Presentation I gave in Minneapolis in November 2012

1. SPEAK & SPELL: HOW TO
SPELL & PRONOUNCE
FOREIGN NAMES & WORDS
Daniel Greene, BA, Graduate Candidate, CI & CT, NIC Master
Monday, November 12, 12 1

2. WORKSHOP:
DESCRIPTION
We interpret in an increasingly multi-cultural world. We are
daily confronted with foreign and/or idiosyncratic names and
words that we donʼt know how to pronounce or spell. This
workshop will teach participants the phonetical systems
(phonology) of several of the worldʼs languages so that they
recognize spelling patterns (orthography) to elevate their
comfort and confidence while interpreting in an ever more
international world.
Monday, November 12, 12 2

3. SPEAK
& SPELL:
THE ‘80S TOY
The first solid-state talking toy.
It would ask you to spell a word
and tell you if you got it right or
wrong. Remember ET?
“Be good.”
Monday, November 12, 12 3

4. WORKSHOP: AGENDA
Introductions and our names’ background
Phonology (how words /names sound)
Orthography (how they are spelled)
Application to interpreting
Sources for further study
Monday, November 12, 12 4

5. IMPORTANCE: NAMES
“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the
sweetest and most important sound in any language.” —Dale
Carnegie
Monday, November 12, 12 5

6. INTRODUCE: YOUR
NAME
What is your name? What are its origins?
Shortened when your family came to U.S.?
Alternative spellings & pronunciations?
Say, “I hate it when people pronounce my name _____, I
like it when people pronounce my name _____, and I love it
when people pronounce my name _____.”
Monday, November 12, 12 6

7. RATIONALE: FOR–
FOR?
America is a land of immigrants with names from many
countries and languages.
ASL interpreters are sheltered from various phonologies by
migration patterns.
Interpreters are increasingly exposed to names and words
from all over the world, so fingerspelling and pronouncing
those words is part of our everyday work.
Monday, November 12, 12 7

8. SPELLING: FOLLOWS
RULES
Names and words are rarely spelled with unique sounds or
letter clusters; rather, they tend to follow the spelling
conventions of the language from which they came.
If interpreters learn the spelling rules of various languages,
they will be able to comfortably and confidently pronounce
and spell international names and words.
Monday, November 12, 12 8

9. DEMAND: CONTROL
Demand: you don’t know how to spell it.
Control options:
“How is that spelled?”
“Spelled K-A-L-A-S-H-N-I-K-O-V?”
Sign and mouth “Sounds like _____.”
Spell it Kalashnikov.
Monday, November 12, 12 9

10. DEFINE: PHONOLOGY
phonology |fəˈnɑlədʒi| |foʊˈnɑlədʒi|
the branch of linguistics that deals with systems of sounds
(including or excluding phonetics), esp. in a particular
language.
the system of relationships among the speech sounds that
constitute the fundamental components of a language.
Monday, November 12, 12 10

11. DEFINE:
ORTHOGRAPHY
orthography |ɔrˈθɑgrəfi|
conventional spelling system of a language.
study of spelling and how letters combine to represent
sounds and form words.
ORIGIN late Middle English: via Old French and Latin from
Greek orthographia, from orthos ‘correct’ + -graphia
‘writing.’
Monday, November 12, 12 11

12. DEFINE: ORTHOEPY
“Orthoepy is the art and study of proper pronunciation.” It
comes from the Greek ortho, which means correct, and epos,
which means word (Elster, 1999).
Correct pronunciation conveys intelligence and respect. It
also removes barriers to comprehension on the part of our
clients.
Monday, November 12, 12 12

13. PROCESS:
INTERPRETING
You hear/see a foreign name/word. Do you:
recognize the name/word in its entirety?
recognize letters/sounds, infer sounds/letters?
use prior knowledge to make an educated guess as to the
pronunciation/spelling?
Monday, November 12, 12 13

14. DEFINE: ALPHABET
alphabet |ˈølfəˈbɛt|
a set of letters or symbols in a fixed order, used to represent
the basic sounds of a language; in particular, the set of
letters from A to Z.
ORIGIN early 16th cent.: from late Latin alphabetum, from
Greek alpha, bēta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet.
Monday, November 12, 12 14

15. HISTORY: ALPHABETS
Phoenician (2000 BC) Greek (1000 BC)
Arabic Hebrew Cyrillic Etruscan
Russian Latin
Monday, November 12, 12 15

16. COMPARE: ALPHABETS
Latin: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Cyrillic: а б в г д е ё ж з и й к л м н о п р с т у ф х ц ч ш щ ъ
ыьэюя
Hebrew: ‫א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ך ל מ ם נ ן ס ע צ ץ ק ר ש ת‬
Greek: α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ µ ν ѯ ο π ρ σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω
Monday, November 12, 12 16

17. ALPHABET: ARABIC
‫آ‬ alif ‫ع‬ ayn
‫ب‬ ba ‫غ‬ gayn
‫ت‬ ta ‫ف‬ fa
‫ع‬ gim ‫ق‬ qaf
‫ﺡ‬ ha ‫ك‬ kaf
‫د‬ dal ‫ل‬ lam
‫ر‬ ra ‫م‬ mim
‫ز‬ zay ‫ن‬ nun
‫س‬ sin ‫ه‬ ha
‫ض‬ dad ‫و‬ waw
‫ط‬ ta ‫ي‬ ya
Monday, November 12, 12 17

18. ALPHABET: HEBREW
‫א‬ alef ‫מ‬ mem
‫ב‬ bet ‫ם‬ mem sofit
‫ג‬ gimel ‫נ‬ nun
‫ד‬ dalet ‫ן‬ nun sofit
‫ה‬ he ‫ס‬ samech
‫ו‬ vav ‫ע‬ ayin
‫ז‬ zayin ‫פ‬ pe
‫ח‬ chet ‫ף‬ pe sofit
‫ט‬ tet ‫צ‬ tzadi
‫י‬ yud ‫ץ‬ tzadi sofit
‫כ‬ kaf ‫ק‬ quf
‫ך‬ kaf sofit ‫ר‬ resh
‫ל‬ lamed ‫ס‬ shin
‫ת‬ tav
Monday, November 12, 12 18

19. ALPHABET: GREEK
Αα alpha Νν nu
Ββ beta Ξξ xi
Γγ gamma Οο omicron
Δδ delta Ππ pi
Εε epsilon Ρρ rho
Ζζ zeta Σσ sigma
Ηη eta Ττ tau
Θθ theta Υυ upsilon
Ιι iota Φφ phi
Κκ kappa Χχ chi
Λλ lambda Ψψ psi
Μµ mu ΩΩ ω omega
Monday, November 12, 12 19

20. ALPHABET: SPANISH
A a N ene
B be Ñ eñe
C ce O o
Ch che P pe
D de Q cu
E e R ere
F efe S ese
G ge T te
H hache U u
I i V ve
J jota W uve doble
K ka X equis
L ele Y i griega
LL elle Z zeta
M eme
Monday, November 12, 12 20

21. LETTER DOUBLING:
VOWELS
E & O doubled in English: green, moon.
E doubled in French: Sautée, Brûlée.
A doubled in Danish & Dutch: Kierkegaard, Aardvark,
Afrikaans.
Hawaiian: Kaanapali, Hawaii. (Glottal break.)
None: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese,
Russian, Hebrew, Swahili, et al.
Monday, November 12, 12 21

22. LETTER DOUBLING:
CONSONANTS
Also called gemination (after gemini, twins)
Meaning changed by single vs. doubled consonants; e.g.
pining/pinning, anus/annus, bagu/baggu, taka/takka, beve/
bevve.
Italian vs. Spanish words: pappa/papa, mamma/mama,
panna/pan, anno/año.
German has double and triple consonants.
Monday, November 12, 12 22

23. CLUSTERS: VOWELS
French vowel clusters for one sound; e.g. au (café au lait),
aux (la cage aux folles), eau (eau de toilette or beau), -eaux
(beaux, the plural of beau) -aud (Mme. Toussaud’s), ault
(Renault), -ot (Pinot Noir) all sound like O.
Other languages have vowel clusters that represent either
one vowel, diphthongs, or triphthongs.
Monday, November 12, 12 23

24. CLUSTERS:
CONSONANTS
German consonant clusters; e.g., Schmidt has seven letters,
and only one vowel.
Italian, Spanish, and Japanese have no consonant clusters.
In Japanese, every consonant is paired with a vowel sound.
That is why its non-logographic orthography is Hiragana, a
syllabary.
Monday, November 12, 12 24

25. DIACRITICAL MARKS
Marks above/below letters to indicate vowel sounds.
French words, such as crème brûlée
German words, such as gemütlichkeit
Vietnamese vowels, such as a, ă, and â.
Hebrew: diacritics for vowels.
Monday, November 12, 12 25

26. DIACRITICS: HEBREW
Vowels & Canti!ation
Monday, November 12, 12 26

27. DEFINE:
TRANSLITERATE
transliterate |trønzˈlɪdəˈreɪt| |trøn(t)sˈlɪdəˈreɪt|
write or print (a letter or word) using the closest
corresponding letters of a different alphabet or language.
transliteration |transˌlitəˈrā sh ən; tranz-| |trønzˈlɪdəˈreɪʃən|
|trøn(t)sˈlɪdəˈreɪʃən| |-ˈreɪʃ(ə)n| noun
Monday, November 12, 12 27

28. DEFINE: LOGOGRAM
logogram |ˈloʊgəˈgrøm|
a sign or character representing a word or phrase, such as
those used in shorthand and some writing systems.
ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from Greek logos ‘word’ + -gram.
Monday, November 12, 12 28

29. WRITING:
LOGOGRAPHIC
Chinese & Japanese names/words written in characters that
represent meanings.
Names/words in Chinese and Japanese transliterated
following different transliterators’ approximations of the
original, native names / words. (Examples: xi & chi, feng
shui pronounced fung shway.)
Sanskrit, for Indian languages, is logographic.
Monday, November 12, 12 29

30. DEFINE: SYLLABARY
syllabary |ˈsɪləˈbɛri|
a set of written characters representing syllables and (in
some languages or stages of writing) serving the purpose of
an alphabet.
ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from modern Latin syllabarium,
from Latin syllaba (see syllable).
Monday, November 12, 12 30

31. SYLLABARY: JAPANESE
N is the only ending consonant (Nippon, Seikyo Shimbun).
Most consonants end in vowel sounds, such as ka, ku, fa, fu.
English words written in Hiragana follow Japanese
phonology: garufu, boiufirendu, garufirendu, miruku, seben
ereben, sando witchi, maku donaru. No L or V sounds.
Monday, November 12, 12 31

32. SYLLABARY
Japanese
Monday, November 12, 12 32

33. PHONOLOGY: NUMBER
OF SYLLABLES
Chinese names/ words only one or two syllables each; e.g.,
Chang, Wen, Li, or Tsao.
Japanese names/words tend to have two, three or four
syllables; e.g., Honda, Seiko, Yamaha, Nakamura,
Watanabe, Takahashi
Italian names tend to have two, three, or four syllables; e.g.,
Verdi, Puccini, Da Vinci, Corleone, Berluscone.
Monday, November 12, 12 33

34. VOWELS: DI/
TRIPHTHONGS
Dipthongs: two pure vowels make a blended vowel sound;
triphthongs: three.
Languages have none–to–many diphthongs.
Italianate vowels: Italian vowels are pure: Ah, Eh, Ee, Oh
(not a diphthong like O-u), and Oo. Spanish, Portuguese,
and Japanese have Italianate vowels.
Monday, November 12, 12 34

35. PHONOLOGY:
NASALIZATION
French has nasal vowels ending in N: an, en, in, on, un. (Ex:
Maman, en croute, Chopin, Montmartre, un-deux-trois)
Many languages have a nasal m, n, and ng.
Almost all languages have nasalization.
Monday, November 12, 12 35

36. PHONOLOGY:
TONALIZATION
Chinese, Hmong, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese are tonal.
Japanese is not.
Tonal languages use tones to distinguish homophones; e.g.,
“ma” can mean ghost, but, cheek/mother, tomb/grave,
horse, or rice seedling depending on tone.
Vietnamese: Latin letters with diacritical and tonal marks;
e.g., a, ă, â, ằ, ắ, ẳ, ẵ, ặ.
Monday, November 12, 12 36

37. HMONG: TONAL,
NASAL, ALPHABETICAL
Bee (bee) Hang (hahng) Sy, See (see)
Chang (chahng) Lee, Ly, Le (lee) Thao, Tor (taw)
Cheng (cheng) Lor, Lo (law) Thong (tawng)
Chue (che-u) Khang (kahng) Tov (too)
Dang (dahng) Moua (moo-ah) Vang (vahng)
Fang (fahng) Neng (neng) Vue (voo)
Ge (zhay) Pao (pow) Xiong (shee-ong)
Ger, Yeu (dzur) Sao (sow) Yang (yahng)
Monday, November 12, 12 37

38. SILENT LETTERS:
WHY?
Changes in pronunciation after spelling conventions were
set, such as how English kept changing after people began
writing it; e.g., knife and knight.
Attempts at transliterating single letters from another
language that have no corresponding letter in our alphabet;
e.g., Ch for ‫ ח‬in Chanukah (corresponds to German Bach).
It is not “acceptable” to some languages to pronounce what
others do; e.g. English does not start words with “ps” so we
take the Greek psi (Ψ) and pronounce it sigh.
Monday, November 12, 12 38

39. SILENT LETTERS
French has many silent letters in its orthography; e.g., final
consonants S, T, and X as in Dupuis, Chevrolet, and La Cage
Aux Folles. (However, final consonants are pronounced
when followed by vowels as in “les amis,” “tout a l’heur,” and
“beaux arts.” This is called liaison.)
English silent E changes pronunciation of preceding vowel;
e.g., tap, tape; met, mete; sit, site; mop, mope; run, rune
Spanish has no silent letters except sometimes h, which was
only added to clarify that the following u was not a v.
Monday, November 12, 12 39

40. EMPHASIS:
PLACEMENT
Emphasis: initial, penultimate, or final stress.
Initial stress; Latin: anno domini, patre, filio
Penultimate stress; Italian: spaghetti, spaghettini, cannoli,
cannelloni
Final stress; French: Philippe, Desirée, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Monday, November 12, 12 40

41. SOUND & SPELLING:
ENYAY
Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish all have “enyay” but the
spell it differently.
Italian: “gn” e.g., lasagna.
Portuguese: “nh” e.g., caipirinha, piranha.
Spanish: n with tilde diacritic (ñ); e.g., mañana, piñata,
Quiñones, Muñoz.
Monday, November 12, 12 41

42. RARE SOUNDS: THETA,
ETH
Theta (IPA θ) is in few languages. Eth (IPA ∂) is even rarer.
In French, th is always pronounced T, as in Mathilde and
Thérèse).
In Castilian Spanish, all C’s and Z’s are pronounced θ.
Contrary to popular belief, Spaniards do not lisp their S’s;
e.g. “Gracias por me dar los zapatos a las cinco.”
Monday, November 12, 12 42

43. ORTHOGRAPHY:
SPANISH
Consistent: always pronounced as spelled
Avoids K unless in Greek words; e.g., kilo
English -tion = -ción. Ex: nación, concepción
Avoids double letters. ll = y/j e.g. tortilla
Th = T; e.g., theme = tema, rhythm = ritmo
Inm- instead of im- e.g., inmigración
Monday, November 12, 12 43

44. ORTHOGRAPHY:
SPANISH
Es- replaces S preceding a consonant; e.g., especial, estéreo,
estudio, escuela.
Avoids Y as a vowel; y = i as in hidrógeno, dislexia, and
gimnasta.
qua/quo = cua/cuo; i.e., ecuador, cuota
F replaces Ph; e.g., elefante, Ofelia, Filadelfia.
No silent letters (psychologist = sicológico)
Monday, November 12, 12 44

45. NAMES VARY BY:
Caste (social status and profession)
Religion (religious figures or saints)
Profession (a subset of caste)
State (geographical location)
Region (east, west, north, south)
Monday, November 12, 12 45

46. NAMES: ARTICLES
Some names have articles such as “the”
Arabic: Al; Spanish: El; French Le or La
Al Jazeera, El Cortez, LeBrun, LaBelle
LaShondra, Lakeisha, Leandra, Leroy
Monday, November 12, 12 46

47. NAMES: PREFIXES
Names sometimes have prefixes.
Some have meanings, such as Ben (son of).
Some have no meaning but sound good.
Monday, November 12, 12 47

48. NAMES: PREFIXES
“Prefixes including Chan-, Shan-, Ka-, and La- …which were
used to create such names as Danell, LaTasha, Shandra, and
Monisha.
The prefixes De-, Ja-, Tri-, Ni-, Wa- and Sha-, which were
used to create names for both sexes” (Weiss, 1999).
Monday, November 12, 12 48

49. NAMES: SUFFIXES
(WITHIN THE NAME ITSELF)
“Suffixes such as -on, -won, -quon, -el, and -ell, which were
used to create boys names such as Davon from David and
Marquon from Mark. To give these names even a more
distinctive twist, the suffix is stressed when
pronounced” (Weiss, 1999).
International suffixes include -son/sohn/sen, -es/ez, sky/
ski, -ton, -enko, -ian, -ovicz
Monday, November 12, 12 49

50. NAMES:
HOMOPHONES
Prefixes or suffixes in –sen is Danish, Norwegian,
names may sound the same Swedish;
but be spelled differently –son is English;
and have different origins, –sohn is German
for example:
–ez is Spanish;
Mc– is Irish; –es is Portuguese
Mac- is Scottish
Van– is Dutch;
–sky is Russian, Czech; Von– is German
–ski is Polish
Monday, November 12, 12 50

51. NAMES:
IDIOSYNCRATIC
The value of uniqueness can be seen in:
Combined names and creative spellings (Weiss, 1999).
Unusual use of apostrophes & hyphens; e.g., D’Sean, Le–
Vaughn, and even La—a (African-American baby names).
Monday, November 12, 12 51

52. NAMES: COMBINED
Names may be a combination of the parents’ names, such as
Alwayne or Jodene.
Can you think of others?
Monday, November 12, 12 52

53. NAMES: CREATIVE
SPELLING
Merideth instead of Meredith
Lynda instead of Linda
Mikol instead of Michael
Donnyelle instead of Danielle
La—a instead of Ladasha
Can you think of others?
Monday, November 12, 12 53

54. NAMES: AESTHETIC
APPEAL
Fingerspelling that is pretty to watch.
Sounds that are pretty to hear.
Rhythms and stresses that are interesting.
Monday, November 12, 12 54

55. PRONUNCIATION:
NATIVE & NON-NATIVE
Foreign name/word pronunciation is native, near-native,
and anglicized. Nakamura— native: slightly rolled R; near-
native: Ah/Oo; Anglicized: short æ/uh and hard R.
Wiśniewski: Vish-nyefs-ski or Wiz-new-ski
Monday, November 12, 12 55

56. GAME: SPEAK & SPELL
Pull a name out of the bowl and tag someone to spell it.
Give both the near–native and Anglicized pronunciations to
help the speller know what they’re spelling.
Tag someone who hasn’t gone yet.
Keep it going for as long as time allows.
Monday, November 12, 12 56

57. STUDY: FURTHER
Listen to nationality, spelling, and pronunciation of names.
Notice patterns.
Take an introductory linguistics course.
Take foreign language courses.
Interpret foreign language courses and learn on the job.
Watch foreign films.
Monday, November 12, 12 57

58. STUDY: FURTHER
Read the resources in the reference list.
Listen to foreign music and read the lyrics.
Travel / work / study abroad.
Listen to international accents / languages.
Respect diversity and thirst for knowledge.
Monday, November 12, 12 58

59. RECAP: WHAT WE
LEARNED
Sound systems (phonologies) & spelling systems
(orthographies) of languages.
Ways to cope with the foreign names and words that we
encounter as interpreters.
Techniques for mastering spelling & pronunciation.
Where to turn for further study.
Monday, November 12, 12 59

60. CONTACT: ME
me@danielgreene.com
www.danielgreene.com a.k.a. www.terptrans.com
Facebook.com/danieljamesgreene
Google+: Search me@danielgreene.com
LinkedIn: danieljamesgreene
Twitter: @danielgreene
Monday, November 12, 12 60