I am a long-time professor, so calling roll in the first couple of meetings of a class is a rite of passage. I take pride in pronouncing my students' names correctly. I'm pretty good at figuring out the proper sounds as I read names representing various nationalities and ethnicities, and I estimate that I get the pronunciations right at least 95% of the time. I always do preface my roll call with a request that students correct my pronunciation if I don't get it right or tell me their preferred common moniker by which to be addressed.
I think it's important to remember that people can get exhausted trying to explain and it's not their job to teach you . For example, there was a kid in my high school who always sighed irritably when a substitute would start calling role. It was understandable though because substitutes would often stop at his name and just go blank. There were kids from lots of different racial, national, and cultural backgrounds in my school so substitutes would often go down the role saying the first or last name . This student's last name was a challenge and his first was even harder for them. His family was Nigerian and his name was Igbo in origin.
I went to school with him for six years and never once learned his first name because he had a nickname. He would tell the teachers his nickname but on more than one occasion they would keep pressing him ("oh, but I want to know how it's pronounced" etc.) It got really frustrating for him. I think it's important to ask and important to make sure you're respecting the other person's wishes as well. After all, the point of asking is to make people feel accepted and respected and if you do it in a way that doesn't do that, it may be that you're doing it more for your own peace of mind. When I worked for the Open University in London, we spent a lot of time phoning students before the degree ceremony to make sure we pronounced their names right.
London, of course, has a population of all nationalities. I was on jury service once, the old-fashioned judge just would not get the defence counsel's African surname right, though it was quite phonetic. Luckily I have a "feel" for language, but I do know people who just can't remember pronunciation (the "bumblers"). But others seem to think that having a name that doesn't sound typically English is pretentious! It's also an English vice to think that pronouncing foreign names or words properly makes YOU pretentious; people on Facebook were making fun of a mother who was teaching her child to pronounce quinoa.
I think it is very important to ask students how to pronounce their names and try to remember. At the elementary school program where I work, we just ask every kid "what's your name? How do you spell it" even if it's Ashley or something. It makes all the kids feel a lot better especially because a majority of them are black and have unique names with unique spellings. These unique names are a way that people have etched out their own culture in a hostile social environment and acknowledging them tells those kids, you're as "normal" as Emily or Jack.
Naming practices might be different but that doesn't make one of them abnormal. This is a valuable article, and a good one to think about as the semester begins. I have many students with unusual-to-me names and I try very hard to get the pronunciation right. But I also want to note that I'm hearing impaired which comes with speech issues. I sometimes cannot hear or produce the pronunciation correctly, which is frustrating. For example, I cannot hear any S or Z sounds.
I have learned to make them, but I am sure this keeps me from saying some names as they ought to be said. As far as I can tell, my students have been understanding about this, and I am grateful for it. It's important to remember that teachers are fully human too — with disabilities and "unusual" names and backgrounds, too. Starting in second grade, my parents made the tremendous financial sacrifice to send me to a private, nearly all-white school for the rest of my elementary, primary, and secondary education. I was one of only two black students in my cohort of sixty students, and the other black student had a nice normal name.
I loved the school, thrived in it, and was graduated from it. But at least through eighth grade, it was the same story at the beginning of every class in every term. During the teacher's roll call, there would be the inevitable pregnant pause, followed by the instructor's honest attempt to read my name, usually mangling it in the process. Most of my teachers quickly learned how to say and spell my name, while a few got by with tolerable mispronunciations that were "unique" to each of those teachers who still struggled with it. And my friends, who had already long since been able to say my name right, came up with convenient alternative nicknames with which I had no problem.
I am a black man (African-American, Afro American, Negro, person of color, etc., etc. …whatever, I've lost track!), from the southeastern U. S. I am proud of, content in, and comfortable with my blackness; it can never be taken from me. In the interest of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, many black parents, including mine, endeavored to give their children African names, in keeping with the Black Power mentality. [Or, at least, this was the story I was told.] The last name of a famous African leader was given to me as my first name — Toure (too – ray, acute accent over the e).
As the son of two educators in the school system, my parents saw to it that I could read fairly well by the time I got to kindergarten. I looked at the name cards that the teacher had placed at each student's desk space. I saw nice "normal" names like Harold, Gordon, Mary, and Susan. There were a few tougher names , but I figured them out. This was the first time I saw my whole name written out. And I was the only student with the distinction of having two middle names instead of just one like everybody else.
My name represents at least three different nationalities, such that one seeing my name would wonder about my place of origin or ponder the possibility of my having more than two biological parents. My name was not a source of pride to me, but an embarrassment. My personal beef is with my youngest daughter's name, Mikaëla. Most Americans use Makayla , blasting through that diphthong to make a three-syllable pronunciation.
This is understandable, since English typically does not split diphthongs; hence the use of the umlaut over the e to prompt a four-syllable pronunciation. This is how it is done in French and Spanish . It is very difficult to get teachers and parents to say it correctly however, though classmates usually pick it up instantly. To learn better is an unreasonable call on their time and energy. Though I understand what you're saying and there is definitely truth to it I've always taken a different viewpoint on this issue.
I'm a white German girl who's hippie parents gave her an unusual hawaiian name that no one can pronounce or spell. Though it was hard as a child when I grew older my opinion changed. The definition of politeness is making those around you comfortable so I simply shortened my name to something that was easy for everyone. It's just as awkward for the other person trying to say your name so just let it go and don't hold onto your indignation so strongly. My father's name is Bryan, when we lived in Mexico he went by his second name David because it was easier for the people there to pronounce. Step off your high horse once in a while and just make it easier for others…your family and friends will still always get it right and that's what really matters.
Learning to pronounce a colleague's name correctly is not just a common courtesy but it's an important effort in creating an inclusive workplace, one that emphasizes psychological safety and belonging. That's why it's important to get names right. When you're unfamiliar with how to pronounce someone's name, ask them to pronounce it — and actively listen. Once you've heard the correct pronunciation, thank the person and move on.
Don't spend a long time talking about how unfamiliar you are with their name. If you realize that you've been saying a colleague's name wrong, apologize and ask for the correct pronunciation. If you hear someone else mispronouncing a colleague's name when they're not around, step in and correct them gently. My name is rarely mispronounced (though when I started teaching in Latin America, I got called "Miss B" instead of "Miss V" on a regular basis), but my first name would get misspelled all the time. I remember teachers adding an H to my name even when they were copying directly off of an attendance list.
It made me feel like they were too lazy to care about my name. Now whenever I have students whose names could have multiple spellings (or it's not a name I'm used to), I always double-check with them. I have a name that is easily to pronounce, but everybody pronounce it differently. As it is common in English language they pronounce as they used to, but to be truthful, it is not how my mother family are calling me since I was born.
Do We Say My Names Are Or My Name Is So when you have universal name, it is hard to correct people. I don't mind it really how they call me, but I do mind they don't even ask me is that correct. They just assume all world say it the same, and I refuse to believe they are ignorant to don't know it is not the true. For surnames I understand and don't expect they will remember even if they try, I know it is hard. But it is great feeling when someone makes an effort.
So instead of starting class with the classic calling of roll and assigning of seats, we left instructions for each of our students with names on them on the desks. Students found their names and got to work, and meanwhile, we were able to go from student to student, asking them what their name was and what they liked to be called. The first people to say each of their names were the children themselves, and it was never mispronounced aloud to the class. At that point, I would make a note of their name phonetically, introduce myself, and shake their hand (because I'm old school and dorky like that). We did this no matter how common or unique a student's name was.
By the way, the best way to ask me how I pronounce my name is not "How do you pronounce your name? " but rather "What is the correct pronunciation of your name? Instead, ask me how it is pronounced correctly and I will tell you.
I once had a student who told me every day I did not pronounce his name correctly. I could not hear a differnce between what he was saying was the correct pronunciation and what I was saying. I honestly thought I was saying it correctly and he was just being an ass and finding it funny to bully the teacher. I literally was broght to tears a couple of times.
A few years later, I was volunteering at church camp and we had a missionary from his country there. I asked the missionary about his name, and the missionary laughed. He said I was indeed buthchering the name, but not to fret, because very few Americans could tell the differnce.
We didn't have that sound in our language, and the slight clicks were very difficult to detect. He verified that the student most likely knew this and thought it funny to bully me. I agree that there are far too many people who do not make an effort to pronounce names right, and that this is indeed frustrating and needlessly makes the person feel undervalued. These things make getting the pronunciation difficult. Many rush through it because of their own feelings of inadequacy . Some hem and haw from straight embaressment, not necessarily because they are trying.
(If I had to roll my r's to save my life – I'd end up dead, lol). Make an effort to hear how someone pronounces their name to other people, even if they just pronounced it for you. If you're introducing someone on stage or in any public forum, write down a note for yourself on how to pronounce it correctly and practice it in private.
If you find that you're introducing someone new in a public setting, ask them in advance — or ask someone who works with them — how to correctly pronounce their name. The memory of the first time I received a professional award will always be tainted by how the emcee butchered my name as they called me up on stage to receive it. I would've been delighted if she had clarified the pronunciation in the 10 minutes we were chatting before we went up on stage.
We'll cover the most common names in the world – both their official Chinese translations and common variations, teach you how to write your name inChinese characters, and pronounce it in standard Mandarin. Besides, we'll look at the logic behind the Chinese translations of foreign names and show you how your name is translated from English or your native language in the first place. And at the end of the post, we'll help you learn a fewexpressionsyou can use when introducing yourself to your Chinese-speaking friends. Correct pronunciation of names can make students feel valued and seen in the classroom, particularly if they have had bad experiences in the past that made them feel undervalued.
A name is such a critical part of identity and can be representative of culture or familial ties, which students can feel drawn to when exploring their values and beliefs, etc. One nice thing about a lot of LMS is that they now have capabilities for students to upload a voice recording onto their class site of them pronouncing their name. This is helpful for teachers but also makes students feel like their name matters and is being valued. We should also be talking about human speach limitations.
Of course children will pick up the correct pronunciation of their classmate names. They are still in a fluid state of their language development. But as you get older, sounds become hard-wired in your brain, and not just in the pronunciation, but in the hearing. We can try it best, and that's the best we can promise… Your mother tong impose a limitation to what sounds you can reproduce.
And saying that words are just syllables put together is true, the issue is that normal people, after living more than 10 years, can't hear or reproduce all the different syllables of all the languages in the world. As a long-time teacher, I never allow a student to shorten his/her name or allow it to be mispronounced, unless they actually PREFER to be "Chuck" rather than Chukwenyere, for example. I do not allow other students to mutter a name, stumble and then say "whatever." I let the person named drill us with the actual pronunciation. For me, I ask again as many times as it takes me, and write my own version of the IPA symbols in my record book so hopefully I can do it right the rest of the term. This, to me, is not harder than learning to pronounce the long Latinate medical terms, or the names of Egyptian gods or manga/anime authors. The mispronunciation of names can be very frustrating and embarrassing.
During role call, whenever there is an awkward silence, I know that my name is next so instead of listening to my name being butchered, I usually relieve the person from saying my name and say it myself. Nobody likes to hear their name being pronounced incorrectly, but unfortunately as a teacher, I have been guilty of mispronouncing my student's names. Being a foreigner myself, instead of teaching people the correct way to say my full name, I either shorten it or make it easier for both them and me by changing the pronunciation of my name to meet their needs. Ask the person to pronounce it — and actively listen.
Rather than try to say a name you're unfamiliar with, ask the person how to pronounce it. It's awkward and embarrassing when people try to "soldier on" with my name and spend more time trying to correct themselves afterwards. Listen carefully to where the person puts emphasis, and where the inflections are. If you know you will interact with them often, make a note on how to phonetically pronounce their name .
