Tennis announcers show little respect by mispronouncing names
Every time we have a Grand Slam tournament--or any tennis tournament, for that matter--I become upset all over again that the highly-paid commentators who are supposed to be experts cannot pronounce the players' names. They show little respect for players, and even insult them over the name issue.
Though she has been a U.S. citizen for many years and is one of the great sports icons of all time, hardly any American commentators bother to pronounce Martina Navratilova's name correctly. And Maria Sharapova changed the pronunciation of her name because she didn't want to hear it mispronounced throughout her career. Neither name is difficult to pronounce; commentators are just plain lazy and obstinate when it comes to name accuracy.
I cringed today when Tim Ryan totally mangled Spanish player Nuria Llagostera Vives' name, calling her "Noria Lagastor Veevs." A while later, he pronounced Alina Jidkova's name with a soft "g" and the accent on the second syllable. To make matters worse, he pronounced "Wimbledon" as "Wimbleden" (which I suppose is better than the "Wimbleton" we sometimes hear). The commentators routinely misprounce the names of players like Svetlana Kuznetsova and Sesil Karatantcheva. And I rarely hear Elena Dementieva's name pronounced correctly. Even if you don't have a knowledge of how certain nations pronounce certain letters and phrases, it isn't that difficult to look at the WTA pronunciation guide...unless you are too lazy and arrogant to do so.
One is tempted to say that this is a problem Americans have with pronouncing foreign names, only John McEnroe (who routinely destroys Justine Henin-Hardenne's name)--after all these years--still cannot pronounce Jennifer Capriati's name. Go figure.
Though she has been a U.S. citizen for many years and is one of the great sports icons of all time, hardly any American commentators bother to pronounce Martina Navratilova's name correctly. And Maria Sharapova changed the pronunciation of her name because she didn't want to hear it mispronounced throughout her career. Neither name is difficult to pronounce; commentators are just plain lazy and obstinate when it comes to name accuracy.
I cringed today when Tim Ryan totally mangled Spanish player Nuria Llagostera Vives' name, calling her "Noria Lagastor Veevs." A while later, he pronounced Alina Jidkova's name with a soft "g" and the accent on the second syllable. To make matters worse, he pronounced "Wimbledon" as "Wimbleden" (which I suppose is better than the "Wimbleton" we sometimes hear). The commentators routinely misprounce the names of players like Svetlana Kuznetsova and Sesil Karatantcheva. And I rarely hear Elena Dementieva's name pronounced correctly. Even if you don't have a knowledge of how certain nations pronounce certain letters and phrases, it isn't that difficult to look at the WTA pronunciation guide...unless you are too lazy and arrogant to do so.
One is tempted to say that this is a problem Americans have with pronouncing foreign names, only John McEnroe (who routinely destroys Justine Henin-Hardenne's name)--after all these years--still cannot pronounce Jennifer Capriati's name. Go figure.
posted by Diane at 9:10 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I had no idea these names weren't pronounced correctly. How are they supposed to be pronounced?
I have noticed that Marat Safin's name has been changed. When he won the U.S. Open in 2000, it was pronounced "sa-feen"; now, it's "sah-fin". And I have heard Kuznetsova's name pronounced with the emphasis on the "so" instead of the "net".
By
Anonymous, at
1:16 AM
Kuzzy's name is properly pronounced with the emphasis on the "o" and not the "net," but many commentators still pronounce it wrong. Jidkova's name is pronounced "Yidkuva" with accent on the first syllable. Karantantcheva's name has an accent on the second syllable and again on the "cheva." Henin-Hardenne's name is French in origin: "zhoostine Enna arDEN." Martina's name has an accent on the second syllable (broad "a") as well as the "ova." Dementieva's name is pronounced "de MENT ye vuh."
And Jennifer's name has a "cap" at the beginning.
By
Diane, at
8:45 AM
It's very reflective of how the general American population thinks. Why should we try to pronounce people from other country's names correctly, much less understand other cultures or respect the inherent differences therein? You know how lots of folks still get upset at the signs in Spanish, right?
I think there's just an unfortunate basic lack of respect of people from other countries in this society. I think it stems from lack of education and experience, though, not necessarily from antipathy. At least I hope that's the case.
By
Unknown, at
2:52 PM
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