The best examples that come to mind are when ordering food. As examples:
• You speak English and Spanish and are ordering a burrito
• You speak Thai and English and are ordering Tom Yum
I imagine it could depend on numerous things:
• You primary language or ethnicity
• What sort of restaurant
• Who you’re dining with
• Who you’re ordering from
• and probably a lot more…
I use the language that I think my interlocutor would prefer. If I don’t know, then I default to the language of the social context, unless I specifically want to practise a language at that moment. If I want to practise, then I ask first.
It depends.
Let’s say I’m trying to ask an acquaintance their phone number so I can add them on WhatsApp or Signal. Honestly it’s kind of ridiculous to use the proper pronunciation of Whatsapp im Brazil, so I use the popular way (it’s something like “oah-tchi-zap”).
Unless I’m actually speaking with someone in their mother language I just default to the Brazilian version of the name. Otherwise I will try and match their pronunciation - it’s nice to train and also I think it’s polite.
I attempt to change to the pronunciation of the original language of that word
I’m a native English speaker living in Germany and if I’m speaking German, every word is coming out with a German accent. It makes Germans cringe, but if I switch back and forth, I completely lose my accent. That means that I pronounce, for example, Microsoft while speaking German with a long i, a trilled r, and a voiced s.
I’ll pronounce Spanish words in an American accent, but using Spanish pronunciation. For example, if I say “I would love a quesadilla, but I don’t have any queso or tortillas.” I’ll pronounce the “que” as “kay” instead of “kway” and the “illa” as “eeya” instead of “ila”, but in an American accent. The exception being if I’m pronouncing a place name, then I’ll pronounce it with English pronunciation. Like “Los Angeles”, I pronounce as “loss anjiless”.
Generally, if I know there is a common loan word, then I say it in the language I am speaking (burrito is close enough for example), otherwise I try to say it in the native language and native intonation (quesadilla = kesadi-ya). I generally try to see what will be the most understanding.
With people’s names I will try to default to their native version, but once I know them for a while I’ll get if they seem to prefer the English or imported version. I’ll start with O-ka-mu-ra for example with proper Japanese intonation and cadence, but if they like the bouncy American style of pronunciation Oke-a-moo-rah better then I’ll use that. A 2nd generation Japanese-American for instance might be more familiar with the latter. Conversely, a name like George/Jorge, I’ll say George in other languages but if they like Joーji (Japanese) or Hor-hey (Spanish) better I’ll move to that regardless of what language I’m speaking.
Honestly it’s mostly unconscious for me, the brain just does it’s thing sometimes.
I’m so jealous.
Part of the reason I asked is because I want to get to this point so badly but my brain just freezes whenever I’m unsure of everyone in the audience’s understanding of both languages
😣🫣If that’s what you’re facing, maybe try thinking of it like you’re trying to get to know them a little. If you start talking about say, your recent effort to make sambal oelek for use in say noodles, asking if they’re familiar with the name, talk about how it has some origin in French cooking from the colonial period, add some info about how you like to use it etc.
Like if I’m ordering food, I’ll always go for the full pronunciation, then maybe follow up with the server or whoever asking if it’s the dish with this or that main focus.
I also love having fun with themed dinner parties with friends and the such, give full presentation on the pronunciation, it’s history in different areas that make it slightly different, give everyone a copy of the recipe (minus a few key but subtle ingredients lol) in both the original language and English.
All in all I say just try to make it a chance to be enjoyed one way or another and it doesn’t take long to get your confidence flowing lol. I totally empathize, I used to be absolutely mortified about the same thing, still do sometimes, just less so these days.
If I’m talking english and I have to say a word in spanish, I say it as it is.
bu-rri-to
Trilingual. I generally use the accent of the language I’m speaking, or I purposefully pronounce it as horribly as I can because idgaf
Whichever way I learned it first.
I’m Chinese-American. Primary language is English, I don’t speak Cantonese very well, and I don’t really speak Mandarin (but both are based on the same language system so its not that hard to convert from Cantonese). If I were to go to a Chinese restaurant, I’m gonna speak, in this order: Cantonese, then its Mandarin, then English, but most of the staff probably speaks Cantonese. I’m not gonna be like “I want a 燒賣, thank you”, like… that sounds so out of place lmfao, just speak the whole thing in the same language.
Depends , if I’m speaking with my wife we interchange and speak whatever comes in the moment and understand each other. In other countries we use the native language if we know it.
With friends it depends if everyone in the group can speak the language or not.
You pronounce the word correctly for whatever language the word is from. That’s the objectively correct way. Is this a serious question?
It’s not objectively correct.
If you do this between English and Japanese, Japanese people will not understand the way you pronounced the English word.
If you ask a Japanese person if they own a “computer” they will not understand. You have to call it a “con-puuu-ta” or even “pa-so-con” which is personal computer.
McDonald’s… Nope. “ma ku do nal do” or even just “makku” depending on the region.
If you ask a Japanese person if they own a “computer” they will not understand. You have to call it a “con-puuu-ta” or even “pa-so-con” which is personal computer.
In Thai it’s just ‘com’.
If you’re ready for the bill at a restaurant it’s ’check bin’ which for some reason is ‘check’ and ‘bill’ combined. When I first learned this people were confused why I didn’t already know it, “but it’s English?!”
Definitely serious. Loanwords fall all across the spectrum regarding how much they’re integrated from their source language into the “local” language and most folks don’t know or care about word etymologies enough to even consider it. If you’re not native there’s a good chance you’re mispronouncing loanwords even when you’re trying to use their native pronunciation.
Loanwords are a different story. I would argue those are part of both languages at that point. Burrito is an English word and a Spanish word. As I see it, anyway.