Joanna Maciejewska2d ago
One of the quirks of being in the English-speaking space is that people sometimes assume I shorten my name to Jo. While I'm not to bothered when they use it, my original name is pronounced differently (Yo-an-nah), and it shortens to... Asia (A-shya) via Joasia (Yo-a-shya), which I can't really use in English speaking spaces either, because everyone would pronounce it as the continent...
I don't mind people pronouncing Joanna the English way. I often do it myself to avoid confusion at appointments, pharmacies, etc.
But Jo? Jo still feels foreign. Like it's not me.
Again, I don't mind when others address me as such, but I can't imagine signing off as Jo myself.
Show threadElliott B. Edwards2d ago
@AuthorJMac I saw the fun jab in your book about mispronounced names and primarily english speakers (as discussed by folks with names "unpronounceable" to English speakers). Would you be willing to create (or have you already created) a similar pronunciation guide for your last name? I find it interesting and humbling how poorly my English speaking brain has guessed at "Joanna". Fascinating linguistic context!
Show threadJoanna Maciejewska

@el2iot2 Joanna is a tricky one, because it exists in English exactly the same, so without context, brain goes to its known default. I do that too, but the other way round, defaulting to how Polish people pronounce things.

The jab was there because back when I lived in Ireland, many foreigners dealt with similar situations, so it felt real to include it (though I didn't make up Kaja's surname on purpose).
My close (Polish friend) gave me a hard time for not including a reference to a famous scene from an old Polish comedy about WW2 in that scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfKZclMWS1U

And my surname is pronounced Ma-chye-yev-ska (our Js in general are pronounced as Ys in yellow or yach, and our Ws are pronounced as Vs in voyage or vest).
Fun fact, depending on which side of the ocean I am, English speakers are going to pronounced it differently:
Mak-ay-e-jew-ska (Irish and British) or May-see-jews-ska (American).

I usually just pronounce it the Polish way, because no matter how I say it, it's going to be a nightmare to spell for a non-Polish person anyway.

Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz (HD)

YouTube
Mar 19 at 4:46pmWeb
Show threadElliott B. Edwards2d ago
@AuthorJMac Indeed the "American" pronunciation was very close to how I had read it in my head. Thank you for the explanation and pronunciation!
Show threadJoanna Maciejewska1d ago
@el2iot2 You're welcome and thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about it more!