How you say your name...

Question

Hola amigos,

There's something bothering me and I wondered if others feel the same way...or not

I speak English as my first language. My name is Angela. I live in Indianapolis.

When I speak Spanish with a native Spanish speaker, I pronounce my name the way my parents pronounced it. THAT is my name. It bothers me that some of the Spanish teaching recordings (not here, elsewhere) have people changing the pronunciations of their names or places of origin to fit the language they are learning.

It just seems downright wrong.

Answer 1

A lot of people agree with you.

If your name in English is George, maybe you don't want to be called Jorge!

If you name in Spanish is Jorge, it's very likely that you won't like to be called George.

I'm lucky: My name is Marianne and Mariana suits me just fine too.

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What irritates me is that Spanish people say Neuva York when the name of the town is New York. Changing it to suit a certain languages pronunciation doesn't make much sense to me.

English speaking folks don't change the name and spelling of cities in Spain just to make them easier to pronounce. "Oh, I don't like the name Madrid...I think we'll call it...hmmm...Madiline!"

Especially when they use the d=th and it doesn't sound like Madrid anyway. Let's go with Madiline. - 0074b507, Oct 13, 2011

I can see the trend when one of the languages contains letters/sounds that the other doesn't, and one can't pronounce that letter correctly (like Chinese people mispronouncing "l" like "r") I wouldn't want to be called "Rarry" if my name was Larry. - 0074b507, Oct 13, 2011

Answer 2

I am going to disagree with the two previous posters. We are trying to learn a different language. If that's the name in Spanish, that's the name.

Or else we will have,

I don't like the name taza for cup so I am going to continue calling it a cup when I speak Spanish.

But we are talking about proper names here not what things are called. - MaryMcc, Oct 13, 2011

Answer 3

Angela is a famous name in Latinamerica and it's spelled exactly the same way in Spanish. they are going to pronounce it the way it is in Spanish and since it's the same spelling and everything they are not going to make an effort to pronounce it different.

It would be different if is a different name like Charles or Wendy. but since Angela is spelled the same in Spanish and spelled the same and a common name in Latin America they will just say it the way it shows.

Agreed! My point was that my name is said the way my parents say it. That's who gave me my name. So when I introduce myself to a Spanish speaker I SHOULD pronounce my name the way it was given to me, not the way it is said in their language. - AngelaG, Oct 13, 2011

Answer 4

I can understand in a class room situation, although our tutor was quite happy for us to use our English names so long as our Spanish was correct. However in real life I think you should be known by your given name, or the version you choose.

My name is Mary, not Maria and so far the Spanish people I have met have been happy to call me Mary.

Answer 5

It's your name, you can pronounce it anyway you want.

Spanish teachers try to create a "Spanish-speaking environment" in their classrooms or with their lessons. My high school Spanish teacher got frustrated because there was no equivalent for Kevin, so she called me by the equivalent of my first name, rather than the name I've always gone by. I don't answer to Donald in English, so I'm not likely to answer to Donato in Spanish.

I understand what they're trying to do, but in real life you can call yourself whatever you please.