Wednesday, May 02, 2007

What’s In A Name?

If you have ever heard Sergio sign off from a liveshot, you will know that he pronounces his first name Sir-hee-o. Moments later, the anchors on the newsdesk say something like “Thank you, [insert reporter name here].” When they do that, they usually pronounce his name Sir-Gee-o. Some viewers have taken note of that and expressed frustration that our anchors do not pronounce his name the same way he does.

There is no one better to answer that than Sergio, himself. Below is an emailed response that he wrote to one of our viewers.

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From: Sergio Quintana
To: Viewer
Subject: What’s in a Name?

Dear Viewer,
First let me start by thanking you for not only tuning in to our newscasts… but also paying close attention to the details.  As a reporter you have no idea how gratifying it is to know that people notice what we’re doing.
I wanted to respond to the e-mail you wrote a few days ago about my name.  That has been one of the most interesting conversations I’ve had in each news team I’ve had the privilege of being part of through the duration of my broadcast career.
Interesting because it immediately confronts the diversity we share when we all work together to understand our differences.  I can assure you that all of my colleagues to not take the proper pronunciation of my name lightly.
Early on in my career I realized the difficulty my first name poses to non native Spanish speakers.  Rolling an “r” and then pronouncing a hard Spanish “g” is not the easiest thing to do on the air.  I tried conducting phonetics lessons with my anchors in prior newsrooms. 
But then I realized, I do not live in a Spanish society.  Nor do I live in an English only society.  I live in a Bi-lingual society.  With that… I feel people can understand and appreciate MY heritage through MY proper pronunciation of MY own name.  But I can’t always expect everyone I work with to master Spanish immediately.
So, my anchor team and fellow reporters operate on a simple rule; pronounce my name correctly in either English or Spanish… as opposed to mispronouncing it in both.
My sincerest thanks for you note,
Sergio Quintana
Reporter

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I welcome your thoughts on this topic
Here’s today’s webcast.

-Jason
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