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Old Posted Nov 17, 2020, 12:17 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 33,677
Quote:
Originally Posted by kph06 View Post
I typically politely correct someone if my name is written or pronounced incorrectly.
To me the place renamings are neither here nor there (though I suppose maybe the people who live in these places and whose addresses would change should be consulted first and foremost) but this issue of saying names from other languages correctly isn't straightforward. Often sounds in one language don't exist in another and there is no way to spell the words accurately or for non-native speakers to pronounce them correctly.

If you look on Wikipedia you get "Miꞌkmaq (also Mi'gmaq, Micmac, Lnu, Miꞌkmaw or Miꞌgmaw; English: /ˈmɪɡmɑː/; Miꞌkmaq: [miːɡmaɣ])".

I wonder how Mi'kmaq is more correct, in English, than Micmac. Mi'kmaq would normally be pronounced "micmac" in English but most people pronounce it like "migmaw" (with the ' being decoration to English speakers). You could learn this separate pronunciation for Micmac too. Both are transliterations, the only thing possible when writing out these names for English speakers to read.

In St. Margaret's Bay there's a place called Boutilier's Point which people pronounce "boot-leer". Is this insulting to French speakers? Or is it just people creating their own convenient place names and pronunciations in their native language? The typical English speaker cannot pronounce Boutilier in a way that wouldn't sound off to a native French speaker, and those failing efforts would feel unnatural to the English speaker.

Last edited by someone123; Nov 17, 2020 at 12:28 AM.
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