4 ms·

> If you speak any non-English language, you will know that this obsession with getting English-language speakers to pronounce foreign words "correctly" is uniq

> If you speak any non-English language, you will know that this obsession with getting English-language speakers to pronounce foreign words "correctly" is unique. It's really not. The entire point of language is to be understood by others. If you're unwilling to take any time to find out how to be understood, then you're really just failing at basic communication. It's not up to others to interpret your misunderstanding of how to correctly say something, it's up to you to put some effort into being understood. And if you're smirking at people instead of taking the opportuinity to learn, well, I wish you all the best in your small minded world.

rendall 5y ago
> "The entire point of language is to be understood by others. If you're unwilling to take any time to find out how to be understood, then you're really just failing at basic communication. It's not up to others to interpret your misunderstanding of how to correctly say something, it's up to you to put some effort into being understood." These are all true statements. They are also non-sequiturs: true statements that have no bearing on the argument. The question here is: Who gets to decide the correct pronunciation of a foreign word? Who gets to say brew-SKET-ta is correct and BREW-shet-uh is wrong? Italians? Native English speakers? If you think "Well, clearly, Italians, because they invented bruschetta" then where is the line? Why would you not then pronounce "prosciutto" pro-SHOOT-toh? And the "Bifrost Bridge" BEEF-roast? And "sauna" SOW-na? Who gets to decide that Hausa people must pronounce "New York" as Americans do, and that Japanese must no longer add a vowel onto the end of foreign words like "Disney Land"? I'd love your principled answers to those questions.