Q: So, it’s Sadi, without an “e” — nar-WINCH-ki?
A: Nawarynski, the “w” is pronounced like a “v.” And I do have an “e” on the end of my first name.
Q: So, it’s Sadie Nawarynski … na-var-IN-ski.
Exchanges like this after yesterday’s liveblog are what is part of a job of being a sportswriter. It’s not only getting to know someone, but learning spelling and pronunciation of a heretofore unfamiliar player.
You see, one of the first things you’re taught in the newsroom is, “It doesn’t matter what you write; so long as you get the kid’s name right in the paper.”
For me, it’s gotten to be much more than that. Creating understanding between people is often as simple as learning how to learn a person’s name and get it right. This especially goes for people who you’re going to be writing about for several years.
It also applies when it comes to learning people about people you work with. In one of my non-field hockey pursuits, I dealt with a number of foreign students with an alphabet soup-level of surnames from South Asia, Thailand, and eastern Europe. I had to learn names like Bhattacharya, Chowanadasai, and Adamczyk and learn them well.
Thing is, the NBA has made the dissemination of pronunciations of names an art form. Every year, they publish pronunciations in team media guides and on the NBA website. As a result, every NBA fan knows how to prounounce VLAD-ay DEE-vats, YAHN-iss ah-dedo-KOON-bo, and, my personal favorite, YO-nahs vah-lahn-CHEW-nas.
I’ve taken this system and work ethic into my work here on this site, and it’s served me well over a quarter-century.