Pronouncing ‘Foreign’ Names Redux
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James Joyner | Thursday, May 28, 2009 |
Apropos the Pronouncing ‘Foreign’ Names business, Eugene Volokh reminds us that it’s not just Hispanic surnames that cause problems:
[W]hen you bring an unusual name to a foreign country, you have to expect that people won’t always pronounce it the way you do. But if you want to humor me, please say it in a way that rhymes with “Pollock” (with the accent on the first syllable, of course). It’s not the standard Russian pronunciation, but it’s the one I use myself in English.
I learned my Russian pronunciations from The Original Pavel Chekov and had always internally pronounced Eugene’s last name as if it ended with -wagon.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Comments
...as if it ended with -wagon.
ROFLMAO
This is one of the primary reasons I continue to read OTB, James.
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