- What do you Think?? EXPLORE these resources:
- https://inogolo.com/
- https://www.thenameengine.com/ (famous names)
- https://www.howtopronounce.com/ ;
Inogolo was the least successful site for me. I tested it with many middle eastern names and the only ones that came up were ones related to well known people like Barak Obama or Hakeem Jeffries. I tested it with Chiara, because I have had students with that same spelling pronounce it "Kee-Ah-Ruh" and "Shy-Ah-Ruh" and Inogolo came back empty handed.
The Name Engine was fun, especially for last names, but unless your student shares a name with a celebrity or notable figure it's not the best.
How To Pronounce was the most thorough. All the names I failed to find on the other sites were there and it offered multiple pronunciations based on different languages. In the end I would definitely defer to the student first and work with them, since there are always variations. BUT How To Pronounce would be a great place to reinforce what my student has initially taught me privately without continuing to bug them.- Now What?? PRACTICE: Try to search for student names that are currently in your class. After several attempts, what is the success rate? Can you add to the databases? Would you recommend any of these or other similar resources?
I searched for 4 specific names: Astria (student pronounces it uh-stray-uh), Sajad, Zehra, and Suraj. I could not find the correct Astria, but to be honest this is the student's new name versus a "dead name" and I am pretty sure they made up their own pronunciation. I could add this new pronunciation to the site and see how it rates. The example for Sajad was different than what I have said for sure, but there was only one example. Zehra has many examples that definitely helped me to say it more accurately. Suraj two competing pronunciations, so again, I would always defer to the student. I would recommend this site as a resource to test out names at the beginning of the year when your looking through rosters, so you can make a faithful attempt before calling roll the first day.
