Name Game

I just hate it when people misspell or mispronounce names in communications. I believe the only times these may be excused would be for exotic cases like when dealing with names of people from other countries especially those from countries like Thailand, France, China or those from Africa or Eastern Europe. Still, I would expect that many educated or well-traveled people should be able to at least have a good enough attempt to pronunciation. This, of course, assumes that the person has been exposed enough and gives a decent effort in learning how to pronounce names. A case in point would be flight attendants announcing arrival at Bangkok's new international airport, Suvarnabhumi, which, in the correct pronunciations sounds like "suwanapum."

In my case, I was engrossed with chess and its players during my younger days. This hobby led me to an honest effort to determine the correct pronunciations for Russian and Eastern European names. Simply, I found that "v's" were pronounced as "f''s" such that Kasparov would be Kasparoff and Sokolov would be Sokoloff. The use of "j" would be similar to "y" and names ending in "c" were pronounced as "ch." Thus, Ljubojevic is pronounced "lyuboyevich." I think French names are also quite challenging to pronounce particularly due to the their tongue twisting or unconventional characteristics.

The problem is when names are not along the lines of the above examples. It is not uncommon for me to receive letters that incorrectly spells my first and last names despite my staff providing such correctly and these appearing in official websites. Even during roll calls in occasions such as seminars and workshops, I often hear my name savaged into something else. Misspelled or mispronounced names in such cases show me that the person or agency in-charge does not care or cares less about whoever he or she is communicating to.

In most cases, we are gracious and kind enough to correct these mistakes even going to the extent of calling the attention of the offender. In some cases, like when the offense has been repeated once too many, we don't respond to the letter or to the call; even stating that there is no one in the office by the name they wrote or stated. In the latter case, it is a tough way to respond (or snub) if only to teach a lesson that is probably not learned or taken well enough. This is especially true for people who do not care or are insensitive about these things. And that is the tragedy in this situation.