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David Njoku profile picture
David Njoku
@David Njoku
Here's a dilemma you have as a person from two different cultures: how do you pronounce the names of people who mispronounce their own names?

For example, English football is full of players of Nigerian heritage - Saka, Madueke, Eze - and everyone mispronounces their names. So should I anglicise their names too? Feels weird in my mouth tho.

Same thing when I met British-Nigerians in real life.

Example: if you're British and you meet an American called Craig or Graham, what do you call them?
6
TrueNorthSpice 🇨🇦 · 1w
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpqafz9jadkpqzaedvclkth4vcm6q9fsvy6mfddq0ufwjpy4gptlwxqs0ryua I pronounce a person's name the same way they do because I respect their choice. IMO, it boils down to respecting the individual, not some language rule.
Colin H. · 1w
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpqafz9jadkpqzaedvclkth4vcm6q9fsvy6mfddq0ufwjpy4gptlwxqs0ryua There was a story on here a few months back about a woman called Priti being overjoyed when someone at her workplace finally pronounced it correctly ("preethy", not "pretty"). I guess t...
Chris Ford :tw: · 1w
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpqafz9jadkpqzaedvclkth4vcm6q9fsvy6mfddq0ufwjpy4gptlwxqs0ryua No one mispronounces their own name. They're the authority on it.
Dawn Ahukanna · 1w
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpqafz9jadkpqzaedvclkth4vcm6q9fsvy6mfddq0ufwjpy4gptlwxqs0ryua I would ask the owner of the name how they’d like me to pronounce it - Anglo or Native(Naija)? Personally, the “Anglicized” version helps not to “other” simply because of name ...
David Njoku · 1w
I work with a guy of Nigerian heritage named Chuks. Nice name. Impossible to mispronounce , you're thinking. Except, unless you're Nigerian, you likely think it sounds a bit like Chucks. No, it's Choox. I asked him if he'd like me to pronounce his name correctly or the way everyone else says it. ...
Sherri W (SyntaxSeed) · 1w
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpqafz9jadkpqzaedvclkth4vcm6q9fsvy6mfddq0ufwjpy4gptlwxqs0ryua I'm actually quite embarrassed & critical of English speaking countries (I'm Canadian) and how unwilling we seem to put in even small effort to pronounce people's names correctly or to f...