‘We ought to try more’: how to pronounce footballers’ names

Do you mispronounce Bruno Fernandes, Gianluigi Buffon and Wojciech Szczesny’s names? You’re not alone

By Euan Burns for The Set Pieces

International tournaments expose us to new players, teams and styles of football. Euro 2020 gave us the chance to watch North Macedonia and Finland on such a grand stage for the first time. Although, what can be exciting for football fans, can be challenging for commentators, who have to master new pronunciations. Derek Rae, the voice of the Fifa video games, believes broadcasters do not always pass the test.

As ESPN’s lead Bundesliga commentator and a speaker of five languages, Rae prides himself on his pronunciations of player names. “We’d all want our names to be pronounced correctly if we lived in a different culture,” he says. “If people make that effort for you, it’s a huge sign of respect. It’s respect for a language and a culture. I realise not everyone is a linguist and not everyone can do that, but we ought to be trying more than we are.”

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