Originally posted by: Rhanfahl
ok, well first off allow me to take the time to thank all of you whom have offered "constructive" criticism within the forums. Or at least those of you who said something in the forums to rebuke me without just filling my message box up with slander as one of you has.
To all of you who simply think, "whatever, say things however you want, fuck the pronunciation, fuck the translation" I cannot understand why you then bitch about typos or when people like Dark Carnage post with the most horrible English ever written. The resounding point of my post was to point out that if you make a living (if it is your fucking job!) as professional speaker, part of your training, (credentials, degree, etc) should be that you study your script and learn how to speak what is written on it. Let's take the Spanish name Jose for instance. Now, especially in this day and age of "political correctness" bullshit you were to call Jose "Josie" not knowing how correctly say his name you would get the most cold evil stares from most people around you (even if you were ignorant of the fact).
AssertnFailure
The following is not addresses specifically to you in all said here below.
I feel for your friend Paxton, the dean of his school, or whomever was in charge of speaking the names at his commencement is clearly a dumb shit. Is it a big deal? Before you say "no" or "who the fuck cares", everyone shut your God dammed mouths for a minute and use your metaphoric ears (eyes) for a second to listen. My rant is not concerning every person that walks this Earth, only those that make a living doing things like this (narrator, commentator, public speaker). This is about "professionals" . I used the graduation scenario because it is one where I would think it would be more important, I'm not talking about when the nurse calls your name at the doctor's office. I commencement , particularly a university one at that is a very formal occasion. The speaker is not a randomly selected job at a commencement, usually if a professor, it is an English professor. Why? Because they would have a more commanding knowledge of the language and those names that don't always sound the way they are spelled. The point is in a situtation like that why should "John Robert Smith" or "Adam Thomas Jones" be said without a hitch, and "Wouter Aloysius Vruggnik" maybe not have a pronunciation key next to it so that the speaker doesn't slip on it or laugh nerveously trying to say it not having an idea how to? This can be embarassing for the graduate, and their family. Is it a big deal? Yes, it is, you may not think so because you are one of those "Smiths" or whatever.
Now in the field of Foreign language, again, these are supposed to be professionals. Is the narrator for Toonami commercials fleuent in Nihon-go....probably not? But was it professional for them to not even have an editor make some notes on the script that the announcer who has as many recordings to get it right as needed to take the time to say things correctly? The fact is, it would have been a simple edit, but it wasn't done, because they didnt' care.
To mention the flipside, for (AssertnFailure and Honoko) talking about the abomination that is Japanese spoken English.... yes, you should be upset, (perhaps it sounds silly to us, go ahead and laugh,not saying there's anything wrong with that). Go to engrish.com and see the most horrible English syntax you could imagine! The point? Such ignorance should not be permissable in a professional field, no matter what the country, or language.
AssertnFailure, you mention the "strictist equality laws". We follow them because we're told to, whether you believe it or not, a vast majority of the population of the Earth, is and forever will be Intolerant to others because of their color, race, ethnicity, culture, etc. The list goes on. Even the most foolish ignorant person who reads this forum will see it all over these forums, people attacking other for whatever reason, and I stress I AM NOT INNOCENT OF IT! Needless to say, the reason such laws are obeyed are because they have been beaten into our heads by the media, and with so many cultures living even in 1 city block if there weren't the chaos of this world would be far worse.
Next, Heretic I completely disagree with you, my Japanese teacher can probably speak better English than you, I know she does in comparison with me. If you tell her to say a sentence in Japanese and then English, you will distinctly hear her accent change from the typical high pitched Japanese Schoolgirl, to a perfect North Eastern United states accent. Another example is any Englishman that can come to America and eventually speak without an accent. I'm reminded of the father in the show "Frazier" who is infact English (which from that show I never would have thought).
"Americans would sound stupid trying to say Japanese words with stressed pronunciation."
No, Americans who know nothing about the language they are speaking would sound stupid saying a lot of foreign words. The solution is to hire actors with the following keyword "Talent"
Next, Jessper. I never said that everyone intentionally says names wrong, but I've seen it in my personal life. When at a new doctor's office a nurse called my name incorrectly, after telling her my correct name she responed "No it isn't" as if she knew my name better than I did. This bitter woman made me take out my Driver's License and Social Security Card showing that all my information but my Name (the first letter of my last name was wrong, that can cause MAJOR filing fuck ups!) Before she admitted she was wrong! Then proceeded after that to blatently call me by the file's name mockingly again as she left me in the exam room! So, point being, there are arrogant, belligerent, assholes out there.
"Think for your self a little and get off the whole American's are the devil band wagon until you have done some research and know one way or the other. Thanks!"
Don't go there, first off, "THE WORLD" is the devil, not America, but America is worse because they think they are better than anyone else (as a whole country, not necessarily individuals residing in it. I'm sorry for not stating that earlier). Now, I know I can't say this without giving you an example cause someone will just blindly flame me for saying so without backing it up. I really don't want to talk about this, but let's take the whole Sept. 2001 incident. All day, all I heard in the media was "How could this happen?" This is the same media that hour after hour reports incidents (not necessarily to this scale) just like this happening all over the world! So and so's government headquarters was bombed. But as you watch you never see the reporters stop and start crying and ask "how could this happen?" Why? because it happens all the time. People in America (my country) treat such things almost like a movie...its impersonal cause it didn't happen to them, they move on with their lives. But when it happens here, all of the sudden the are surprised and appauled at the government and all that other happy horse shit! My question isn't "How could this happen?".....no...my question is "How did this not happen sooner, to a people that have grown so secure and complacent?" Not everyone in this particular country is this way, but it is the general state of this country's people as perceived by our media information networks. Hate me for saying that if you want, but you cannot say its not true. America is not the devil...I will never say that, I love my country, but as a people are complacent, lazy, and have an attitude of "have it our way, cause we deserve it". Why don't the countless in other nations?
Jessper, do not presume to know me or my political views on this nation, or the world...simply because you don't, but I hope now you do, and can understand my point of view. I'm not angry with what you said to me.
"I'll let you in on a little hint that will help you in your life to come too. People arn't going to care if you are pissed off because they mispronounced your name. Know why? It is because you are a no one, when you arn't a no one people won't mispronounce your name. Get used to it. "
I won't debate you on that, you're absolutely right, I am a nobody. But 100,000 nobodies make a somebody, a powerful one at that. And if you think me "intellectual" then first off, thank you, and secondly I already knew what your sarcastic answer reguarding my statement would be. But it was never a question, it was a statement about the deplorable nature of people's laziness even in a professional world.
Also if I thought so "intellectually" my writing would be pure fact without emotion, as is the nature with the intellect. "Intellectual" also appears in the dictionary as "appealing to or engaging the intellect", and by that definition there really are no intellectuals on this entire forum, myself included.