As a second generation immigrant,the way I pronounce my name is different to how it ‘should’ be said. But it’s my choice, and I refuse to feel guilty about itLike most people, and I did not bag to choose my name. It was my parents who decided that Mona’ was a befitting title for their generic but sentimentally special latest offspring. I didn’t bag a say about the noun that I will carry around for the rest of my life. But I do bag to choose the pronunciation.
I could pronounce my name ‘moment-nah’ to rhyme with such classy words as boner’ and ‘loner’. Or I could pronounce it ‘Mu-na’,which said aloud, rhymes with nothing that I can believe of in the English language. That’s because ‘Mu-na’ is the way that Arabic speakers (like my parents) would say my name. Now we bag to the tricky waters which I, or along with many second generation immigrants,must navigate – which phonetic version of my name should I present to the world?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com