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Help[Opinions] Re: Sigalit
in reply to a message by RoxStar
you're not pronouncing it right then...you'd think somebody on a name etymology site would know that "i" in other languages is not often pronounced like the English long "i". not even in English is "i" always said that way. i can't imagine how you would deal with an actual foreign sound/letter.
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not everyone is that much of a name nerd ...
And not everybody can speak multiple languages. I know as well as you do that letters don't make the same sounds in other languages. But have you ever heard of overpronouncing? That's when an American English speaker (for the sake of argument; anybody can do this) says a foreign word or name in a strictly correct way, but since they don't have the right accent or background, it ends up sounding exaggerated and like they're trying to imitate an accent they don't actually have.
Like if I was to pronounce the Spanish surname Ramirez, and trilled my r's like they do in Spanish, that would sound utterly ridiculous and probably offend a Spanish speaker.
And not everybody can speak multiple languages. I know as well as you do that letters don't make the same sounds in other languages. But have you ever heard of overpronouncing? That's when an American English speaker (for the sake of argument; anybody can do this) says a foreign word or name in a strictly correct way, but since they don't have the right accent or background, it ends up sounding exaggerated and like they're trying to imitate an accent they don't actually have.
Like if I was to pronounce the Spanish surname Ramirez, and trilled my r's like they do in Spanish, that would sound utterly ridiculous and probably offend a Spanish speaker.
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you don't have to be a name nerd to know that a clearly foreign name probably doesn't go by English rules. even people who i know can't speak a language besides English are able to realize this.
there's a huge difference between following rules and trying to imitate sounds. i can say Ramirez decently by knowing that it's "rah-", not "ram-", but not try to imitate the rolling r because i know i can't do it. i can say Castillo fine, knowing that the double ll is silent, but not do an accent, because that's not needed or appropriate. no one is asking that you imitate the accent, and i honestly doubt you think i meant that- it's such a simple difference. unless it's typical of you to jump to assuming extremes.
to end with: there's no big deal about pronouncing Sigalit as "sig-uh-lit", as inaccurate as that is, because that just makes sense to you. the deal is over going "hah when pronounced wrong, it sounds like this completely random set of English words, so that's a problem", and seeing it as "too foreign" (as if that's an issue, especially in America), when it doesn't even go against English pronunciation rules.
there's a huge difference between following rules and trying to imitate sounds. i can say Ramirez decently by knowing that it's "rah-", not "ram-", but not try to imitate the rolling r because i know i can't do it. i can say Castillo fine, knowing that the double ll is silent, but not do an accent, because that's not needed or appropriate. no one is asking that you imitate the accent, and i honestly doubt you think i meant that- it's such a simple difference. unless it's typical of you to jump to assuming extremes.
to end with: there's no big deal about pronouncing Sigalit as "sig-uh-lit", as inaccurate as that is, because that just makes sense to you. the deal is over going "hah when pronounced wrong, it sounds like this completely random set of English words, so that's a problem", and seeing it as "too foreign" (as if that's an issue, especially in America), when it doesn't even go against English pronunciation rules.
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not to mention...
Even if you know the correct pronunciation, you should consider how it's going to be seen in the culture that it's being used in, which will be made up of very many people who don't put any thought into name origin or etymology at all.
Even if you know the correct pronunciation, you should consider how it's going to be seen in the culture that it's being used in, which will be made up of very many people who don't put any thought into name origin or etymology at all.
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Exactly!
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