Dale Carnegie
When I a young kid in India listening to the cricket commentary on radio, we had some commentators who would totally butcher some English names. For example, a famous cricketer from England was referred to by some commentators as “Iron Bottom” (instead of Ian Botham!). I used to consider these commentators plain lazy for not making the minimum effort to learn to pronounce the names of all the cricketers correctly.
Fast forward to several decades later and I am sitting in an audience where my daughter Sakshi (along with a bunch of kids of Indian origin) was receiving an award for being on the Junior Honor Roll and the kid making the announcement managed to mangle almost every single non-English sounding name.
It took some amount of persuasion on my part before the Principal of CMSE, Laura Springer, would take this issue of mispronunciation of names, seriously enough to agree to try and educate the children as to the importance, especially in today’s globalized work place, of taking the trouble to learn the correct pronunciation of “foreign” names.
Given that it was an American, Dale Carnegie, who wrote in his book “How to win friends and influence people” that among the “Six ways to make people like you” one was to “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”, it is indeed surprising as to why 76 years later American kids would not make the minimum effort to at least get the names of their classmates right.
#1 by Rupa Bose on 2012/07/25 - 9:38 pm
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I’ve seen the same thing… but even more interesting, the kids themselves Anglicize the pronunciation of their own names. I’ve encountered an Ekta whose name rhymes with Nectar, and a Taimur whose name is said “Tamer.” Since I hold that a person has the right to choose their own name’s pronunciation, that’s what I called them, too. But it took a mental adjustment!
#2 by Venky Venkatraman on 2012/07/25 - 11:24 pm
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When I first came to the US in the 80s, I found, among Indians who preceded me here, in their attempts to blend in, Mohan had become Mike, Hari had become Harry and one Mrs. Murthy even converted herself to Mrs. Murtry (during which period Barack was Barry and Geraldo was Jerry). Indians who came later (like us), stuck with our original names. So I do find it rather strange that the next generation of Indians born and bred here (who should have no problems assimilating) appears to be coming full circle and seemingly prefer Anglicized pronunciation of their names!
#3 by Rupa Bose on 2012/07/26 - 4:29 am
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They’re a generation for whom English (or American!) is the first language; they may not speak any Indian language, or speak it with an accent. So perhaps it’s not so surprising that they pronounce their names the American way. And when they name their own children, they don’t give them Indian names (except maybe as middle names).
#4 by Tito Medina on 2012/07/26 - 9:14 am
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The next progression to this process is not naming the next generation in the native languague, but rather the language native to where they will live. I see it all the time.
#5 by saroja on 2012/07/27 - 5:17 am
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Even children of Indian origin growing up in the U.S. pronounce their Indian names with an accent. I think It is more due to the atmosphere they are growing in.
#6 by Sakshi Venkatraman on 2012/08/04 - 5:05 pm
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Yes I totally agree!! I am definitely not going to give my child an Indian name. I am used to people messing up my name, so its okay, but it would be nice if it was different… OKAY BYYYEE!
#7 by PAK on 2014/09/12 - 1:26 pm
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Interesting, but it’s not a new or unique problem. My grandparents were immigrants from Italy and they “Americanized” the pronunciation of their Italian last name (my maiden name). It’s really the easiest way to fit in and quite common.