Talk About Tennis 2.0

I was always wondering - why is that so complicated for English-speaking announcers to pronounce Russian (Slavic) last names correctly. It is not like they are Vietnamese and require totally different phonetics. One just has to memorize which syllable is to put an emphasis on. But somehow they are butchering it if it is possible to butcher. Every single time. Is it their subtle (or not so subtle) way to show disrespect? Is it the follow-up of the cold war? Even when an umpire pronounces the name correctly, they continue to say it their preferred (incorrect) way.

Let's start from the top: it is not MEdvedev, it is MedvEdev.

mick1303 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 06, 2021 2:09 pm it their subtle (or not so subtle) way to show disrespect?

No. It is their not very subtle way of showing their (our) ignorance. It is useful for us Americans (and others) to have native speakers explain the correct pronunciation, since we usually only see the spelling.

"Let's start from the top: it is not MEdvedev, it is MedvEdev."

Thank you for explaining how to correctly pronounce Slavic last names.

Continue: It is not Svitol-I-na, it is Svit-O-lina

It is not Rybak-I-na, it is Ryb-A-kina

It is not Kasatk-I-na, it is Kas-A-tkina

It is not Potap-O-va, it is Pot-A-pova.

It is not Vesn-I-na, it is Vesnin-A

And actually is in not Sharap-O-va (would you believe). It is Shar-A-pova.

It is the same reason why Spaniards can't pronounce some American names. They have problems with Reilly Opelka (inevitably pronounced RIE-LEE) or with Andy Murray (inevitably MOO RIE or MOO REE).
There is a reason they are different languages

French names are particularly horrible to pronounce, but one can learn even those if a particular one is encountered with some regularity. It's just that commentators rarely gives a rat's tail to be correct. Umpires tend to be better.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 06, 2021 3:04 pm It is the same reason why Spaniards can't pronounce some American names. They have problems with Reilly Opelka (inevitably pronounced RIE-LEE) or with Andy Murray (inevitably MOO RIE or MOO REE).
There is a reason they are different languages

There are SOME cases, where pronunciation is mitigated with different phonetics or even spelling nuances. SOME. But mostly it is just laziness, because nothing prevents them from memorizing where to put an emphasis.

About those spelling nuances: In Russian alphabet there are two different letters - E (pronounced as "Ye") and E with diaeresis (which is pronounced as "Yo"). But for simplicity (admittedly this is laziness on part of Russians) frequently the spelling does not distinguish between those. For instance, Rublev has the second form of "E" (with diaeresis) and shall be pronounced as Rubly-O-v.

I don't think it's a lack of respect Mick. There are certain sounds and speech patterns that exist in say French or Spanish that don't exist in English especially American English. That said I think as a professional commentator it's your job to know how someone's name is pronounced and practice it before you are on the air. I don't know if you watch NBA matches but the comms there seem to have no problem pronouncing Eastern European names. I think that it's laziness on the part of US comms not malice.

mick1303 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 06, 2021 2:09 pm I was always wondering - why is that so complicated for English-speaking announcers to pronounce Russian (Slavic) last names correctly. It is not like they are Vietnamese and require totally different phonetics. One just has to memorize which syllable is to put an emphasis on. But somehow they are butchering it if it is possible to butcher. Every single time. Is it their subtle (or not so subtle) way to show disrespect? Is it the follow-up of the cold war? Even when an umpire pronounces the name correctly, they continue to say it their preferred (incorrect) way.

They can't say Auger-Aliassime either, so I don't think it has anything to do with a Cold War mentality. Most English language speakers are not encouraged to speak other languages at young ages and the ability to pronounce phonemes not used in English is quickly lost as we grow up. Most of the US tennis commentators are hired for their tennis insights, not their ability to enunciate names, and the ability to do so is not encouraged. I appreciate you providing the breakdown of pronunciations for some of the players, but I still don't think I saying them incorrectly often because I can't hear the difference between the pronunciations.

Yeah, I don't think the issue is with Slavic names in particular, it just stands out to you, Mick, (and me) as a native speaker. But I do think serious fans (obviously, particularly commentators/media) have a duty to try to learn the accurate pronunciation since it is available on the internet and should certainly make a point to pronounce correctly if they've been corrected by a native speaker or the player themselves, and too many times, the commentators don't correct.

That said, I'm for sure butchering most East Asian names myself, even if I've looked up the correct pronunciation.