quest for info/suggestions. re: dialects

[George S. Cole]

And to complicate the situation, students with Polish names will often
express offense when the name is pronounced as it might be in downtown
Warsaw.  More than once I have been corrected, with a student telling me
that their name (e.g., Nowakowski) is Polish, and should be pronounced
as No-wah-cow-ski.  When I ask how a grandparent pronounces the name, I
am given the 'cow' version.  Most of the students presume that some sort
of insult was intended on my part.

Usually, the system has already done its part.  Females of Polish
descent are -ski, instead of -ska.  Spanish and Asian students are
frequently listed with names that have but a faint relationship to their
real name.  While I have been told (on a couple of campuses) that it
doesn't matter, more than one student has expressed their appreciation
that their name (on a handout) is shown as it is used in their family.
To them, it seems to matter.

George S. Cole   gscole at ark.ship.edu
Shippensburg University