MovieChat Forums > Water for Elephants (2011) Discussion > Why would Jacob mispronounce his own nam...

Why would Jacob mispronounce his own name?

posted 12 years ago by Nastassya
10 replies | jump to latest

In the beginning we clearly hear his mother call him Yakob (which implies that his last name is pronounced Yankovski), and yet, when introducing himself to strangers, he pronounces "Jacob Jankowski" with an American accent (distorted vowels) and a wrong consonant ("j" instead of "y")... That would make sense if he were a naturalized citizen who had lost contact with his roots, but throughout the film it is shown that he is fluent in Polish. And it's not like his name contains sounds that don't exist in English. Why would he perpetuate wrong pronunciation of his own name? Is that a possible goof?

[–] talulahcarmichael 12 years ago

People can easily be fluent in two languages. It always came off to me like Jacob was born in America, but his family spoke Polish at home, so that would explain why he speaks with an American accent, but is still fluent in Polish.

[–] Nastassya 12 years ago

Exactly!, like I said, it is implied that he's bilingual; but a person's name is always pronounced the same (the way it was originally intended). Jacob pronouncing his name with a strong American accent and different consonants would be analogous to Englishman Ron moving to China (or being born in China, but speaking English at home), becoming fluent in Chinese, and all of a sudden introducing himself as "Lon" (I apologize for the stupid R/L stereotype, I used it only to illustrate the situation :P)

[–] LillyView 12 years ago

His mother pronounced his name with a Y. He pronounced his name with a J. Not at all uncommon for a child to have Americanized his name.

[–] Nastassya 12 years ago

Hmm, okaaay, although I don't understand the reasons behind this phenomenon, I guess it does happen... something like Rebecca Romijn deliberately mispronouncing her last name :? But it seems more likely that it was just laziness on the director's/actor's part - therefore, a goof ;)

[–] tracygee 12 years ago

Exactly!, like I said, it is implied that he's bilingual; but a person's name is always pronounced the same (the way it was originally intended)

Not true. Immigrants coming to the U.S. (especially the second generation that were born in the U.S.) often wanted to fit in as much as possible. It's very possible he was "Yacob" to his parents, but introduced himself as Jacob.

In my own family my mother's maiden name, for instance, was pronounced in a French manner by her grandmother, but her father Americanlized the pronounciation, which is how it continued down the line.

The spellings were often changed as well. Some of that was done in error upon immigration, but others changed it on purpose. Some of my ancestors went from being "Von Huben" to "Huben" and from "Abendschoen" to "Obenchain" for instance. And this was done by the second generation that wanted to 'fit in'.

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http://i41.tinypic.com/16063o8.gif

[–] coolaree 11 years ago

He's an immigrant, he wants to fit in, not going to do that with an odd first name which people will stumble on, for one, not a huge mystery...

[–] illbeoneasystreet 11 years ago

My great grandmother who was alive around the same time changed the spelling of her husbands last name to make it sound more American. Immigrants weren't looked on all that kindly at that time. Her own family treated him poorly because of it.

Its something you'll get used to a mental mind *beep* can be nice!

[–] ulrichevelyn-886-126986 11 years ago

My dad's father immigrated from Germany in the last leg of WWI. His name was completely changed when he was processed at Customs and it took some time getting used to, as he had a very strong-difficult-to-pronounce-German-name.

My mom's grandma did the same thing as well as she had a very hard German to pronounce.

I BEING DIFFERENT!

[–] luckiest_strike 11 years ago

in the german version he says Jakub as is his name but while I would blame Patterson i am familiar with the phenomenon. my best friend pronounces his croatian last name differently when introducing himself to german speakers because otherwise they may get it wrong. The sound exists in german but it's just more convenient.

[–] ledo-lorena 10 years ago

I will just share my own experience, maybe it will shed a light. When I first got to Canada, I used to pronounce my name as we say it in Portuguese, but it was a pain in the butt. People couldn't understand it, always asking me to repeat it, how to spell it... Now I just pronounce it as they do it. It makes things easier!

L.L Jacobson