Pronouncing names of students from 19 different countries

Greetings language nerds! This is glimpse into some of the work I do with universities, reading out names at graduation ceremonies.
As you may be aware, Australian universities welcome large numbers of students from all corners of the globe. When these students graduate, their relatives and friends often make the journey here to attend their graduation ceremonies. It is vital that Australian universities cater to this highly multicultural demographic, and one practical way they can do this is by making sure that the names of their students are pronounced correctly at their graduations.
It turns out that there is an 'uncanny valley' of name pronunciation: pronounce them incorrectly, or with an anglicised accent, and they sound terrible; pronounce them with an accent that is correct but a little TOO strong, and they sound ridiculous and distracting. What you see here are my best attempts to achieve the right balance.
Did I do ok with the accents or did I butcher them? I'm always seeking to improve, so let me know in the comments!

[@Overlearner]

Thanks for your comments everyone! It looks like I have a lot of work to do to improve both my pronunciation and cultural understanding, especially with countries of the subcontinent region. According to the comments, my performance ranges from ok to really bad. We also clearly made an error in our analysis of the Bengali name. No excuses - I am going to do some serious work on these accents with native speakers and come back better than ever. Mistakes are part of the learning process, but we should aim not to repeat them. Thanks for watching!

[@35135ksg]

:3

[@chimitrash]

You still absolutely killed it

[@potatozes]

@@chimitrashFr

[@igorjee]

Your h in MuHammad in Pakistani names sounds overly guttural. In Arabic there is KH, H, and h, look them up. But in Urdu they only pronounce KH and h, so it is Muhammad, not MuKHamad. The latter made it sound like an Israeli Jewish accent. Remember the ACHmed memes? It is AHmed or Ahmed in Urdu, never AKHmed. Pay attention to the length of the consonant as well.

[@Jaminsongunner]

Glad to see people were genuinely helpful and kind

[@oatmeal2goskits492]

The anti-substitute teacher

[@FLXNANDOGAMING]

Lmao😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏💀💀💀

[@Zeleven87]

AAron?

[@explosive_nuclear_catz]

lmao, fr

[@No_name_here368]

HAHAHAHAHHA

[@kier0063]

😭🙏🙏🙏😭😭😭

[@Zapprz]

First time I’ve heard of a professional name pronouncer

[@czechistan_zindabad]

Not for Bangladeshi dude's, I have no idea what his name (I am a Bangladeshi)

[@vnXun]

@@czechistan_zindabad I can't work out the Vietnamese names either, worse I'm not sure whether he (they) flipped the name order

[@feelingsfeelings.2848]

​​​@@vnXunYou're alright mate, I'm Vietnamese and I can't make out both of the name either, but I think they might have flipped it because the second name I heard something similar to "Nguyễn" being read liked a first name even though it's a family name, I might be tripping though. Example: In Vietnam the order of which a name is pronounce/written is: Last name - Middle name - First name But for the western/other countries, it's typically: First name - Middle name - Last name So I can see how some people might mix things up.

[@mizu_yt]

​@@feelingsfeelings.2848 family name = surname

[@feelingsfeelings.2848]

@@mizu_yt Thanks mate I'm stupid.

[@Ostralucia]

he’s even more powerful than streamers that read out donations

[@simplyalonso]

you're comparing a turd to fancy restaurant level steak here

[@sithias2968]

@@simplyalonso lmao so true

[@Enigmaception]

The most 9 year old comment ever

[@floppafloppa1990]

this is so impressive! great for the students (and any student) to not have their name butchered on such an important day

[@czechistan_zindabad]

poor Bangladeshi student, I couldn't tell what his name was (I am Bangladeshi)

[@Redwan777]

​@@czechistan_zindabadYeah I couldn't understand either. Sundoraj...???

[@czechistan_zindabad]

@@Redwan777 Yeah, I heard "Sunviraj Hosion" which doesn't sound like any name in any language. I am guessing that "Hosion" is Hussain, but "Sunviraj"? EDIT: I just searched up "Sunviraj" and it is a valid Bengali name, but, it seems to be very uncommon, so I never heard of it before. I don't know how he messed up Hussain (if that is the name) to sound like "Hosion"

[@Nafinafnaf]

​@@czechistan_zindabad or his name is literally Hosion, some people have weird names

[@czechistan_zindabad]

@@Nafinafnaf but, it's a surname here, and it is not a Bangladeshi surname either. I researched it if it even exists, and its not real, so...

[@northerner.]

I really like this video. My name is Angerlartunnguaq and I'm Greenlandic but I live in Canada. There's a joke among Greenlanders studying abroad where they tend to get used to not having their names pronounced correctly so I'm glad that there's people like you who take the effort to pronounce people's names correctly

[@Nooticus]

You have a beautiful language and culture, I have visited your great country :)

[@SnakeitySpoonGilmour]

Goated name tbh

[@Nooticus]

@@SnakeitySpoonGilmour Facts

[@Miracle12348]

Anger-lar-tunn-guaq. I’m sorry but who looks at there child and says yeah ima name the thing I literally created Angerlartunnguaq. This comment has to be a joke.

[@SnakeitySpoonGilmour]

@Miracle12348 How old are you? People learn about the naming conventions of different countries in kindergarten. You can't even use the correct "their," so I'm guessing you're not any older than 12.

[@jan_Masewin]

Imagine if class rolls were written with broad IPA

[@janana5917]

that would be grand

[@kreuner11]

One did, but they didn't get a reader that knew how it worked, so EVERYONE'S name got mispronounced

[@pixelmace1423]

@@kreuner11 finally, equality

[@noahbogue1934]

Honestly they should add desired pronounciation on IDs

[@rexthelegend3180]

IPA is great, but it’s also extremely complex. I feel like it would end up being more confusing.

[@voxgaming2064]

As a Vietnamese, I commend your effort to pronounce our names. They are completely wrong, but I agree with you, they are really tricky. So, great job at trying!

[@rembo96]

Hah)

[@33l_pr1m00]

wow that was harsh

[@BlueGogito23]

Bro let him know he was trash in the nicest way ever

[@anhha7502]

for real not the chinese tone for vietnamese words😂

[@Static-EN-]

sheesh 😂

[@TheNickGerman]

The only man Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz is scared of

[@SenhorKoringa]

polish is easy, the orthography is just counterintuitive to english speakers. Some of these names include rare sounds only found in a few languages and odd tonality Nguyễn Moħammad

[@suqmaddiqq]

​​@@SenhorKoringaYou could say this about... any language to any other language. Of course it's easy in it's own context!

[@SenhorKoringa]

@@suqmaddiqq I am strictly describing the orthography. All of these sounds do exist in english to some extent but english uses sh polish uses sz.

[@bebrochka8113]

​@@suqmaddiqq it's not the sounds that are hard, just the spelling. While Arabic or Chinese would have sounds completely foreign to a native English speaker

[@osasunaitor]

​@@suqmaddiqqthe thing about Polish is that its orthography is VERY straightforward, so once you learn the sounds and how they're written, you will never get them wrong. ...Unlike in English, where orthography is more like a _suggestion_ than actual rules. You know, such as _tough through though thought_ all being pronounced completely differently.

[@Zapprz]

2:28 with all respect to Sri Lanken culture that was a whole crowd

[@madhavraghu]

nah im pretty it was actually multiple ppl he just cut the video together too fast

[@_Just_Another_Guy]

​@@madhavraghu Some Sri Lankans have extraordinarily long first names or surnames. My friend is one of them and she just told me to call her by her short form of her name: Shar.

[@marschallblucher6197]

​ @madhavraghu In Sri Lanka last names are often multiple words. My last name is 3 words and that's on the _Short end._

[@Princeyy_editz]

God yes, I'm from sri lanka and my friend literally has got 8 names lmao

[@vihariii4754]

he mispronounced them so bad :(

[@swaritho6294]

2:01 bro really said "🐦🐦‍⬛🦜🦃🦢🦉🐥"

[@AffectionateLocomotive]

😅

[@Yesna]

Pretty sure turkeys swans and owls don't make that sound

[@anticlickbait]

​@@Yesna you are so funny

[@leonscottkennedy6860]

​@@Yesna 🤓

[@swaritho6294]

@@Yesna yeah i know, but how didnt u talk about the black square 💀

[@pangpengmaster]

the fact that the accent persist, but the pronunciation is correct only adds beauty the sound of each name mentioned

[@samdrow8268]

Who cares about accent with so much effort put into it anyway

[@jenm1]

@@samdrow8268well. White people care when their languages are spoken with accents. So, broadly I think it’s not “who cares”.

[@migueljoserivera9030]

​@@jenm1I've only seen English speakers (of many pigmentations) and French (mainly metropolitans) bitch about pronunciation. Almost any other speaker of European languages (I guess that is what you mean with "white") tend to be very understanding. Even though they might correct you it'll be for you to improve and not to mess with you like French and English speakers do.

[@samdrow8268]

@@migueljoserivera9030 English speakers don't care much either. Try living in California or New York if you don't believe me.

[@migueljoserivera9030]

@@samdrow8268 I am giving my insight on a coment about "whites". Maybe there people are more cosmopolitan or open but more generally, most British people and many US Americans are quite picky, to the point of correcting one another. I have been "corrected" on the internet by US Americans for using Brittish orthography (spelling).

[@tommarnt]

1:05 As a Vietnamese, it sounds like Cantonese (I grew up speaking Canton so it sounds really similar)

[@Ostralucia]

I speak Cantonese, I was thinking the same thing

[@heyhi6246]

it sounds nothing like Vietnamese sadly... the formal accent of the speech might have assimilated the tonal marks

[@BaoLe-bv3nb]

As a Vietnamese, I don't understand what their names are at all. The only part that I could catch was the surname "Nguyễn" at the end which was pronounced more like "Nhuyễn"

[@C0sm0zz_st4r]

@@Ostraluciasamee

[@whatever5401]

​@@BaoLe-bv3nbthe first girl's name sounds vaguely like "Hồng Ngọc" to me

[@jxjx6340]

Pretty sure Yiding's surname is Liu, which would go first in Chinese, so it sounds a little unnatural to hear it pronounced with Mandarin tones but English name order. I find that when using Chinese names in an English language context/in Western name order pronouncing the vowels and consonants correctly while leaving out the tones sounds a lot more natural. Source: I have a Chinese name

[@MagicalKid]

Yeah especially when they're spelled in English there's no point in pronouncing the tones.

[@L20241]

Kaur and Singh are the same community ie Punjabi Sikhs ( Sikh being the religion) all Sikhs have Singh meaning lion and the women have Kaur meaning Lioness.

[@K2ELP]

Interesting fact, as someone from Europe were not that many Sikhs live I didn't know! Thanks for sharing. The Turkish surname 'Aslan' also means lion. 🦁

[@L20241]

@ yeah aslan is a very common Muslim name

[@drdead9196]

Singh, yes that means lion, but Kaur doesnt mean lioness Kaur comes from sanskrit "kumari" which means young/unmarried woman (or in some cases, princess (rajkumari))

[@nowweinazone]

​@@L20241Aslan/arslan is Turkish, it is also a common given name in Persian and Arabic it seems.

[@ingridreim3205]

​@@nowweinazoneIn Arabic, lion would be Asad or Osamah.

[@slaw36912]

Indian names have two vowels both written with the letter "a" which causes confusion. Long a is pronounced as Ah, while short a is pronounced as Uh (schwa). Long a is usually written as "aa" but not always. So always research each name before saying them 😊

[@julius_trifinity]

The fact that it's not perfect meant he didn't memorize the pronounciation but instead learnt their names. In my opinion that deserves more respect

[@AnasMations]

Wow that's really impressive, we held a competition at my uni once and I was the one calling names. It was a really long list and I was so bad at it that I even got my friends names utterly wrong xD

[@noxnilrem9351]

I love this! Despite the mistakes people point out in the comments, your level of pronunciation and dedication to students is certainly something I strive to achieve one day in my own foreign language studies! Best of luck in your language journey; you would know best that it's a long road ahead even though you are so far ahead already!

[@Syiepherze]

2:18 The Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) names are pretty spot-on! I just want to point out a couple things 1. For the surname Wellalage, in Sinhala it is written as වෙල්ලාලගේ, where the ලා is a prolonged vowel. Hence it would be "Wel-LA-lə-ge" 2. Chandana (චන්දන) has no prolonged vowels, so it's just "Chan-də-nə" Tbh I don't blame you for these mistakes! You're doing an incredible job as is, I can def hear the accent. Hot take, but I personally dislike Sinhala's romanisation sometimes when it comes to vowels, I just wish it was more consistent...😅 (For example, the Colombo airport "Bandaranaike" is spelled with an E, but it sounds like a schwa!! This was how the old premier SWRD Bandaranaike styled his name; the standard romanisation is "Bandāranāyaka")

[@Nooticus]

agreed, the old romanisation deffo seems better

[@DevtheViolinist]

Side note - Bandaranaike (or Bandaranāyaka) is such a cool last name. Literally means “Monkey Leader”.

[@ludwig3083]

Sussy

[@ShallowStrangeness2627]

@@DevtheViolinistWait really?? Yo I'm from SL and I have never considered what it's meaning was omg😂

[@puffer_frog]

thats a lot of amoguses

[@selladore4911]

So the students aren't aware that their names will be pronounced very well beforehand? I can imagine it's a pleasant surprise. But wouldn't it be easier to have the student say their name out loud to you instead of researching it yourself?

[@Overlearner]

That's what I'm trying to see happen in universities! For example, when a student enrols in university, they say their name into a recorder, and it lives on their file permanently. Then someone like me can access it later prior to their graduation ceremony. At the moment it's mostly guesswork.

[@InOtherNews1]

@@Overlearner When I graduated from the University of Alabama, we had little cards that we would hand to the guy who read out our names. There were fields on the cards that we could write how we wanted our name to be pronounced. It's a neat system that you might want to look into!

[@akihikonobi7149]

@selladore4911 Then it would've been more awkward, and what's the hurt in doing some research urself?

[@selladore4911]

@@akihikonobi7149 It wouldn't be awkward at all! And the hurt in doing the research is time, and possibility of being incorrect despite your best efforts

[@Cynthiaaagghh]

@@Overlearnerat my US medical school, we have exactly the system you mention (student records their pronunciation and that is stored in the system).

[@bagaboiebailey]

the Nepal flag being a rectangle broke my heart 😢

[@imafraidjumitebeinagang]

As a Nepali guy, that rectangle white background haunts me at night

[@Vitrivius]

when the png says it’s transparent but it’s not

[@wo-th9gi]

Theres no choice

[@Saol.Alainn]

Oh wow, the actual shape of the flag is only the red portion? That's really neat, and the rectangle is really unfortunate

[@MissingGamer]

this is actually so cool dude at my school (here in germany) we have a lot foreign students too and the teachers really struggle with the names

[@pikoche6406]

🇹🇷

[@MissingGamer]

@pikoche6406 turkish, arab, and berber mostly

[@mikaerehodgetts]

​​@@MissingGamerI wanna see you try pronouce ny name😂 (mikaere)

[@ConlangKrishna]

Really cool! Well done 👍 Many people are not even aware of different phonetic systems. Language learning is a life-long challenge, and it can be a lot of fun. And someone will always complain about your pronunciation 😉 Keep going! 💪

[@MarcosSantaengracia]

Honestly great job! With the spanish influenced names you got 80-90% there, you had just a little bit of english accent on them, which is really good!

[@joshlagman253]

I'd argue it's a bit too spanish for PH though, most people here would pronounce Karla for example with the american english "r" and not the hard rolling "r"

[@arlynnecumberbatch1056]

@@joshlagman253 a surprising number of filos dont even have the ability to roll r's, and to add the kids today are picking up on english because of (unfortunately) cocomelon so we have american first names pronounced in american and spanish last name in spanish(?)

[@lucidtofu]

Reading your caption, I do really get that "uncanny valley" feeling *because* you pronounce it so well, but honestly it makes perfect sense for graduation like this. Even in the home countries the name callers doesn't always get your pronunciation right in events😂

[@shiro_kuma3817]

Everything from trying your very best to pronounce every student’s name correctly, to the small descriptions that explains the student’s background, to the easy to follow editing format is just phenomenal! I am so inspired by the way you are so respectful to every students’ cultural background and it is so amazing to see your passion from your research, pronunciation learning, and cultural learning is very touching. I wish you the very best and I thank you for your dedication.

[@MbahMu9829]

The way you rolled the R's in indonesian names. It's wonderful. Not native perfect, but it doesn't have to be. Congratulations, sir

[@daisaq]

I've been in military language school where there's students from 100+ countries, and there was a graduation ceremony every thursday. I was quite impressed how they managed to do like this every week!😅 You sir working very hard and as an asian myself, I can assure you everyone is grateful when someone put their effort to pronounce their names correctly! love from Japan❤

[@RubyPiec]

2:43 was that guy just called James

[@Me-xo5tw]

James khassemi or something I think

[@CosmicHase]

Probably mixed race

[@Anonymous-uw4sr]

💀

[@Aerialyn]

I can't escape you

[@RNoctowl]

amazing! i am still early in learning mandarin and so far, i've butchered all the tones (except flat and rising). and you manage to pronounce 12 different country of students and its really cool! hoping to see my name in a Australian universities graduation ceremony someday (as an Indonesian) :)

[@DimensionalIO]

I appreciate your efforts to learn how these names are pronounced and I appreciate this university getting a professional to read out names.

[@lavender9844]

We need more people with your type of training! Everyone deserves to hear their name pronounced right on such a big day.

[@uvickymcbread434]

1:53 ANTHONIA GAYGUY 🗣️🗣️🗣️🔊🔊🔊

[@ivanovichdelfin8797]

Antonita*

[@elmundodetedyytigre9083]

GAY

[@mayas4m]

👐

[@Sakyesoolo]

Starbucks baristas hate this guy

[@sumohummel8656]

They are clapping for him and not the graduates

[@GHOUSTTM]

hi indo here!!! you did so well for the indonesian rolled tongue names!!! :o there's an accent but its definitely well pronounced imo!!

[@fluffy6941]

mélodie chauvette-pelletier is pretty right but you pronounced it "pelletièh" when it should be more of a pelletié in french there's a pretty big difference between é and è as it can define the tense/intent of a verb or differentiate words

[@spectria.limina]

From Quebec, there's a good chance that the /d/ would actually be a [dz], too, but it's not certain.

[@pikoche6406]

​@@spectria.liminail a sûrement voulu le dire avec un accent français et non québécois. J'imagine qu'il n'apprend pas tout les types d'accent français comme il n'apprend pas tout les types d'accent espagnol

[@blob431]

As a Bangladeshi 🇧🇩, that first name already threw me off cuz I have no idea what it means nor do I know how it’s spelled so I don’t know if you’re proficient with the other countries’ names; but I appreciate your and the universities’ efforts regardless! Much love 💛

[@Sadnessiuseless]

He isn't really, he mispronounced es French, Vietnamese and Sri Lankan names

[@skylarfernandez8415]

​​@@Sadnessiuseless Not speaking on the Vietnamese or Sri Lankan names because I have no clue about pronunciations or languages or anything, but the girl with the French name was from Canada. I know this isn't a good source, but I've heard tons of times on KZbin jokes and general comments about how French people can't understand the French that Canadians speak. Kinda like how, even in English, it's hard sometimes to understand each other because of accents and slang and such. So, if anything, he's probably basing his French off of how it's spoken where she lives.

[@ummewe24]

Real. More than 10 times I hear the Bangladeshi name still didnt get what's the actual name is. Never heard any Bengali name like that before.

[@typo691]

The Bengali one is unintelligible geez

[@mystictnediser3854]

Is there more of this, I could honestly watch this for hours it mesmerizes me.

[@allinix7]

It is boring... plus some people in the comments say that his pronunciation is not good.

[@Lumegrin]

sounds like a fun job

[@williamkeitaro8910]

I think the hardest languages for English speakers to pronounce would be Japanese, Swedish and Norwegian, not really the pronunciation themselves but mastering the pitch accent (which is like tone). Unlike in Mandarin or Vietnamese where tones are indicated through diacritics and other things, in those languages there is nothing that can help you determine whether to pronounce the word in a rising or lower tone other than memorizing, and one mistake in the pitch accent can change the whole meaning of the word. For example, the Japanese phrases for "boiled egg" and "boiled grandchild" is pronounced and spelled exactly the same, just with different "tones".

[@ElizabethBarajas-gj8pd]

Interesting

[@justicedinosaur7302]

1. It's spelled differently: ゆで卵 vs ゆでた孫 (?? I assume?) 2. We have similar in english, eg "in tents" vs "intense" I really doubt Japanese is the most difficult to pronounce. I do only speak 2 languages, however

[@estroaye]

I find that reading Vietnamese name will be easier with those diacritics, but that won't help much with the pitch-centered accent that requires a bit of dedication and time to learn. That's the same problem why us Vietnamese have really weird accent when not used to speak english, our language is really airy and takes a lot of breath (like mandarin) with many pitch shift in one vowels, literally have to fake voice when talking english most of the time.

[@mbrow]

Sir, thank you for honoring all those students with the correct (or close to correct) pronunciation of their names. I'm sure that they all appreciate your efforts!

[@Jasi-Mori]

As a Vietnamese, yeb our tones are harddd, but I appreciate it!!! You are a great person for trying to represent diversity!!!

[@aggid9132]

What you did is incredible. It’s more than just saying their names correctly, but also acknowledging there are years and years of history and cultural shifts that affects each person’s names. Great work and thank you!

[@MackAdler]

2:50 That pronunciation was quite spot on...well done👏👏 Love from 🇮🇳

[@themelancholyofgay3543]

3:14 What, really? Single names... Interesting

[@youtube_new_update_sucks]

Well, meanwhile it's pretty common in Indonesia tho. Even the first President of Indonesia has a single name, Soekarno, for example.

[@irishgodfatherchris]

They also influenced a lot of Indonesian cultures, for example Presidents Soeharto and Soekarno only had one name. One of the more well known newsreaders is called Teungku Fajri, all that means is that is he is of Acehnese royal blood and his name is simply Fajri and nothing else. Megawati Soekarnoputri is another example, all that is is saying that her father is Soekarno, her name is just Megawati.

[@datdamnmonkey]

This is so cool! I would love to do this too! You did a great job! I am studying to become a teacher and I will make it a point to pronounce correctly any foreign students names I might have. It's the least I can do. I have also studied Mandarin, and even though I struggle with the tones, I make sure to call Chinese names with a Mandarin pronunciation. I want to study other languages so I can say everybody's name correctly. Tip for you in case you ever encounter a Portuguese student: don't take Spanish as a base to try and pronounce our names. We often hear foreigners trying to pronounce our names using Spanish fonetics and they always sound wrong. Also don't go by the Brazilian phonetics because Portugal and Brazil Portuguese sound different. Good rule for Portuguese names from Portugal: read our names as if you were trying to imitate a Russian person speaking. Portugal's phonetics are similar to Russian funnly enough 😊

[@Silver8te]

love the effort! my name is often butchered so i like to take extra practice and rehearsal when i learn a new person’s name

[@felipevasconcelos6736]

2:04 the disrespect to the flag of Nepal is real, though.

[@Princeyy_editz]

What's the disrespect?? Genuinely asking

[@felipevasconcelos6736]

@ the Flag of Nepal is famous for being the only non-rectangular national flag in the world. In the video, it’s displayed over a white field, making it look like a boring rectangular flag just like the others.

[@Princeyy_editz]

@@felipevasconcelos6736 oooh now I see it. Thanks for explaining :)

[@julvwildcat190]

This is amazing. It's a way to have the students be respected and seen. Names are very important and part of our identity and you can tell when people don't care to try and pronounce your name correctly. I wish more schools and teachers put in the effort to pronounce students names correctly.

[@wantokamerica4105]

Of course he will not pronounce overseas names like they are back home. But the respect shown by trying to get the names correct is commendable.

[@linagervacio392]

Thank you for your hard work and effort to pronounce international names correctly. It means so much to the individuals to called by his/her name in such an important occasion. Thank you. (Side note: Shekinah is pronounced She-kayh-nah.) 😊

[@Yashodhan1917]

Kaur is not a surname. It means a young woman, ein Mädchen oder eine Fraulein. Sikh men in Punjab often add Singh to their first names, which means a lion and women add Kaur. You'd never see a man with the name Kaur, though it's possible to see a woman named Singh or Sinha (same word) because Singh has turned into a surname; but it can always be used by anyone. Similarly in Uttar Pradesh they use "Kumar" and "Kumari" after first names, depending on the gender. These people don't use a surname at all. I've even met girls with a masculine first name followed by Kumari, so for example, Andrew Kumari can be a woman's name.

[@czechistan_zindabad]

random question, why is a part of your comment in German, lol? I mean, I get what it means but it's so random. Just curious

[@Yashodhan1917]

@czechistan_zindabad I was replying to the uploader who speaks German. I think Mädchen wouldn't work here, a Mädchen is too young. Even Fraulein is seen as a young lady, a woman not yet married. Kaur is an independent term of its own, no references to marital status.

[@czechistan_zindabad]

@@Yashodhan1917 Kaur in general is just used for Sikh women, no indication of marital status or age, much like Singh for men.

[@Yashodhan1917]

@@czechistan_zindabad I know

[@solus8685]

Just letting you know, Fräulein is a very outdated word and barely even used by 80 year olds

[@GeneralLiuofBoston1911]

While it seems from comments that there are inaccuracies, I applaud the effort. Much better than my graduation ceremony!

[@Stxrria]

This is amazing and must make the graduates feel amazing

[@mya_xo]

I love this and aspire to be like this, its really impressive. I speak and study several languages and its really satisfying to be able to pronounce things correctly and I think it definitely shows people that you took the time and dedication to understand their native language, even if its just a little.

[@user-ik8jz3sn6s]

1:56 but th

[@dannah.1]

it was correct

[@garthchapman1892]

It is crucial to teach the audience the importance of appropriate behaviour. When people yell out or applaud family members and friends, it undermines the significance of the occasion, turning it into a popularity contest. Every student has worked hard to earn their degree and deserves to be treated with equal respect and recognition.

[@Someone-ym1ny]

Tbh, not perfect, but hey I respect the effort keep it up man! 👏

[@Overlearner]

Definitely not perfect, got heaps to work on! Thanks!

[@MrPete81]

I find this the highest form of respect being able to say someone's name properly 😊

[@K_Lamar_974]

Very impressive and unexpected job! Just for you to know for at 0:53 (Melody Chauvet-Peltier), the final -et combination at the end of word/name is pronounced [é] in French :)

[@Princeyy_editz]

As a sri lankan, you did it perfectly , actually great jobs on the pronounciation and accent. However in most names like wijayaratne and bandaranayaka , the last syllable often has a most silent downwards note. "Ka" and "ne" (examples) are similiar sounding to "hungER"

[@eeeea3080]

Very cool, you still have to learn how to pronounce some Arabic words like ح in mu'ح'mad and ع in 'ع'li, other then that you did very well

[@jockcox]

Great to see that there are people doing this properly, and of course to see anyone with a love for the diversity of human language and culture.

[@ShallowStrangeness2627]

The Sri Lanka part caught me off guard. The pronunciations are pretty good, considering how used I am to westerners straight up butchering the names to a point it becomes unrecognizable. Not bad. ❤🎉

[@blackgirlyellowsunvibes]

I never knew this was like a job. This is the best ive heard someone pronounce international names! Also i love the tidbits of information that's included 👍🏾👍🏾

[@TrinhMinhPhong-p6t]

Bro really used his Chinese experiences with Vietnamese and it was totally messed up

[@estroaye]

ổng k quen nên từ nguyễn đọc thành nhuỹen luôn :)))

[@nixienooo]

I genuinely feel like you’d be the only person who’d be able to pronounce my last name at graduation

[@Rene-xi3so]

I wish I had you on my graduation day, the guy pronounced my name wrong and while I dont care too much, it was such a big day for me that it would have been nice to get it right. Im glad to see names and cultures appreciated!

[@derpderpderpPSN]

Probably should’ve pronounced the Chinese student’s family name first since that’s how it’s said in Chinese. Liu Yi Ding.

[@handlingitwell]

Yep. Either pronounce the tones and say it in the right order, or don't do tones and keep it in the "western" format. Just don't butcher "zh".

[@Overlearner]

Yes, except that universities don't like it when you do that. We will swap the order if a student has specially requested it, but a large percentage (probably more than half) of Chinese students don't care. Some also prefer to use a westernised name because they believe that to be the norm in a western country.

[@juliehock6059]

This is an impressive ability to pronounce the many names correctly.

[@handlingitwell]

@@Overlearner I get that. Maybe leave a pause so that it's Yi Ding, Liu? As a Chinese person that feels more natural. Should have mentioned, good job with the tones though.

[@valentinmitterbauer4196]

@@Overlearner In my region's rural culture, it is also still common to go with the family name first, but centralised institutions' standartisation practices (like forms) don't account for that. I don't mind it that much, but it still a bit of a forced adaption.

[@louielu8920]

its impresive, thanks for sharing this. just wanna say if a Mandarin name could be said by lastname + firstname it will be more fit into the culture norm. (Japanaese name also places as last + first name.

[@aylinasghary2959]

I thought this was all very impressive until he got to the Iranian name and pronounced it with an arabic accent...

[@Deadlytrick]

This effort and dedication means so much more than you know!

[@valsonder]

one time at a ceremony thing at a summer camp i was at i heard the name hermione pronounced Hermy Onny. must have been like 5 or 6 years ago now but i still remember 😭

[@hellkisser]

0:20 The Balinese name pronunciation is just spot on, a little bit miss on the words "Kadek" but the rest just so spot on

[@dragskcinnay3184]

2:06 noooo not the white rectangle with the Nepalese flag in it

[@EthanDyTioco]

non-png moment 😭

[@gs99_]

Literally goals. In the future I want to study in Australia to be an interpreter and translator. Languages are my passion.

[@imoutodaisuki]

In the description, you mentioned that too strong of an accent could be distracting. Ironically though, I’m actually distracted by something else: your effort to mask the students passing by so the text appears behind them. It’s such an unnecessary detail-no one would complain if the text was in front of the students. But wow, that’s impressive.

[@jonseilim4321]

Well done! If I may, Chinese (like for example Hungarian) have the surname before the given name, hence "Liu Yiding" and not "Yiding Liu", I didn't even realise it was a Chinese name before I saw the flag, but once again well done!

[@stayhumble-.-]

If the Viet sounds off in this video, it’s not just you. The delivery overall, feels like tried to adapt Chinese tonal structure, which is a fatal mistake. Vietnamese derives itself from Chinese: but its modern intonation is akin towards romantic (specifically French) emphasis, with similars patterns in visual markings]. Vietnamese modifiers _are_ grammar, words are only one syllable (which _can_ compound) and EVERY. LETTER. MAKES. SOUND. Aiming to structure Viet words like Chinese will leave you speaking robotically and slurred at the same time, just like what happened. While the tones are tricky to pick up: these are equal through dialect, regardless of word or context. A good mindset is to focus on one word at a time: get used to vocalizing, then speak similar words by vowel and modifier. Consonants matter just as much and should not be ignored. Shifting pitch and volume can help control accuracy on modifiers. While this may not be the perfect advice towards reading off names on the fly like in the video; this will help train the brain for the worst of times where you will be given a sheet of Viet without markings. While the pronunciation is simple; it’s extremely precise; which is a key contributor on why it’s one of the hardest in the world to master.

[@ikhebdieishetnietgoeddathe4057]

Vietnamese is not derived from Chinese and is completely unrelated to Chinese

[@silverstar501]

wow really appreciate your attitude and effort

[@bluesherbet2741]

Lakshmi should be pronounced more like "Lu" in "Luck" rather than like "La" in "Las Vegas"

[@ingridreim3205]

Respect, good job!🎉❤ And congratulations to the international students! 🎉❤

[@mraunglinaung]

Was hoping to hear a Burmese name.

[@Overlearner]

I think I have encountered a handful of Burmese names over the last 18 months. There are certainly Burmese students in Australia, but they make up a small percentage of overseas students.

[@mraunglinaung]

@@Overlearner Yeah true. Burmese have a unique naming system. We have no surname and even weird name like myself Aung Lin Aung. A Palindrome!

[@yarnmisery]

@@mraunglinaungi believe a palindrome is when the letters are the same forwards and backwards, so like: a man, a plan, a canal: panama

[@mraunglinaung]

@@yarnmisery Yeah..

[@mraunglinaung]

@@yarnmisery I meant in Burmese!

[@eleveli2437]

My graduation’s coming up and I’ve been kind of dreading hearing my last name, Puthussery, being pronounced. I wish unis did what the olympics does, where everyone has to record the pronunciation of their name and put it on their bio.

[@gloryjudgement7563]

1:12 I’m glad you’re trying but you did not pronounce the Pakistani names properly. In “Muhammad” there is no Arabic KH sound, so idk where you got that from… good effort tho, keep it up 👍

[@ErenAlpErtem]

It's literally softer than the English h, and Muhammed is literally the most common name in the world, so if your job is pronouncing names right, and you can't pronounce the most popular one I dont know what to say.

[@jjam1025]

Most likely his accent

[@ErenAlpErtem]

@@jjam1025 but not having an accent is his job

[@jjam1025]

@@ErenAlpErtem actually ill just correct myself, i dont even think that an aussie would pronounce h like that and i was basically half asleep when making that comment

[@si...]

Arabic kh sound is خ

[@beaconbeatsmusic]

I did this also for two different schools I worked at in the 2010's. I tried to do the same work of getting the pronunciations correct. I speak Mandarin, so that was relatively easy. It was the Thai names that were the toughest. They are very long and not pronounced like one would expect.

[@arnavranka4510]

3:02 It is not! Kaur is the surname for Sikh women, and Sikhs are only about 1-2% of India.

[@LivVirtual]

i remember when I was attending my sister's high school graduation, my family sat beside some fellow chinese people that we were acquainted with. the ceremony took place on the fields, so there was quite some distance between the members of the audience and the stage that had been set up, with the graduates being the ones that were closest to it and their families sitting on the bleachers that would normally be used to seat the crowds during sports games. this family didn't even realize that their son had been called up and handed his diploma because the principal mangled his name so badly 😭

[@selladore4911]

I assume you have notes on each pronunciation instead of memorizing it. What's on your notes? Do you use the IPA to help?

[@mskiptr]

I would expect using some phonetic transcription to be much safer. But in the long run you might actually want to practice always recognizing names how they are written "in the wild", so you can easily take on any surprises

[@azlailyabidin8951]

My teacher used to tell me that the names were written in phonetics since the students came from various countries.

[@moenajadmmh194]

0:15 i think it's the correct or the better version as native: 1).Angelina Isyandra Adeta an.d͡ʒə.li.na_i.ʃan.dra a.de.ta 2).Kadit Aditya Prawira Sastra ka.dit_a.di.ti.ja_pra.uːi.ra_sas.tra

[@StephJ0seph]

It’s so great that the students can hear their names pronounced with the pride of their original culture and heritage ❤

[@Utsuhoagie]

Really cool to see, good on you for trying to honor different students' cultures. Although as a Vietnamese, I couldn't make out what the 2 students' names were. "An Thị Hân Nữ"? "Bì Hân Na Nguyễn"? Both sound very strange, especially the second one (doesn't sound like Vietnamese at all), so I couldn't tell. Curious to see what their actual names were.

[@ikhebdieishetnietgoeddathe4057]

First one probably Anh Thị Hồng Ngọc

[@esmaa450]

I love this so much!!!! I wws recently at my sister grad and the speaker had similar skills!!!

[@plzhelpireallyneedabettern4065]

People really love 15 and 16

[@ElyasBinYahya]

People with only one name and no surname surely have trouble filling out forms sometimes. Forms that won’t let you click “next” if you don’t have a surname.

[@Fastwalker27]

So even a professional can't pronounce the arabic H sound

[@ingridreim3205]

Maybe it could also be helpful to record an Audio file spoken by every student how he him/herself pronounces their own name correctly.