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> No speaker of any other language in the world even tries to pronounce foreign words like foreigners do [citation desperately needed] I'm a mothertongue Ital

> No speaker of any other language in the world even tries to pronounce foreign words like foreigners do [citation desperately needed] I'm a mothertongue Italian speaker. Never in my life I heard someone pronouncing "Bill Gates" or even "Google" with the Italian grammar/pronunciation rules. People would routinely ask how to pronounce foods in a Japanese or Chinese restaurant. Or thank the waiter/waitress for correcting them. > If someone gives you a hard time, smirk at them for being the unsophisticated provincial they are. This is incredibly arrogant.

SamBam 5y ago
I absolutely agree, parent comment is completely incorrect. Growing up as an American in Italy, people would frequently try to pronounce my family's names correctly. They wouldn't simply say the word as if it were an Italian word. Same for any other name. They pronounce president Biden as Americans would, they don't say "Bee-den" as they would of the word were Italian. Ditto for non-English foreigners coming to Italy. Does GP really think that the Spanish and the French say "guh-nocci" for gnocchi? They don't have the "gn" digraph any more than English does, yet they all pronounce it correctly. The word is the same world-round. Just because it's uncommon enough that each language hasn't bothered to give it is own spelling (ñoci in Spanish, maybe, nhoci in Portuguese, nioki in English) doesn't suddenly mean the word changes in other languages.
rendall 5y ago
> Never in my life I heard someone pronouncing "Bill Gates" or even "Google" with the Italian grammar/pronunciation rules. But if you native Italian speakers did happen to pronounce it "gah-tes" or "googleh" or whatever while speaking Italian, Americans would not insist that Italians are pronouncing it wrong. They would just say that's how Italians pronounce it. By contrast, if a native English speaker pronounces an Italian word according to how it's spelled according to English conventions (we're using "bruschetta" as the example, so, as BREW-shet-uh), while speaking English an Italian will insist that this pronunciation is wrong. >> If someone gives you a hard time, smirk at them for being the unsophisticated provincial they are. > This is incredibly arrogant. I was making a joke. Probably didn't land well with those who disagree with me. It might be a cultural difference, but it strikes me as incredibly arrogant to tell people who are speaking their own native language that they are pronouncing a word wrong simply because it originated in your native language and they don't pronounce it like you do. e.g https://youtu.be/rHBFt11zz7U https://youtu.be/rHBFt11zz7U
- throwaway02824 5y ago
  > But if you native Italian speakers did happen to pronounce it "gah-tes" or "googleh" or whatever while speaking Italian, Americans would not insist that Italians are pronouncing it wrong. Of course the would. And I can ensure you other people from Italy would correct someone that say "gah-tes". When politicians are caught speaking terrible English they quickly turn into memes on social networks and are mocked a lot. You are being dishonest here. >> This is incredibly arrogant. > I was making a joke. Probably didn't land well with those who disagree with me. I don't believe you. You keep moving the goal posts.

SamBam 5y ago

I absolutely agree, parent comment is completely incorrect. Growing up as an American in Italy, people would frequently try to pronounce my family's names correctly. They wouldn't simply say the word as if it were an Italian word. Same for any other name. They pronounce president Biden as Americans would, they don't say "Bee-den" as they would of the word were Italian. Ditto for non-English foreigners coming to Italy. Does GP really think that the Spanish and the French say "guh-nocci" for gnocchi? They don't have the "gn" digraph any more than English does, yet they all pronounce it correctly. The word is the same world-round. Just because it's uncommon enough that each language hasn't bothered to give it is own spelling (ñoci in Spanish, maybe, nhoci in Portuguese, nioki in English) doesn't suddenly mean the word changes in other languages.

rendall 5y ago

> Never in my life I heard someone pronouncing "Bill Gates" or even "Google" with the Italian grammar/pronunciation rules. But if you native Italian speakers did happen to pronounce it "gah-tes" or "googleh" or whatever while speaking Italian, Americans would not insist that Italians are pronouncing it wrong. They would just say that's how Italians pronounce it. By contrast, if a native English speaker pronounces an Italian word according to how it's spelled according to English conventions (we're using "bruschetta" as the example, so, as BREW-shet-uh), while speaking English an Italian will insist that this pronunciation is wrong. >> If someone gives you a hard time, smirk at them for being the unsophisticated provincial they are. > This is incredibly arrogant. I was making a joke. Probably didn't land well with those who disagree with me. It might be a cultural difference, but it strikes me as incredibly arrogant to tell people who are speaking their own native language that they are pronouncing a word wrong simply because it originated in your native language and they don't pronounce it like you do. e.g https://youtu.be/rHBFt11zz7U https://youtu.be/rHBFt11zz7U

throwaway02824 5y ago
> But if you native Italian speakers did happen to pronounce it "gah-tes" or "googleh" or whatever while speaking Italian, Americans would not insist that Italians are pronouncing it wrong. Of course the would. And I can ensure you other people from Italy would correct someone that say "gah-tes". When politicians are caught speaking terrible English they quickly turn into memes on social networks and are mocked a lot. You are being dishonest here. >> This is incredibly arrogant. > I was making a joke. Probably didn't land well with those who disagree with me. I don't believe you. You keep moving the goal posts.