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> non-Indo-European names

Are Persian or Polish names easier than Hawaiian or Japanese?

German names are hard enough for monolingual English speakers.

Yet to encounter a monolingual English speaker to be able to pronounce my first name "Ward" (Dutch speaking Belgian). Only one I know of was someone who had spent several years in Paris (so he knew French and wasn't actually in the monolingual category anymore).

I recorded this one several years ago: http://wardje.eu/dll/ward.wav

Let's not even get started on my last name...

Wow, yup, that would definitely... take some practice to get right.

I did something similar on YouTube, specifying the way I prefer Americans to pronounce my name: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfTkEaZSMXo

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