I am sure that all umpires, the world over, experience some degree of stress when it comes to the pronunciation of a player name that they have not had to deal with before. Invariably, this is an issue when umpiring players from countries whose languages are foreign to your own native tongue, and where the names of the players involve letters or letter combinations that are pronounced differently in their language when compared to yours (or maybe don't even have an equivalent in your home language!)

What can often make things worse (and the most obvious example here is with some of the names of Chinese players) is the fact that, even within a single country, there can be language dialects that demand different pronunciation of the same letter sequences between the dialects! So, is there any way that we can sort out this dilemma for umpires so that they can go to the chair with confidence.

Firstly, and most importantly, it should be noted that nobody actually expects you to get the names absolutely perfectly correct, as they would be verbalised by the owners of the names. Despite the fact that my name is relatively simple (Mike Wright – both only have a single syllable) and both my first name and my family name are very common English names, it's amazing how many variations of pronunciation I still hear (not to mention all the ways that "Wright" can be spelled!) - am I offended when someone says my name incorrectly? No, not really... at the 2012 World Junior Champs in Japan, I was routinely announced as "Mike Wrighto", which I thought was amusing on the one hand and "just the way the Japanese people speak" on the other hand... it was somewhat endearing! Freek Cox, my friend and colleague from The Netherlands, may get somewhat more annoyed when his first name is pronounced how it appears to be written to a native English speaker (it's actually pronounced more like "Frake" or "Frayk"!), but even he forgives easily (although you might get "the look" from him first!)

So it is with the players—they are used to foreign umpires announcing their names with different accents, placing the emphasis on syllables that they shouldn't, or just stumbling over a name like Kunchala Voravichitchaikul. So, my first (and, in fact, my only) tip to you as an umpire is – RELAX! Not only is it "not the end of the world", but you'll find that if you are relaxed when you make your announcement, the names will flow off your tongue far easier. That's not to say you shouldn't prepare... ask other umpires beforehand (especially if there is an umpire from the same country as the player) and ask the players themselves - they will appreciate that you are concerned about getting their name right!

However, I have been thinking about how to produce a resource that could be useful to umpires in deciphering difficult names. The problem is, what I say in English as an explanation for how to pronounce a name might be difficult for umpires who don't speak English natively to understand. So, if I were to say that Tina Baun (DEN) should be pronounced something like "Tina Bown" (where the word "Baun" rhymes more with the word "down" than with the word "bone" or "born"), this might not be understood by a non-English speaker who can't pronounce "down", "bone" or "born" anyway! (Not that it will matter with Tine Baun anymore, since she has retired from international badminton after securing a fantastic win at the 2013 All England, her last event!)

While thinking of the above dilemma, I then thought of the following: While non-English-speaking umpires may not know very many English words, they should all know the standard vocabulary published as part of the Laws of Badminton . So, perhaps it would be possible to break down most (if not all) names by using parts of the standard vocabulary. For example:

Tina = teen (as in fourteen) + na (as in final)
Baun = b + ou (as in out) + n

It's a start! I wouldn't be able to get inflections in there (like Ma Jin, where the name "Ma" has an inflection that sounds like when an English speaker asks a question... i.e. Ma?), but I think it would be possible to get quite a few pronunciations explained in this way! Probably the biggest problem will be for sounds that don't have an English equivalent (like the "J" in Ma Jin, which is not a hard "J", as it would be in English, or a soft "J", as in many European languages (pronounced like a "Y" in English), but is somewhere between, with an almost-but-not-quite "sh" or "zh" sound!)

Finally, there are those names like the Thai players have, that go on forever! Luckily, they happen to be very easy to pronounce, as long as you don't get frightened by the sheer volume of letters involved. In 2011, I umpired the mixed doubles final at the Dutch Open between TWO Thai pairs – my announcement took about 5 minutes (I know, I'm exaggerating!), but I do think I got it pretty much right! I mentioned one of the Thai players above... Kunchala Voravichitchaikul. All you have to do is break the name down into syllables, thus:

Kunchala Voravichitchaikul = Kun · cha · la · Vo · ra · vich · it · chai · kul

(the "u" in Kun and kul is pronounced like the oo in choose, but a bit more abrupt (like the oo in look), rather than the u in shuttle.)

So there you have it – those are my thoughts! Leave a comment if you have any ideas on how best to explain the pronunciation of foreign names, or if you want advice on any particular name.