Cultural Sensitivity Run Amok!

Project Runway isn’t my cup of tea, but my wife is a big fan so I end up overhearing it while I work. I have nothing against the show — it’s mildly interesting and I appreciate the level of teamwork and empathy I hear from most of the contestants.

In half-listening to the audio from this season, I kept hearing an odd sound during the dialogue. To me it sounded like there was something wrong with the audio — like the audio was compressing and skipping ahead — and, being the epitome of “engineer”, stepped in to see if I could help.

I got to my wife’s side and realized that one of the hosts was saying a contestant’s name (Hanmiao Yang), but instead of pronouncing it with an American accent like the other 99% of the content (including the Indian name “Swapnil”), this twit momentarily switched into a weird accent alá an English-speaking NPR reporter pronouncing the name of any Latin American nation (it’s “kuh-luhm-bee-uh”, not “kaw-lawm-byah”…).

I shared my observation with my wife who reasoned, “Well that’s her name. Her name is her name.” Of course I disagree, and a fruitful conversation ensued.

My name is Tim or Timothy. If I’m in the United States, Britain, Canada, or anywhere English is the primary language, it may be odd or insulting (it wouldn’t be for me) if someone were to call me something other than Tim or Timothy. While I do not care what others call me, I empathize with others who are bothered by such trivialities; for instance my daughter Rebekah absolutely insists upon being called “Bekah”, so that’s what I call her. After all, I love her and why cause a fight?

At the same time, when I’m in Mexico, Bolivia, Spain, or any other Spanish-speaking nation, I expect to be called Timoteo. It would be just as weird for them to call me “Timothy” as it would be for me to have said, in the previous sentence, “…or any other Español speaking nation…”.

“Timothy” is only my name within the context of my primary language, English.

In one of my secondary languages, Gaeilge, my name is Tadgh. “Conas ata tú, Timothy?” would be very strange; it’s “Conas ata tú, Tadhg?” Yes, much better, all in the same language. :-)

My first wife, mother of my three children, is from the Philippines. Despite the fact we lived in the U.S., when we married I took the time and effort to learn both Tagalog and Kampangpangan, and we would speak both at home. Even while speaking English, it never bothered me that her mother called me “teem”; it was easier to say for her and I knew what she meant. I could have stopped her. I could have said, “No, my name isn’t ‘teem’, it’s Tim. Tim. Say it with me…Tiiiiim.” But I didn’t say that because I’m not an egotistical jerk and a terrible human being. “Teem” works.

Now, to be fair, do I call my Mexican friend “Joseph” instead of “José”? Not normally. But although I speak perfect Spanish with excellent accents over multiple dialects, I would only pronounce it “ho-zay” while having a conversation in English because that’s how José is pronounced in English.

That’s pretty culturally insensitive, huh? Absolutely not, and to make such a suggestion would be both ridiculous and irrational. What would be culturally insensitive would be for me to go to another land — another culture — and expect them to conform to the culture I’m bringing to them!

If I was in Germany and the person I was talking to started calling me “Timothy” with a perfect English accent while speaking German, I would be uncomfortable. I would likely stop them, say, “Das ist sehr seltsam (That’s very weird),” and ask them why they were trying so hard. I would expect them to say “teem-oh-zee” or, a distant second, Timotheus.

So, the very talented young lady on Project Runway is “han-me-ow”, not “hnmyw”, or anything else, while speaking English. You may wish to pick up some salve for that cultural sensitivity problem…