Phonetic Topic

Dear Ellie,
I recently got married and my new surname is London.  My question is, why does the  EL student from China keep calling me Mrs. Longda? My maiden name was Mana and she had no problem whatsoever pronouncing that.   I think Longda sounds awful, so I keep correcting her,... reminding her there is no letter "g" in my name, and that it ends with an "n". And I'm talking about a smart girl.  This is an is an AP Calculus class!  What's the deal?

No G for Me,
Hawthorne High
Springfield, Kentucky

NoG,
I'm so glad you asked!  

First of all, congratulations, Newlywed!  It can take time to get used to a new last name, so it is understandable that an unexpected variation can be hard on the ear.
To understand why this student is mispronouncing you name, you may benefit from a brief phonetics lesson:

• Different languages have many different phonemes and structural rules.  As a young child learns his native tongue, he perfects only those sounds that he will need to employ; those that don't exist  in the heritage language (such as the Spanish rolled "r" sound) become difficult to mimic.

• The phonetics of Chinese languages and English are very different.  One such difference is that Chinese does not commonly have two consonant sounds in a row without a vowel in between.This explains her difficulty pronouncing the letters "n" and "d" right after one another.  

• Additionally, most Chinese languages do not have words that end in consonants.  It is quite typical for Chinese speakers to either omit the final consonant or add a vowel sound to English words that end this way.

You are going through some big life changes, but keep in mind that learning a new language and culture while leaving behind life as you know it may be even more difficult.  If you want to help her learn to pronounce your name more accurately, be extra careful not to embarrass her in front of her peers, and perhaps start out with a compliment before launching into corrections. Better yet, contact the EL teacher in your school.  He or she should be able to help her by explaining precisely how to make these sounds and where they should come from relating to the tongue, teeth, throat and nasal passages.  Then it will just be a matter of practice!

Linguistically Yours,  Ellie

References:

Sometimes, pronunciation matters!

Chinese Student Photo.  Retrieved from
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Finegan, E. (2011). Language: Its Structure and Use (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth

Cengage

Phonetics Drawing.  Retrieved from
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Plato Joke.  Retrieved from
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Pronunciation for Chinese Speakers.  Retrieved from
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