Pronunciation changes even when crossing accents, let alone languages. The prescriptivists will say there is a correct pronunciation, and any deviation from it is wrong. But the descriptivists will ask why it matters if we all understand that we’re referring to the same thing. It’s an age-old debate.
I find it amusing that Linus himself pronounces both with the same vowel sounds, indicating that obviously the kernel is named for its creator.
While my American cohorts refuse to use the same vowels, choosing “Lie” for the first syllable of the man’s name, and “Lih” for the first syllable of the kernel. Then berate me for following the pattern but using US English pronunciation rules.
But you guys know what I’m talking about, so just shut up and let’s get on with this deployment, mmk?
For example if you say "Australia" in an Australian accent, Japanese people probably wouldn't understand. So you'd have to use the "correct" Japanese pronunciation: "oh-su-to-ra-ri-a".
Another example is "Hyundai", which seems to have at least five different pronunciations. Apparently Koreans say "HYUN-day"[1], while the British say "high-UUN-digh", Americans say "HUN-day"[2] or something like "Han-die" in Spanish-speaking parts. Australians say "he-UN-day"[3]. Note to prescriptivists that this is how Hyundai's various subsidiaries say it in ads.
That does not work in general. Some sounds just do not exist in some languages. Also, for example a name can sound quite different pronounced with an Irish and a Yorkshire accent, and there are similar distinctions in most languages. Which one becomes the canonical prononciation then?
I think that for proper names, it's common courtesy to try to prounounce someone's name as close as possible to the way they pronounce it themselves. This may be difficult when using sounds that simply don't exist in your language, and I'm not suggesting going as far as learning how to pronounce new consonants. But, if someone spells their name "St John" but introduces themselves as "Mr Sinjohn" (sɪndʒɪn), it's common courtesy to refer to them as Mr "Sinjohn", not Mr "Saint John". Or, if their name is written as Xi (in Pinyin), but read as Shi, you should call them "Shi", not "Ksi", even though you may not be using the exact right "Sh" sound, and you will probably not be able to match the right pitch contour.
The respectful way is to approximate it using the phonemes available in the target language.
But that doesn't mean using the rules that language uses to translate the letters to phonemes! For example, English has a perfectly good sound for /i/ - so don't read foreign names with that sound in them as /ai/, just because the Latin spelling of said foreign name would be pronounced that way if it were an English word.
Pronunciation changes even when crossing accents, let alone languages. The prescriptivists will say there is a correct pronunciation, and any deviation from it is wrong. But the descriptivists will ask why it matters if we all understand that we’re referring to the same thing. It’s an age-old debate.
I find it amusing that Linus himself pronounces both with the same vowel sounds, indicating that obviously the kernel is named for its creator.
While my American cohorts refuse to use the same vowels, choosing “Lie” for the first syllable of the man’s name, and “Lih” for the first syllable of the kernel. Then berate me for following the pattern but using US English pronunciation rules.
But you guys know what I’m talking about, so just shut up and let’s get on with this deployment, mmk?
* insert oxford comma debate/every grammer debate ever*
Linus never said "this is how Linux should be pronounced". He only said "I pronounce Linux as 'Linux'".
I also pronounce Linux as "Linux."
I pronounce it as "Linux" in German, while I pronounce it as "Linux" in English.
For names I would say no.
There are many cases where it does.
For example if you say "Australia" in an Australian accent, Japanese people probably wouldn't understand. So you'd have to use the "correct" Japanese pronunciation: "oh-su-to-ra-ri-a".
Another example is "Hyundai", which seems to have at least five different pronunciations. Apparently Koreans say "HYUN-day"[1], while the British say "high-UUN-digh", Americans say "HUN-day"[2] or something like "Han-die" in Spanish-speaking parts. Australians say "he-UN-day"[3]. Note to prescriptivists that this is how Hyundai's various subsidiaries say it in ads.
[1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-25813198
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI3-fJlmnoM&t=50s
[3]: https://youtu.be/RyupLuOVny0?t=15
That does not work in general. Some sounds just do not exist in some languages. Also, for example a name can sound quite different pronounced with an Irish and a Yorkshire accent, and there are similar distinctions in most languages. Which one becomes the canonical prononciation then?
I think that for proper names, it's common courtesy to try to prounounce someone's name as close as possible to the way they pronounce it themselves. This may be difficult when using sounds that simply don't exist in your language, and I'm not suggesting going as far as learning how to pronounce new consonants. But, if someone spells their name "St John" but introduces themselves as "Mr Sinjohn" (sɪndʒɪn), it's common courtesy to refer to them as Mr "Sinjohn", not Mr "Saint John". Or, if their name is written as Xi (in Pinyin), but read as Shi, you should call them "Shi", not "Ksi", even though you may not be using the exact right "Sh" sound, and you will probably not be able to match the right pitch contour.
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The respectful way is to approximate it using the phonemes available in the target language.
But that doesn't mean using the rules that language uses to translate the letters to phonemes! For example, English has a perfectly good sound for /i/ - so don't read foreign names with that sound in them as /ai/, just because the Latin spelling of said foreign name would be pronounced that way if it were an English word.