Your Name, Pronunciation, and First Impression
What would you like to be called?
(Choose among the following choices)
- Your name (for example, your name is Bob and you are called “Bob”)
- A wrong name that not your name (for example, your name is Bob and you are called “Jones”, “Smith”, or “Todd”)
- A number that not your name (for example your name is Bob and you are called “Hello Unit #42A36”)
- Called by a piece of clothing you are wearing (for example, your name is Bob and you are called “Blue jeans guy”, or “Blue shirt dude” or “You in the Yellow shirt” or “You in the Red Shirt”)
- A general verbal expression directed in your direction (for example, your name is Bob and you hear “Hay you!” or “Hi” or “Hello” or “How you doing” or other expressions without using your name)
The people I know would want to be called by their correct name (the first choice).
People like to be called by their name; a name is important in making a good first impression. A person has a very short time period to make a good first impression. Time frames can be about a few seconds. Part of the making a good first impression is saying the pronunciation of a person name correctly; mispronunciation of the name can hurt a good first impression.
If you are a person who struggles with pronunciation, here are some ideas.
- Ask the person you are meeting how to pronounce their name
Depending upon the situation by which you are meeting the person; you may be able to ask the person how to pronounce their name. If the person has a last name that it is difficult to pronounce, the person may be use to being ask how to pronounce it.
When you give the pronunciation of a name, you may try to remember the pronunciation.
You may have different ways to help you remember the pronunciation of a name.
Here are some ideas:
- If possible, try use the correct pronunciation when talking to the person two or three time in conversation. You are trying to remember the name by using it.
- You may try to internally talk to yourself on how to pronounce the name.
- After the meeting, you may write a name in a way that might help you pronounce the name.
- You may be able to record the pronunciation on your smart phone. Recording a name can help you pronounce the name. You can do a search on Google search to find Apps that will record your voice.
You may find different Apps to record a voice in an article called “5 Best Audio Recording Apps for Android [Updated]”
By Ashish Sebastian
Published on October 26th, 2020
On https://www.scriptosphere.com/5-best-audio-recording-apps-android/
Here an article to help remember the name of a person.
In an article called “6 Easy Ways to Remember Someone’s Name”
By Jacquelyn Smith (Published April 5th, 2013 on Forbes.com).
Address is https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/04/05/6-easy-ways-to-remember-someones-name
Gives some suggestions on how to remember a name
- Talk to friends and family members to ask for their advice on how to pronounce a name
If you have the spelling of the name before you meet the person, you may be able to ask friends or family members on how the name would be pronounced. You may be able to get the pronunciation of a name from someone else.
- Understand Phonics
Phonics is a code that helps a person translates a word in print in how the word sounds. Ideally, a person can see a word and know how the word sounds. People not good at Phonics (like myself) will have difficulty understanding how to pronounce the word. Understanding how the code works may help a person with pronunciation.
You may use the Internet to learn phonics.
With knowledge about myself
When I was growing up in school, I learned something called the whole word system. I learned to recognize and memorize the pronunciation of different words. My brain filled with a list of individual memorized words that I learned to pronounce. My ability to use phonics is limited
I navigate life fine; I use the same common words over and over again. I do have difficulty with new words pronunciation. I can have pronunciation problems with names.
YouTube
YouTube has an advantage of being videos.
A person can hear how the sound relates to letters and words.
Here are some YouTube videos that may be helpful.
YouTube Series of Videos called “Adult Phonics Course” (series of 72 videos)
YouTube Channel: Listen and Learn English
The first video in the series called “Adult Phonics Level 1 lesson 1 ABC Alphabet Sounds and Words | Homeschool Phonics Curriculum” (Published July 9, 2019)
Web sites
We Can Read Program
A program that helps to teach people about phonics
Information about the We Can Read Program can be found at
https://weallcanread.com/courses-home/
YouTube Video about the We Can Read Program at:
YouTube Title “We All Can Read Program Overview”
Published: February 13, 2011
YouTube Channel: We All Can Read Online Phonics Program for Third Grade to Adults
- Web sites that sound out the name
You may find web sites that can sound out the name for you.
You can type in a name in a website and then hear how the name is pronounced.
Here are some websites that may be helpful.
Type in the name that you want to learn how to pronounce.
Here are some articles that can give you additional web sites that may be able to pronounce a name for you.
“6 Websites To Help You Know How To Pronounce Names Correctly”
By Random, Published on March 9, 2017
From https://www.techjunkie.com/pronounce-names-correctly/
“5 Websites to Pronounce Names Correctly in English Audio Online”
By Dinesh, Published on January 6, 2019
From https://www.sysprobs.com/pronounce-names-correctly-online
You may be able to use a website to learn how to pronounce a name.
Correct pronunciations of a name can help create a good first impression.