Sound and fury: how pronunciation provokes passionate reactions

Re:Sound and fury: how pronunciation provokes passionate rea... by stordoff on Monday January 22, 2018 @03:03PM (#16207403)

Which is correct is a difficult line to draw though to some extent. Whilst altering the pronunciation of Pakistan makes some sense (because it's the same word), pronouncing a country the same way as the inhabitants is not necessary correct in English -- you'd probably get some sideways glances if you starting insisting on Nippon for Japan or Deutschland for Germany (or even México for Mexico to some extent).

I'd also say that language as a political/shared identity is not a new phenomenon.

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Re:Sound and fury: how pronunciation provokes passionate rea... by mc32 on Monday January 22, 2018 @04:44PM (#16208204)

Or, conversely imagine Chinese saying "The United States of America" rather than "mei guo" (美国 - mĕiguó), or Mexicans saying "The United States of America" instead of "Los rstados unidos", etc., etc.

It's ridiculous to think you should pronounce the name of any geographic entity by the way the people native to the area do.

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Re:Sound and fury: how pronunciation provokes passionate rea... by whack on Monday January 22, 2018 @08:26PM (#16210037)

I agree with your word-choice examples - I was referring specifically to pronunciation only. My general instinct is to pronounce people's names the same way they themselves do, as opposed to the way I think it should be pronounced. I try to extend that same principle to countries as well, if the natives unanimously pronounce their country in a certain way when talking in English.

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