[SR28441]

I live in Texas, and from time to time I'll hear a debate or read a complaint in the newspaper about the pronunciation of some of our Spanish street names here. For example, many people pronounce "Guadalupe" as "Gwadaloop" and "Manchaca" as "Man-chek." I suppose that would be Anglicizing the names, or maybe a form of "Spanglish" I don't think they pronounce it this way out of ignorance, but as a trend, a slackening of the jaw, a form of slang. I'm not sure, but I'm wondering why some people are so bothered by this. I usually pronounce "Guadalupe" the Spanish way, but the matter makes no difference to me. In fact, I think one could argue that this is how language develops and evolves. Or do Spanish-speakers just find it offensive?

User Detail :  

Name : SR28441, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 21, City : Austin, State : TX Country : United States, 

[Richard]

i have learned to speak five languages, korean, some japanese, portugese, spanish, and of course english. in most countries, the locals feel it a compliment by americans who are learning to speak their language, with maybe the french being an exception. it shows an effort to understand, an effort to relate, and an effort to appreciate the language, the culture, and the traditions that make up the people whose language you may be learning. thus learning to speak or properly pronounce foreign words is a very strong element to that compliment. granted not all of us have the 'tongue' to sound out words or phrases like a native, but the show of effort is what's appreciated. On a whole, americans are generally lazy about learning cultural differences or learning to speak a foreign language. in a lot of ways we show an indifference to foreign words and thus they refuse to 'learn' to pronounce it correctly. this indifference may be viewed as an insult to the language thereby an insult to the native speaker. So, yes, pronunciation is important.

User Detail :  

Name : Richard, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 42, City : orlando, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : architect, 

[Andrew]

Just as every place on Earth has its own accent or dialect of a particular language, words are pronounced differently in different places. Just because Texans pronounces street names with Spanish origins in an un-Spanish way doesn't make it wrong. In New Orleans, local pronunciation has no resemblence to French roots. And in New York, local neighborhood and street names sound nothing like the original Dutch.

User Detail :  

Name : Andrew, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 35, City : Huntington, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Reporter, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Augustine23577]

I would be willing to bet that 'Guadalupe' and 'Mancheca' get pronounced different ways in different parts of Latin America, let alone those places where Spanish is not the native language. Dead-on pronunciation of 'foreign' terms can often sound affected and elitist and often they get mangled into something the locals can pronounce. For instance, the furniture piece 'etagere' (a case with glass shelves) gets pronounced 'et-er-jay' among Americans who collect antiques and don't know French. Yet here in Columbia, SC, the street names 'Gervais' and 'Huger' get pronounced more or less the French way, with silent consonants at the end. Go figure!

User Detail :  

Name : Augustine23577, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 39, City : Columbia, State : SC Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[ACC24020]

I'm from San Antonio originally. Most people I knew back home see that as something which is peculiar to Austin because it has such a high percentage of people who just recently moved there from out of state. I wouldn't say it's offensive so much as just lazy when Anglos mispronounce, a sign that they refuse to acculturate to a culture which has been around there so much longer than they have. I do appreciate when Anglos like yourself make the effort. What does disturb myself and many other Latinos though, is when they see young Latinos start to imitate this way of speaking, as though the language which is part of their heritage is unimportant or deserving of mockery.

User Detail :  

Name : ACC24020, Race : Mexcian and American Indian, Age : 34, City : W Lafayette, State : IN Country : United States, 

[Dan27386]

That reminds me of my high school days. On the first day of class when a teacher from a Midwest small town would absolutely butcher every Spanish name while calling roll and then cop an attitude when the "victims" would try to correct him/her. I'll admit, it does irk me, especially when the person crankily insists on saying it the "American" way. I'm monolingual (English only), but I make every effort to properly pronounce Spanish words and names, even though I probably sound just as bad as a Midwestern high school teacher. But if the person "knows not what he does" or is not doing it to spite Spanish speakers, then I don't really have too much of a beef with it.

User Detail :  

Name : Dan27386, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Pentecostal Christian, Age : 21, City : Los Angeles, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Student/dishwasher, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[CP19361]

It is completely natural to pronounce a foreign place name or word as you would in your native tongue. For example, don't you say 'Pariss' instead of 'Paree'? Often this is extended even further, changing the spelling completely as in 'Cologne'.

User Detail :  

Name : CP19361, Gender : F, Age : 22, City : Montreal, Quebec, Canada, State : NA Country : Canada, 

[Author]

Posts