pronunciation rules suggest).


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## don_perez

I wouldn't quite see it as speaking for someone else. I think the pronounciation of English words/names in other language completely depends on who you're talking to, and oddly enough what kind of environment they live in. 

It's hard to explain. I've noticed that a lot of it has to do with the accent with which they speak English. If their accent is basically a standard Accent for whatever English-speaking region they're in, if they say an English word, I notice that they usually pronounce it in english.

If I'm speaking Spanish to someone who understands Spanish much better than English, I would be more inclined to pronounce words with Spanish pronounciation. My name is Jared. That's not always easy to pronounce for a Spanish speaker. I say my name is Jared, yet all of my Spanish-speaking friends call me some variation of "Jerri" or "Yerri" so depending on who I'm talking to, I say my name as one of those two.


It seems silly, but I know if someone like the Russian poster earlier (don't recall the name, sorry) told me the Russian pronunciation of their name, I'd probably mess it all up and be embarrased. Of course that's just me. 

But in general, I think the pronunciation of words in certain languages really should be pronounced as they would be to the people in whatever region you're in/whatever language the people around you speak. Why? Because even within a single language, words are pronounced way differently. For example, take a look at American and European English. They sound quite a bit different. 

Even North American and South American English. That's not to say that while in New York you say "Theh tap wuattah" (The tap watter), and in Oklahoma you say  "The tayap wowter" (obvious exaggerations) because from one English region to another, if you pronounce it with your own "accent" you will be understood equally as well (in most cases) but if I were to go to Puerto Rico and say

"Soy de Lansing, Michigan" (hypothetical) with an American pronunciation, it might be a little harder to understand than  "Soy de La-sin, Michi gahn". Idunno if that's wrong, I just think sometimes it is helpful to maintain the accent you have when you are speaking said language.


Edit: oh and I nearly forgot...When I am speaking English to a Spanish-speaking person, in that case I do pronounce their name, (or any other Spanish word) with it's Spanish pronunciation, because I feel that is the most respectful to them. When dealing with my own name, I go ahead and say it in whatever way will be easiest for them to pronounce.


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## Gwan

Scared to comment in case it's "my personal experience" and not a "cultural perspective"...

Anyway, when speaking a foreign language I tend to pronounce my name in the way they would. 'Joanna' has sounds that don't occur in other languages, so in French I'm "Zhoanna", in Russian "Joahnnah", in other languages "Yoanna". Sometimes I even speak French with other anglophones and have to correct myself - "Zho", je veux dire, "Jo" (excuse poor representation of pronunciation). It's easier for whoever I'm speaking with, but it is also really difficult to switch languages mid-sentence. I was in a London bakery and asked for "a pain au chocolat, s'il vous plait", without meaning to...

On the other hand, I know plenty of Franco/Anglophones who speak 'franglais' in a playful way. Like, "see you demain!" or "Merde! J'ai oublié my wallet". I don't know why it's easier to switch there, I suppose your brain knows you're playing around and not just saying a normal sentence. Although my (ex) French boss used to be practically incapable of saying a sentence in a single language, he constantly mixed the two together.


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## avok

pizzakid said:


> I just think it sounds veryawkward when someone is speaking French and then they turn back and say 'George Washington' or 'McDonalds' in an American accent.


 
I watch some sitcoms/news from Quebec on TV5 (a French channel) and that's exactly what happens!! They speak Quebecois French during the programme but when an English word comes up, they pronounce it with an American/Canadian accent. That's one thing you'll never see in French programmes.


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## Etcetera

> It seems silly, but I know if someone like the Russian poster earlier (don't recall the name, sorry) told me the Russian pronunciation of their name, I'd probably mess it all up and be embarrased. Of course that's just me.


It seems it is I you're talking about, Don Perez.

Well, my name Anna is rather easy to pronounce, as it's very common in most countries (I've read once that it's the most popular female name in the world). I wouldn't object to its being pronounced in the English way or in the Spanish way (it'd be Ana, I suppose?) And I believe most people wouldn't see it offensive if a foreigner would mispronounce their name.

I must admit that I, too, would feel embarrassed if I happened to make a mistake in my vis-a-vis's name. I would certainly make sure I got their name right, and I would instantly apologise for any mistake.


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## mirx

Etcetera said:


> It seems it is I you're talking about, Don Perez.
> And I believe most people wouldn't see it offensive if a foreigner would mispronounce their name.


 
People always get my name wrong in Spanish, even more so in English, so it doesn't bother me at all when people say my name with a foreing accent.

My two cents to this thread is basically something that outsider and you had already pointed out. While I would encourage people to enunciate words in ther original pronounciation, I also agree that it's hard to switch back and forth in the middle of a sentence.

Take the example of someone with direct Spanish ancestry, but who is a native English speaker, even though he would be completely familiar with words in Spanish he would most likely stick to the anglicized version.

He would better say, I am from "Lous Ean-gel-es", than I am from "Los Anheles".


Cheers.


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