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Originally Posted by navillusc  Ah yes...Jean-Claude...sigh... 
My maiden name was not such a big deal...and half the world couldn't get that right, either! 
When I was in HR...back then it was called "Personnel"...but that was before we were disposable 'resources'...lol...we had an employee whose last name was "Papaconstantino"...looked pretty simple to say with a little practice. And, yes, I would practice saying these people's name aloud in my car on the way home! lol However, I always put the emphasis on the "-ti" part ("Papaconstan-TI-no"), saying the rest 'straight' through. Then, he called me one day and I found out he said it "Papacon-STANT-ino"...oops! More practice! lol He was a really nice guy!
I also had a friend who claimed he was "a Russian Lithuanian Jew"...we'll skip his name for now...lol...and I still have a friend whose last name is Polish with very few vowels but she taught me how to say it properly. lol
Then there's the "Theriot" last name...I had friends who called themselves "The-ROW" and "THER-row"...but when I referred to the next person I encountered named the same, I was quickly corrected...they say their name "TER-ee-oh"...lol...who knew! Whatever...it is definitely "The-riot" that name...lol |
wow!~!
Names and the correct was to pronounce is my worst nightmare. I have a language..speach problem. I try but I just struggle to say some words and names correctly. Add to that growing up in the mountain south with southern parents.
Fast forward ..now living in a very multi cultural city and I really struggle. It is amazing how rude people can be. My name is unusually and I have NEVER put someone down for saying it wrong. My name is Shinja.. Japanese.. (I am not.. good ole southern scott/irish).. and only about 30% of the people I meet get it right. Even my sur names are often said wrong. I just don't get someone from another language/country being rude about how to say their name, correcting gently or saying it the correct way is understandable.