The best examples that come to mind are when ordering food. As examples:
• You speak English and Spanish and are ordering a burrito
• You speak Thai and English and are ordering Tom Yum
I imagine it could depend on numerous things:
• You primary language or ethnicity
• What sort of restaurant
• Who you’re dining with
• Who you’re ordering from
• and probably a lot more…
It depends. “Burrito” is commonly used in English so it would be a bit silly to trill the ‘rr’. For words that aren’t as common in English it’s more likely to be the Spanish pronunciation. Place names generally too.
Honestly it’s mostly unconscious for me, the brain just does it’s thing sometimes.
I’m so jealous.
Part of the reason I asked is because I want to get to this point so badly but my brain just freezes whenever I’m unsure of everyone in the audience’s understanding of both languages
😣🫣If that’s what you’re facing, maybe try thinking of it like you’re trying to get to know them a little. If you start talking about say, your recent effort to make sambal oelek for use in say noodles, asking if they’re familiar with the name, talk about how it has some origin in French cooking from the colonial period, add some info about how you like to use it etc.
Like if I’m ordering food, I’ll always go for the full pronunciation, then maybe follow up with the server or whoever asking if it’s the dish with this or that main focus.
I also love having fun with themed dinner parties with friends and the such, give full presentation on the pronunciation, it’s history in different areas that make it slightly different, give everyone a copy of the recipe (minus a few key but subtle ingredients lol) in both the original language and English.
All in all I say just try to make it a chance to be enjoyed one way or another and it doesn’t take long to get your confidence flowing lol. I totally empathize, I used to be absolutely mortified about the same thing, still do sometimes, just less so these days.
Depends , if I’m speaking with my wife we interchange and speak whatever comes in the moment and understand each other. In other countries we use the native language if we know it.
With friends it depends if everyone in the group can speak the language or not.
Depends on the person I’m talking to. I adapt based on how they (or how I assume they) pronounce it.
Trilingual. I generally use the accent of the language I’m speaking, or I purposefully pronounce it as horribly as I can because idgaf
I use the language that I think my interlocutor would prefer. If I don’t know, then I default to the language of the social context, unless I specifically want to practise a language at that moment. If I want to practise, then I ask first.
Whichever way I learned it first.
Cater to the audience. Being understood is more useful than being right.
That’s a great way to put it, though sometimes I run into situations where I know some of my audience will understand language A and not B and some will understand B but not A.
I always end up just freezing; it’s like my brain is rebooting or something.
There’s pretty much always time to explain yourself if someone doesn’t understand. You could say it the first way that comes to mind, then pause and say it the second way. It doesn’t have to be perfect, you just have to communicate. Sometimes you have to use your hands and feet, and that’s OK too.
I feel like I owe you money for this kinda therapy…
Pronounce it properly then give the equivalent in whatever language you’re talking in. That’s what I do.
I’m Chinese-American. Primary language is English, I don’t speak Cantonese very well, and I don’t really speak Mandarin (but both are based on the same language system so its not that hard to convert from Cantonese). If I were to go to a Chinese restaurant, I’m gonna speak, in this order: Cantonese, then its Mandarin, then English, but most of the staff probably speaks Cantonese. I’m not gonna be like “I want a 燒賣, thank you”, like… that sounds so out of place lmfao, just speak the whole thing in the same language.
I generally go by either what the person I’m speaking to is likely to prefer or whichever is easier to pronounce, assuming I think it won’t cause confusion for the listener.
If pronunciation i would pronounce in the original language the word come from, in the accent of the language i most fluent with.
Usually like the language of origin unless I’m around people that do not speak fluently or are not looking to learn.
For example, in Chile a lot of people mix English words in their day to day use and pronounce it incorrectly so I pronounce it the same way and go along with it.
I never pronounce words in my own language differently as I think its a missed opportunity on teaching someone a little bit. Which is also a thing I appreciate other people do to me as well.
You pronounce the word correctly for whatever language the word is from. That’s the objectively correct way. Is this a serious question?
Definitely serious. Loanwords fall all across the spectrum regarding how much they’re integrated from their source language into the “local” language and most folks don’t know or care about word etymologies enough to even consider it. If you’re not native there’s a good chance you’re mispronouncing loanwords even when you’re trying to use their native pronunciation.
Loanwords are a different story. I would argue those are part of both languages at that point. Burrito is an English word and a Spanish word. As I see it, anyway.
Do you speak multiple languages?
Yes, I speak English and Spanish
Interesting. When I’m speaking French I often pronounce English words with a French accent. I don’t enjoy switching accents mid sentence, and I find that people who only speak French understand me better this way.
It’s not objectively correct.
If you do this between English and Japanese, Japanese people will not understand the way you pronounced the English word.
If you ask a Japanese person if they own a “computer” they will not understand. You have to call it a “con-puuu-ta” or even “pa-so-con” which is personal computer.
McDonald’s… Nope. “ma ku do nal do” or even just “makku” depending on the region.
If you ask a Japanese person if they own a “computer” they will not understand. You have to call it a “con-puuu-ta” or even “pa-so-con” which is personal computer.
In Thai it’s just ‘com’.
If you’re ready for the bill at a restaurant it’s ’check bin’ which for some reason is ‘check’ and ‘bill’ combined. When I first learned this people were confused why I didn’t already know it, “but it’s English?!”
There are times in which pronouncing the wrong way can save you a lot of hassle.
In many poor countries speaking proper English is a dead giveaway that you have money, so you can obviously see why that is undesirable. Even when that is not the case English is so deep in every other language that people use English words as they see fit without knowing the language at all, so one has to pronounce it like they do for them to understand.
Last case is to “avoid correcting someone” because one does not want to make the other person feel bad, or simply want to avoid the “how is it pronounced” situation.
Do you pronounce borrowed French words the way they should be correctly pronounced in everyday settings?
Like this video: https://youtu.be/fKGoVefhtMQ
I don’t even know how coupé is pronounced in French…
I have a guess but those are usually way off when it comes to French pronunciations
If I can. My sentiments do not apply to “loan words”. Those are a different category in my opinion. And there are some French words I struggle with, tbh.
While I don’t think that’s the objectively correct way (I can accept reasons both for and against switching accents), I also try to say some words the “original” way. In fact, at work I often hear native English customers pronounce some foreign loan words in their corresponding language (or at least making an attempt at it). I wouldn’t say that’s the dominant style, but it does happen.
What does NOT happen as often is the overexaggerated pitch change that is present in the video. Obviously, they were doing it intentionally for comedic effect, but it also makes fun of people who don’t do it out of pretentiousness. Once a word is used often enough, I don’t see the point sticking with the “original” pronunciation (I guess not many people pronounce ‘beef’ as ‘bœuf’ anymore). Even moreso if the “original” word has sounds that the English language doesn’t. I won’t get angry if you can’t roll your R’s.
But when they butcher words that just take some careful reading I lose it. They know the German ‘sch’, and it’s fine - even remarkable. What’s not remarkable is when they see a combination of those letters, ignore the order, and just pronounce it as if it was ‘sch’, regardless. Fuchsia. C-H-S. Maybe, just MAYBE it’s not the same as S-C-H. English has a good bunch of words containing CH. The plural of tech is techs. You don’t pronounce it as ‘tesh’. Fuchsia is, originally, a word containing CH, followed by S.
Another pet (ha) peeve of mine is Dachshund. I know it’s confusingly many characters, all c, h and s. But English also has the word ‘hound’. It comes from the same root as the German ‘Hund’. The rest is Dachs. For hints, see the above paragraph. Pronouncing it as “dashoond” is just as offensive and ignorant (to me; not in general) as saying warthog as war+thog.
I’m a native English speaker living in Germany and if I’m speaking German, every word is coming out with a German accent. It makes Germans cringe, but if I switch back and forth, I completely lose my accent. That means that I pronounce, for example, Microsoft while speaking German with a long i, a trilled r, and a voiced s.
if I’m speaking German, every word is coming out with a German accent.
Speaking German with a German accent? What?
German has many English loanwords, which most Germans pronounce with an English speaking accent. I pronounce them with a German accent, as in the example given. I also pronounce “Song” in German with voiced s and a k at the end, for another example.
I’m German and I have no idea how to pronounce “Microsoft” with a German accent. I guess you could pronounce it like the German “mikro” at the beginning? But that’s not an accent, that’s translating half a word. And Song with a “k” at the end? That’s just not a word. Are you saying Zonk?
It’s called Auslautverhärtung, and it makes Germans cringe when I do it on a word like song, but if I want to use it correctly on a word like Verhärtung, I’ve got to use it on the word song.
I’m German and I have no idea how to pronounce “Microsoft” with a German accent. I guess you could pronounce it like the German “mikro” at the beginning? But that’s not an accent, that’s translating half a word.
Again, long i, trilled r, and voiced s. You can call it translation if you want.
There are proper ways to pronounce English loan words in German. See Handy, aka Hendi auf Deutsch.
Exactly. I don’t pronounce „handy” in German the same as I do in English. „Cool” is almost the same, but with a slightly different L, but those are both actually German words. I was thinking more about recent acquisitions that might not be actually eingedeutscht yet or proper nouns though. I basically pronounce English words like a German who has minimal English knowledge.
It depends.
Let’s say I’m trying to ask an acquaintance their phone number so I can add them on WhatsApp or Signal. Honestly it’s kind of ridiculous to use the proper pronunciation of Whatsapp im Brazil, so I use the popular way (it’s something like “oah-tchi-zap”).
Unless I’m actually speaking with someone in their mother language I just default to the Brazilian version of the name. Otherwise I will try and match their pronunciation - it’s nice to train and also I think it’s polite.
