An international star like Robert Deniro is widely known throughout the world. He is most famous for his amazing performances in gangster classics such as Goodfellas and Casino. Rest assured, when his name comes up in a conversation there would be no need to clarify who he is, right? Well, sort of.
Phonetically speaking, Robert Deniro can be more than Robert Deniro in regards to languages. As the title of this post tries to convey, the actor’s name (second time) is wrote as if a native Spanish speaker were to say it (just roll your “r” and you’ll see what I mean). Naturally, when speakers of a language come across a foreign name, they tend to pronounce it using their own language’s vowel sounds. Can you rightly assume, then, that a native Spanish speaker will comprehend your very American pronunciation of Robert Deniro when speaking Spanish? Maybe. Imagine this scenario: You are with your Spanish friend and the topic is movies. You roll your r’s, put accents where they need to be and try your best to sound as Spanish as you can. But all of a sudden, you get to the name Robert Deniro and find yourself wondering how to pronounce it. Do you follow suit with the Spanish you’re speaking and say Roe-bait Day-knee-row or do you throw a curveball in the conversation and say his name as we do in America?
This is a tiny dilemma I face each time I come across an English word when speaking Spanish. In my experiences, saying the native pronunciation can be a little confusing for some individuals. However, this is not to say that other people won’t understand. Although there exists no rule on how to pronounce a foreign word in a language, there are some variables that guide me.
If I’m speaking Spanish with someone who doesn’t know English, I tend to say the word as if I were a native speaker of the language (Roe-bait Day-knee-row). Doing this avoids any confusion that may occur; this is also how they say it in previews and television commercials in that country. On the other hand, if I’m talking with a native Spanish speaker who is bilingual, I’ll say the word with an English accent (Robert Deniro). It is my way of helping that individual speak English, by allowing him to hear the correct pronunciation of an English word.
If it’s not obvious by now, I’m definitely overanalyzing this topic. But hey, it is my blog and my thoughts. To make things worse for what I’ve written, there has been an ever growing trend in Spain. With all this globalization going on in the world, it seems that younger generations are pronouncing foreign words with their foreign vocal sounds (as far as their tongues and vocal chords allow). This seems to nullify all the “guidelines” I use on when and how to pronounce a word, assuming I’m talking to the younger generation. One such example, here in Spain, is with Michael and Kirk Douglas. The father’s last name is pronounced in Spain as Doog-las while the son’s last name is pronounced as Douglas. This is a perfect example of the younger generation breaking away from the linguistic norms of the older generation. This raises the question of what effect globalization is having on languages.
I can list many more situations in which I would use one pronunciation over the other, but that would be a bit out of scope. The rhetorical questions I posed throughout the post will have hopefully been made clearer through my experiences with the issue. Even though I find myself in a minor predicament of wondering how and when to pronounce a word, it just goes to show you the intricate process of learning a language. Welcome to sin salsa blanca.
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