Macmillan Holdings, LLC. The Public Speaker, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Do you break into a cold sweat every time you are confronted with a name you have no idea how to pronounce? Tolak sampleCategory Interesting enough when you don't think you have a difficult name, but you get to another country/culture, when the apparently simple becomes inexplicably different. I had someone calling me for a few minutes once because I didn't recognise the name they were calling as mine. http://publicspeaker.quickanddirtytips.com/Pronouncing-Difficult-Names.aspx?commentid=17008#Comments http://publicspeaker.quickanddirtytips.com/Pronouncing-Difficult-Names.aspx?commentid=17008#Comments Sat, 16 May 2009 08:47:24 GMT Kathy Gerwald sampleCategory Lisa, Thanks for another great episode. As a teacher, I often get stuck on names too. http://publicspeaker.quickanddirtytips.com/Pronouncing-Difficult-Names.aspx?commentid=16753#Comments http://publicspeaker.quickanddirtytips.com/Pronouncing-Difficult-Names.aspx?commentid=16753#Comments Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:37:11 GMT Mrs. Redelinghuys sampleCategory When I married my Afrikaner husband and decided to take him name, I knew I would face a lifetime of challenges, and boy was I right! Most people look at my name and just freeze up, but it's really only the last syllable that isn't pronounced as it looks. It's "red-el-ing-haze". When I say my last name, people usually think it's hyphenated or that I'm saying my whole name. For example, if I go to pick up a prescription the pharmacist thinks my last name is "Hayes" and immediately goes to the "H" bin. Lisa, I would have guessed your former name was pronounced "Boheme" as in the Puccini opera. I'll bet a lot of people spelled it that way too. http://publicspeaker.quickanddirtytips.com/Pronouncing-Difficult-Names.aspx?commentid=15032#Comments http://publicspeaker.quickanddirtytips.com/Pronouncing-Difficult-Names.aspx?commentid=15032#Comments Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:18:17 GMT Marlene Egger sampleCategory Thanks, Lisa and Adam, great information! I teach at a university, and I work hard to pronounce my students' and colleagues' names correctly. The first day of class, I have everyone write down the name they want to be called in class and how to pronounce it. Then I write it on the class roll and try it out on the second day of class. The names that are most difficult for me are those from tonal languages, in which the tone changes the meaning. Chinese is one example. Even when someone tells me how to pronounce their name, I might not be able to reproduce the tone. Are you aware of any aids to learning Chinese, or other tonal languages, that would be enough to help me get the tones right when I pronounce my students' names? I don't have time to take a class in every tonal language, but I want to get people's names right. http://publicspeaker.quickanddirtytips.com/Pronouncing-Difficult-Names.aspx?commentid=13239#Comments http://publicspeaker.quickanddirtytips.com/Pronouncing-Difficult-Names.aspx?commentid=13239#Comments Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:25:08 GMT Sat, 16 May 2009 08:47:24 GMT http://publicspeaker.quickanddirtytips.com/Pronouncing-Difficult-Names.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us