Madhavi.
Yeah, many of you reading this blog already know that, but that's not
what this post is about. Yesterday, I was at a PTA social event where
most people knew me earlier. I also met some new people. As I
introduced myself to Sarah:
"Hi! I'm
Madhavi."
Sarah:
"Ma..."
Me: You can
call me by my initials - MG.
Nancy: Yeah,
but I really want to say your name right.
Me: You do say
my name right Nancy.
Nancy: It's
Madavi - right?
I broke it
down for them as I do in my email signature
Me: Ma-The-We
So Nancy,
Sarah and Sandy go, "Ma-the-we".
Me:
"Yeah! There you go! you got it."
Then we had
drinks, snacks, awesome conversation and..... life was good. This
morning, waking up with a pounding headache, as I got up to go get me some
black coffee (haven't done that yet BTW) when Nancy's words replayed in my head
- "Yeah, but I really want to say your name right."
"Yeah, but I really want to say your name right."
"Yeah, but I really want to say your name right." ........
Ma/the/we sort of comes very close, really close to saying my name right, but you know what? There is yet another sound missing from it. It is the stress in "the"; one that makes it sound like "dhe" before you proceed to complete saying my name with the "we". Sorry Nancy! You were so sincere in wanting to say my name right, but there's still a teeny-bit I have to teach you :( Gosh!! Why should saying my name need a three series CD learning system, sigh! Take Nancy for example or Sandy. You say it once and you know it - forever. It's not like they should actually be called, "Saindhee...." or Nuhancy. Life's unfair you know.... seriously. There are good, white people wanting to learn the right way of saying Indian names, but there's no easy way to teach them! Unless your name is Usha or Mani or Vinay or.....Modi!
"Yeah, but I really want to say your name right."
"Yeah, but I really want to say your name right." ........
Ma/the/we sort of comes very close, really close to saying my name right, but you know what? There is yet another sound missing from it. It is the stress in "the"; one that makes it sound like "dhe" before you proceed to complete saying my name with the "we". Sorry Nancy! You were so sincere in wanting to say my name right, but there's still a teeny-bit I have to teach you :( Gosh!! Why should saying my name need a three series CD learning system, sigh! Take Nancy for example or Sandy. You say it once and you know it - forever. It's not like they should actually be called, "Saindhee...." or Nuhancy. Life's unfair you know.... seriously. There are good, white people wanting to learn the right way of saying Indian names, but there's no easy way to teach them! Unless your name is Usha or Mani or Vinay or.....Modi!
Off to get
that coffee now.
My husband's name is Madhavan and when we were living in the USA, people totally butchered it. My favorite was one of my professors calling him "MAD-HAVEN"...omg...
ReplyDeleteIn my case, it was my colleagues in India that would store my name as MAD-HEAVY in their phones - can't say they were wrong LOL!!
DeleteHa Ha Ha !
ReplyDeleteHahahah! But you did manage to get them to pronounce your name fairly well, I must say! I invariably have a tough time telling my name on the phone to non-Indians. They crucify it beyond repair sometimes!
ReplyDeleteWriting helps a lot - on the phone? Forget it!
Deleteoh yes.. Bikram has become BikrAAAAM.. Mann has become MAN.. but they pronouce perfectly fine someone whose english name has a surname of Mann ..
ReplyDeleteBIK, and Now it has come to B tooo .. when someone ask me my name I say its bikram.. then the usual next question is .. what would you like us to call you i say "BIKRAM" and if you really need to know then "BIKRAMJIT" would be IDEAL and they SHUTUP :)
Bikram's
Heh! Heh!
DeleteOne thing I cannot abide by is how some Indians obligingly distort their names to suit American accents! As you said, they are willing and ready to learn, so why would you not just teach them?!
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. But I guess it comes from a place of low-confidence. Like they are more likely to be accepted if their names sounded more western. Not anymore and certainly not in CA. Love Cali for that!
DeleteTell me about it, I was always explaining my name and pronunciation when I lived in the States too! Nice to read about it!
ReplyDelete