We speak to each other and I wonder how my name sounds in your native language.  Sure, this post has nothing to do with photograpy but something to do with the international scope of the Renderosity.

I wonder how Valerie-Ducom sounds in her native Françias or in 
Español?  Oliver sounds rather flat if phonetically pronounced in my American English but in his tongue is lovely.  You Brits, well, we former colonists will likely flatten your names a bit as well. You have different empahsis and some twists of the tongue we do not use....

With members from Iceland to New Zealand and so many French and Spanish speaking folks with different dialect..it is wonder we get to talk as we do.  I owe much of that to your ability to speak English since I only know small bits of other languages and am not fluent in those.

This likely should be a thought and not a post. Well here goes anyway.
 
TomDart.

My middle and most commonly (used) name, Dovid - is pronounced duh-vid.

I'm native French, lived in a lot countries (ultim is Spain). My principal name of family is "Ducom" from my french father, and " Kerschner-Huzzman" from my german mother..
My father lived during 28 years in US, Asia.. and now, his mentality is more american ..
For my mentality, I'm not feel me french, but more spanish.
My name Valérie from Latin valere "to be strong"! :lol: but my life is more "Carpe Diem" as my mother

When i was in Peru a school kid was watching me paint a desk at the school.  So he asked me in spanish what my name was. I said "Rich"... he looks at me strange and then asks again. And then i replied in a full sentence in spanish to show i knew what he was asking and that the original "Rich" was my name.  So he tried to pronouce it and got it horribly wrong (something along the lines of "weetsh").  I then said to him, "No, this is how you spell it R, I, C, H... and this is how you pronounce it... Rich" (all in perfect spanish might i add).  He then tried again badly and looked at me strange, after a pause he then refrased the question of "What are you called" (the typical "name?" question in spanish) to "What is your name?".  By this time i was getting frustrated so i said to him "Ok, my name is Rich, it is an english name, and you obviously dont know how to pronounce it or dont recognise it because you are a native spanish speaker" (again in spanish)... he looked at me and said "But why do you have an english name... you are speaking spanish..."

I had to smile :)

That is a good life's event.     Tom.

With Alhak as  my RR name, people must think I am a camel....Lol  But Sue is rather common and dont think it would sound much different anyway, would it? 

Very interesting tread Tom. 

@ Rich, funy story.
@Valou, nice family history
@Sue , nothing wrong with your name I find it a nice woman name.

My name "Tunde"  is Hungarian. I am living in australia, no offence but 9 out of 10 can not say my name. Straight away they call my Trudy, don't ask why. Interesting thou American and other Europian nationality ppl can say it straight away. So yeah sometimes I wish my name is something more english friendly.
( pronounced Tun-de. The Tun part you don't say "TAN" you say like it would be written "Toon-de"  Like a car-TOON...I know silly way to explane it but working, they understand it here down under)

seeyus  Tunde

Tunde, your explanation works for me.  Yeah! I have been saying your name close to correctly already.

hello Tom !

hey, it's a nice idea :o) yep my name is often said as 'oliver' ... very flat but i like it lol in french, it's different ..
it's olivier - so 'olivié' is more correct... 
lol Rich, it's a nice story :o)

seeya ;o)
oliviéééé

Olivier, you showed one of my thoughts exactly..not only will we not pronounce the name correctly but may also transliterate it into a name with which we are more familiar..therefore Olivier becomes Oliver.  

I have heard my simple name Tom pronounced Tum and Toom  with a long "o".

toom ? lol it's nearly like toon lolll 

In Dutch or Flemish, my name (Geert) is very simple and straightforward... but in other languages people find it impossible to pronounce correctly. It sounds a bit like you would say 'Hayert' in English (but with a stronger arabic-sounding 'h' and a flat, long 'a')...

Anyone had to try to pronounce an arabic name with the ayn or ' in it? you constrict your throat as if trying to stop throwing up and slowly release it whilst trying to vocalise an 'a' but without mouthing it... hard to explain, and even harder to sound authentic. Which is why when listening to arabic being spoken it sounds so damn cool! (along with the other non-european sounds they have) :)

My username is actually arabic and between the two a's there should be an apostrophe to mark that sound... but there isnt.

My name is Jennifer/Jenny,
I have heard italian and french people pronounce it very sweetly as in Genniver. one italian friend used to say something like Jinne. My hubby (Alan) gets Alain, Allie and Aleen.

I get interested in our sbs (international) tv stations' pronounciation of names and places, particularly for sport. Great for European names but they struggle with boring ol' western and difficult asian names sometimes.

As long as no one calls me nasty things I am fine with whatever they come up with.