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Over the past few months I have noticed that classical radio DJs are now calling her Marta. I thought her name was Martha. I know she is from Argentina but that doesn't change the name her parents gave her. I would think as an Argentinian if her parents wanted her to be called Marta they would have named her that. What is the true story?
Follow Ups:
Marta"Martha" is a foreign name, originally from Greek (with theta) or Aramaic with hard t. In Argentina her name's origin probably came through German, in which "Marthe" would not have a soft th (theta) sound either.
In Spanish, Martha would be pronounced identically to Marta, which is the more natural native spelling, and she'd be called "Marta" in Spanish and French (which she speaks no doubt as she was married to Dutoit and lives in Belgium).
It's the same name.
Example in English: Jon/John.
The soft "th" would be harder to pronounce for most Europeans.
Edits: 05/25/21 05/25/21 05/25/21
She is Argentinian. Her parents are Argentinian. Marta is a very common name in Argentina. They don't spell it Martha. Being from Argentina of Argentinian parents, if they wanted to call her Marta they certainly would have spelled it Marta.
maybe she, or her agent, changed the spelling for professional purposes (looks less 'exotic', remember 1961) when she went to Europe (I think Vienna) to study?Also, many Argentines had history of European immigration in recent memory in their family, so they could have spelled it just like it was for an ancestor.
Edits: 05/26/21 05/26/21
Not that it's a big deal. It's been a recent thing too. 10 years ago, in my personal observations, no one was saying Marta. Everyone called her Martha. Now it has switched.
j
The interviewer asked her about the pronunciation of her LAST name: ArgerRICH or ArgerREEKH? She seemed (at that time) not to care, and her attitude was more like, "Whatever!". I don't believe he asked her about the pronunciation of her first name though.
/
either way it's plenty more than a couple DJs.
d
Where Marta is spelled Marta.
However, it's pronounced the way the bearer of the name wants it pronounced. Normally in Latin America it's pronounced as a 't.' The same with the name Edith. I worked for several decades in Mexico and always hesitated in pronouncing the name. My Spanish is definitely with a Mexican accent. When I was in Argentina, I was frequently asked where I learned my Spanish. The big difference is how 'll' is pronounced in the two countries. For example, Pancho Villa is pronounced "vee-ya' in Mexico and 'vee-zha' in Argentina. Llave (key) is 'ya-veh' in Mexico and 'zha-veh' in Argentina. Again Argentinians say Manuel de 'Fah-zha," and not "Fai-ya. I didn't understand the clerk's accent when shopping for CDs in a record store in Buenos Aires because the vowel sound changes too. Same thing happens with caballo (horse).
Unfortunately Martha Argerich herself sheds no light on the question. She seems to be quite comfortable with any pronunciations of her name.
As for how Marta/Martha is spelled in Argentina I have some limited personal experience with the name, my cousin and ex wife are both named Marta. They were named by Spanish speaking parents. But here is the tell tale thing. My ex wife's middle name is Elisabeth. Now when someone from an English speaking country is named Elisabeth or Elizabeth Spanish speaking people will translate that to Isabel. Just ilke Peter/Pedro John/Juan etc. BUT (and this is important) My ex wife's given middle name was Elisabeth not Isabel. And she and her family never say Isabel when refering to her middle name. See the difference? When Spanish speaking people give their kids an English name that has a Spainsih counterpart it is generally with the intent of the name being the English version.
Now, something that seems to be glossed over here by a few other posters is the fact that this is actually a relatively new phenomenon. 10 years ago everyone (IME) was calling her Martha. People I personally know who happen to personally know her call her Martha. *That* seems to have recently changed.
So my original question was and still is...why?
pronounced, MARTA. Neither language pronounces the "h."
Not asking how Germans pronounce Marthe or how Spanish speaking people pronounce Marta. The question was why did the pronunciation of Martha Argerich's name go from Martha to Marta in the past few years.
is that now it has been corrected. It always should have been so pronounced.
Let's just start by preferencing my comments here. I am, politically speaking, a mostly very liberal person. And maybe I am reading waaaaaaay too much into this. But you offer an answer that I actually find a bit disturbing in a very "woke" PC way. Another poster made an astute assertion. The correct pronunciation is whatever the person who bears the name wants it to be. We can take that a bit further and say that the parental opinion has some weight too. after all they are the ones who named that person. They should know what they meant.
The idea that people are now taking it upon themselves to "correct" a long time *aleged* mis-pronunciation of the name of an extremely well known artist who has been around for decades is something I find a bit troubling. Unless Martha Argerich herself came out and said "my name is pronounced Marta" there simply is no reason to change the pronunciation....other than this wierd, misguided (IMO) PC diversity motive.
I am all for diversity. I am all for respecting peoples' right to self identify. And I am all for respecting other cultures. But unless Martha herself asked for this it has the foul stench of PC wokeness going off the tracks.
Clearly it is NOT a big deal. BUT that has been my hunch from the get go.
;-)
And so the 64K question.....How is the title of this opera actually pronounced? Martha or Marta?
Not to complicate the issue, but, sometimes, this opera is done in Italian! ;-)
After finding out that Arthur Rubinstein changed his name to "Artur".........
Thank heavens it's ended :)
"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. "
― W.C. Fields
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d
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