American pronunciation of your foreign name

How do Americans pronounce your name? Do they struggle to say it? What name do you give when ordering coffee at Starbucks, your real name or an Americanized version?

This is a common topic that comes up in my classes. Some of my students insist that Americans should pronounce their name the way it's pronounced in their native language. They say that Americans don't want to make an effort to do this.

I understand that your name is your identity. It's the name your mother and father chose for you. It's who you are.

If you are Korean and your name is Kim, you're lucky.

However, your name may contain a sound that does not exist in English. Therefore, it's possible that an American simply cannot imitate it or that a long pronunciation lesson would be required first. So, to expect them to say it the way native speakers do may be unrealistic. Imagine how hard it is for non-native speakers of English to say the name "Doug." It can end up sounding like "dog" since the vowel sound in "Doug" (neutral vowel) does not exist in many other languages.

So, you have three options:

1) You can pronounce your name like you do in your native language. You can try to help people to learn to say it like you do. Be patient with them when you teach them. Some will get it and some will always mess it up. It can depend on how gifted they are at imitating new sounds. If you work in the mainstream American corporate environment, this could be a disadvantage. People might feel uncomfortable using your name in conversation because they're afraid they cannot say right. Also, some people may actually mistakenly start to "hear" a strong foreign accent. It's a wierd psychological thing that actually happens sometimes if the sound of your name is too foreign.

2) You can start using an American name. Find one that you like, or one that sounds similar to your name. Make sure that you choose a name that's popular among your age group. For example, women with names like Dorothy, Mabel, or Doris are often around seventy years old. And Taylor and Tyler are usually under fifteen. I suggest doing an internet search for most popular babies' names of the year that you were born. I did that with my students when I was teaching in China. I was helping them find suitable names. They were speaking English on the phone with the US. Some of the poor students had chosen names from Shakespeare or from American literature of 200 years ago. No, no, no, don't do that!

3) Just Americanize the sound of your name so that it is familiar to the American ear. For example one of my Russian students in named Elena. She asked me why no one can say her name the way she does and why no one understands it when she says it. She thought it was such a simple name. However, to Americans it sounds like Russians add a short "y" sound in the front, and the "l" sound is different from the American L. That confuses them. I told her to pronounce it as "e - lay -na". This worked; she no longer gets puzzled looks from people when introducing herself. It just sounded more familiar.


I could go on and on with this topic. It comes up a lot. I know it's a bit controversial. My main intention was to give you some suggestions. I would love to get your comments and learn about your experiences.

free dowloads (response to a question)

A recent blog reader asked:

"Do you know of any free downloads (listen and repeat type, if those exist)? I think those would help me a lot since I pronounce the individual words and short phrases really native-like but when I talk for a few minutes or say longer sentences in conversations my accent is evident."

Actually I haven't come accross anything of quality that you can download for free. Really the least expensive accent reduction audio materials that I know about are the ones that I have written which will soon be released by Barron's Educational Series. It's an accent reduction book with 4 cd's for only $19.99 on Amazon. The name of the book is Mastering the American Accent. It will also be available at all of the major bookstores for $29.99. You get over five hours of great quality digital audio with pauses for you to repeat. It has different male and female voices. They will also eventually sell it as downloadable MP3 audio only (no book).

Meanwhile, if you want to pre-order the book, you can get it at Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-American-Accent-Audio-CDs/dp/0764195824/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232346196&sr=8-1

What Your Voice Says About You

I found this interesting article on Career Builder. It confirms what I say to my students over and over again. Don't speak so fast. Not only will your accent be stronger, but you might be perceived as insecure or not careful about details. There's nothing wrong with speaking slowly unless your voice is monotonous. This is easy to fix when you learn the rules of word stress.

If you already speak quickly in your native language, your accent in English will be so much more difficult to understand if you don't slow down. You will be likely to swallow a lot of consonants.

Sometimes I record my students while they are speaking in class. Then when I play it back to them, even they don't understand what they said. Try recording your voice and then analyze how you sound. You might be shocked by what you hear.

This article also discusses other types of voices and speaking styles and how they are percieved, particularly during job interviews.

http://jobs.aol.com/article/_a/what-your-voice-says-about-you/20080825161009990001?ncid=AOLCOMMjobsDYNLprim0001&icid=200100397x1215954317x1201107305

There's a good book on this topic called: "Change Your Voice, Change Your Life" by Milton Cooper.

response to comment about embarassing mistakes

reader wrote: "Thanks very much for putting up this wonderful blog. I have been in the US for more than 7 years. My accent now is somewhat of a hybrid between American and Indian. Still at times I end up pronouncing some words (out of no where) in my native accent which in some cases is embarassing. Can you give some tips on how to avoid such awful untimely mistakes? Also, I always have this confusion about pronouncing words like "coke" and "cock" (I am sure you can see how this could be embarassing at times!). Mistakes like this kills my morale and confidence in speaking American English (creates like a mental block). I would greatly appreciate any tips on this."

First off, there's no guarantee that your American accent will always sound great. When you are tired and stressed, your foreign accent is likely to be stronger. Don't let this discourage you. You will keep improving if you are using English regulary around native speakers and if you practice "focused listening" when you are around Americans who use langauge well. If you do this, these errors that you mention will occur less and less frequently.

By the way, I do know about the "coke" and "cock" error. Here's what happened to one of my students: When she was in a restaurant ordering, she wanted to say to the waiter, "I want a large coke." But because she pronounced the "o" sound of the word "coke" incorrectly, you can imagine what the waiter thought he heard. She said he blushed.

The "o" of the word "coke" is actually an "ou" sound. Make sure that you pronounce both the "o" and the "u." The "o" of the word "cock" is an "a" sound as in "father" or "watch."

I have developped tons of practice exercises for these sounds in my new accent reduction book which will be available in book stores in a few months. You can already pre-order it on Amazon.com. It's called "Mastering the American Accent" by me, Lisa Mojsin. The publisher is Barrons. It comes with 4 audio CD's. It's only $19.99 on Amazon. I cannot believe how low they are pricing it.

I include a section in the book called "Warning, Dangerous Mistakes" that discusses the "coke/cock" issue and some other stuff that can be really embarrassing.

Happy New Year Everyone!!! I leave you with this quote:

"Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don't like to do." Albert Grey

Best,

Lisa