Pronunciation

I live in a multi-cultural city. You probably do too.

I have enormous respect for anyone who can speak more than one language.

Those that tell me their “English is not so good”,  I look at them and marvel.

“I can understand you clearly. You are much cleverer than me. I can only speak English.”

Recently, at Toastmasters, my role was to introduce the speakers.

Four of the six were from other nations and had tricky-to-pronounce names.

I went up to each one beforehand and wrote their names out phonetically so that I could introduce them correctly.

Despite my best intentions, at the end of the evening the Chairman with the tricky-to-pronounce-last-name, came to the podium, saying he had been waiting to see how I “butchered” his.

I had. 

I felt terrible.

And discouraged.

I have tried to learn languages several times in my lifetime, yet I still only speak English.  

I struggle to get my mouth to form the sounds that would give meaning to those foreign-to-me words.

My self-critiqued inept ability means I stick to the language I know. The one I can easily get my tongue around.

Pronunciation is important but it can be a stumbling block. It can discourage us from learning each other’s names. And most definitely each other’s languages.

My friends who speak English as a second language, show me that although their diction may not be perfect every time, they speak more than one language. Sometimes confidently and sometimes not so confidently, but regardless, they do it.

I am off to Toastmasters tomorrow night. There’ll be more names to get wrong I’m sure, but I’m going to hold pronunciation a little lighter. If I persevere and don’t give up, I might just get my tongue around those tricky-for-me names, surprising myself and my friends.

Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster on Unsplash