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Re: SC 3.1.2 lang exception: proper names

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: May 3, 2019 12:51PM

I agree with your interpretation that the pronounciation of names and
places should be consistent with the document language, especially
when the language is the default language of the user or region.
Users are used to hearing names and words in foreign languages treated
a certain way, whether it's in the local media or via their screen
reader. I think it would only confuse the user if we started messing
with that and marking up single words or names with the proper
language tags.

I think over tagging is more likely to cause issues than under tagging.
I often run into issues when reading articles with embedded Twitter
feeds of non-native English speakers writing in English.
Twitter seems to automatically apply a language tagging based on the
user's location. This causes screen readers to try to read English
text with German, French or Spanish synthesizers which effectively
renders them incomprehensible to me, I just switch language detection
off.



On 5/3/19, Wolfgang Berndorfer < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Hi Jeff,
> I don't know of any online resources about how proper names are pronounced
> or should be pronounced. How they are pronounced by a speech engine, you
> can
> test with a screen reader.
> But: How they should be pronounced, is my question. And technically that
> means, when should a proper name get a lang-attribute, if it's not a proper
> name of the default language.
> You mentioned an older guide for newspapers. Note, that my issue is about
> acoustic representation of proper names.
> Did this help?
> Wolfgang
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] Im Auftrag
> von <EMAIL REMOVED>
> Gesendet: Freitag, 03. Mai 2019 17:41
> An: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
> Betreff: Re: [WebAIM] SC 3.1.2 lang exception: proper names
>
> Hello Wolfgang,
> Are there any online resources for identifying how proper names are
> pronounced? Content developers are bound to encounter names where they do
> not know what language to use.
> Years ago, I helped maintain a newspaper style guide that included some
> pronunciation rules. I think this was done to help reporters be informed
> when dealing with the public. We did not give this guide out.
> Jeff Gutsell
>
>
>