Indian Pronunciation

When you are surrounded by something, you often tend to adapt to fit the mold of whatever influence is around you.

Case in point?

Had a guy in my school named Darshan whose name I would pronounce like my white American classmates: dar (like car)- shonn (like don). Normally this name and this word I would pronounce with classical Hindi pronunciation but in the context of hearing his name at school all the time, the traditional way of saying his name sounded strange or even wrong.

Now that I remember actually, there was a kid at a summer camp I had met and become friends with who introduced himself as "Garv", like Marv short for Marvin. I was so intrigued that this Indian looking guy had a name that I had never heard before so I asked him how he spelled it.

G-A-U-R-A-V.

So then your name is Gaurav (classic pronunciation)?

....Yeahhhhh.

I then got him to start pronouncing his name the right way from that day forward. But it's so funny, so many times desis don't give white people a chance to pronounce their names properly. Instead of letting people say Kamal's name like kuh-mall, tell them that it should be pronounced as though you are rhyming it with the word pummel. But then I've seen people who have heard a name pronounced a million times in the authentic way, but then will prefer pronouncing it in an Americanized manner.

Just a thought, yall.