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Help[Opinions] Pronunciation by different cultures
Imagine the following situation:
Three men from different countries are at an international conference. One man is Caucasian and wears a name tag saying "Hi, my name is Zahir Smith." The second is Middle-Eastern and his name tag says "Hi, my name is Zahir Mansour." The third is Latino and his name tag read "Hi, my name is Zahir Torres."
If you had to address each one in a culturally appropriate manner, how would you pronouce each of their first names?
Three men from different countries are at an international conference. One man is Caucasian and wears a name tag saying "Hi, my name is Zahir Smith." The second is Middle-Eastern and his name tag says "Hi, my name is Zahir Mansour." The third is Latino and his name tag read "Hi, my name is Zahir Torres."
If you had to address each one in a culturally appropriate manner, how would you pronouce each of their first names?
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Replies
zuh-HEER
zah-HEER
sah-IRR
zah-HEER
sah-IRR
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I'd say them all as zah-HEER.
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ditto
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and me too
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same here
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I would hesitantly address the first two both as zah-HEER, and if that wasn't right try zy-EER. I wouldn't try pronouncing them any differently because I don't speak Arabic, so I would impose some different pronunciation by mere assumption. However, I do speak intermediate Spanish, so if I met an obviously hispanic person, I would pronounce the name sy-EERR (slightly rolled r), or if I wanted to ease off the accent, zy-EER. But I would never attempt zah-heer because in Spanish, I know the h's are always silent.
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Caucasian: ZAH-heer or ZAY-heer
Middle Eastern: ZAH-heer
Latino: SAH-eer
This is just me taking my best guess.
Middle Eastern: ZAH-heer
Latino: SAH-eer
This is just me taking my best guess.
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zah-HEER for all of them. I'd always pr. Zahir as zah-HEER but I actually have no idea how you're supposed to say it.
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I would pronounce them all "zah-HEER".
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Caucasian: ZAH-heer
Middle-Eastern: ZAH-heer
Latino: sah-EER
Middle-Eastern: ZAH-heer
Latino: sah-EER
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Since I am an English speaker I would go ahead and say "za-HEER." If they were pronouncing their names significantly differently from that, I would roughly imitate what they said but approximate the unfamiliar vowels in American English. I do not think I can be faulted for that.
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