Around the turn of the millennium the now famous football superstar Ronaldinho started to emerge as a talented player who fascinates millions of fans around the world with his moves and goals. This was not different in the Arab world. Arab football fans began to watch and enjoy all Ronaldinho matches. They followed all his news and even started to passionately debate whether he was better than Maradona and Zidane. There was only one problem. They were not sure how to pronounce his name. While some football commentators pronounced the 'h' in his name, others didn't. Instead, they pronounced it as people nowadays do, namely something close to 'Ronaldineo'.
Where did the initial wrong pronunciation come from? The answer is: English. Those who pronounced the 'h' in Ronaldinho did so under the influence of English - a language they have been bombarded with since their school years. While this constant bombardment has not really helped the vast majority of them master English in any meaningful way, it has nonetheless made sure that they see the world through glasses made in America or Britain. These glasses do not only distort the world beyond English, but they also prevent us from seeing it, to the extent that what is not on CNN or BBC automatically becomes something not worth knowing. In short, getting to know the world beyond English through English presents us with nothing more than incomplete and often distorted images of the world.
The world beyond English is vast, different and diverse. It cannot be experienced with English only.
If you are unconvinced and still believe that English is the way, ask any Brazilian to pronounce Ronaldinho as it is actually pronounced in Brazil. To your dismay, you will be surprised to find out that even your current pronunciation of your beloved superstar's name is wrong: in most of Brazil Ronaldinho is pronounced something like ‘Honawdginio’.
There is only one problem: Globalization.
ResponderEliminarEnglish people, those who really come from England, must accept that there are people who doesn't have English as a mother tongue, that's the reason why they speak differently from the others.
You should be tolerant with peple who try to speak in your language just because they're speaking with some words that are not of their own. Congratulations to them!
I quite agree with you: speaking a foreign language is not a cup of tea, at the end of the day...but of course, one who's not aware of it, one who only speaks their native tongue might take this effort for granted. Please visit or feel free to join "language bliss" on Facebook, for more information and further interesting related discussions.
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