Is it annoying if someone corrects your pronunciation?

It is a bit annoying to be corrected. However, with the current, and incorrect state language is used, I think it is certainly called for...so long as you are doing it the way you say you are.

You need to also keep in mind colloquial pronunciation. People like you who are very quick to correct people can often be wrong in the context. For instance, there is a town near where I used to live in Michigan called Milan. In no way is it pronounced like the Italian city, and it would be laughable for you to think you know better than the local population. It may have been named after that, but the name is all its own, and that is not how you say it. Same thing with names like Shanghai, Seoul, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc. American pronunciation is different than the actual pronunciation. I speak a few different languages, when I talk in the language the name comes from I use that pronunciation, when I talk in English, I use the accepted American pronunciation sometimes, and sometimes I pronounce it like it is meant to be in that language. These are not concrete. My most common use of American pronunciation when pronouncing a foreign language when I am talking in english are chinese words or names (e.g. Shanghai, beijing, etc.). Other examples include names like Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Pizza, Haydn, etc.

People pronouncing things a certain ways means more is all I mean.

I actually love it when people correct my pronunciation, but no one ever does. Why? Because, people know that doing so will *almost* always be treated with contempt and a perceived condescension. The notion of condescension is overly presumptuous, but their desires are certainly not silly. Most people are not looking for someone to correct them, cut it out and learn to deal with it if you want to stay off people's annoyance list. This is just life, nothing you can do about it.

Unless you're a teacher or top management, you really shouldn't correct people's pronunciation or spelling mistakes. These are the results of bad teaching that these people have encountered as students, and its not really your job to fix everythong. If you do this, you'll be viewed as being disdainful and no one will show any respect for you or want to be around you.

Thats just how people are today.

Today, the average person can't punctuate to save their lives, their grammar is atrocious, and their handwriting looks like a chicken that just had a $hit attack ran across the paper that they were writing on.

If they teach me the correct pronunciation and spelling in a nice way and with respect it is not annoying for me, but if they teach me the pronunciation and spelling not in a nice way like with laugh, of course it would be an absolutely annoying but what ever situations we experience, whether it is good or bad we should always remember that nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes

I'm going to have to say yes and no to this one. It's not annoying that I was corrected, but I get annoyed at myself for not knowing, if that makes sense. When among friends, if someone slips up, we correct each other all the time, and I don't mind, nor do my friends. However, if I were talking to someone I didn't know very well, I wouldn't correct them, but that depends on the nature of the mispronunciation. I speak several languages, and welcome the corrections, as that only aids to improve my grasp of the language. It really annoys me when I hear words mispronounced on television, such as the word debut (début in French). That is particularly irritating as I speak french, and have often heard it pronounced as debo, or deboo. As for spelling, that's an interesting point, as the spell checker in Word and even here on Yahoo! really irks me. I am plagued by red underscores and the Oops! It looks like you have 3 misspellings, only due to the fact that I use UK variations. And I've also noticed that the little bubble that pops up here is a little hypocritical, as it actually says misspelling(s), not misspellings!! Of late, I have also noticed that the newspapers here in the UK must have fired their proof readers en masse, as the quality of English in the majority of their articles is atrocious. Surely they write their articles in a word processor, so there is really no excuse for such lazy journalism. I may sound like a grammar Nazi, but the terms I apply to others, I expect to be held to myself. A little side note, if I haven't rambled on long enough already. I work for an American company in the UK, and have daily conference calls to attend with my colleagues in Chicago, and my surname is persistantly mispronounced. My surname is Cairns, never once has someone got it right. Either Kanes, or Cains. Is is too hard for them to pronounce the r? Even in e-mails, where my name appears in the signature at the bottom it has been written Kane. In the words of Charlie Brown, "Good Grief!".

Edit - Bert

Ahem, a definition of irony would be found in your answer - its not really your job to fix everythong. That would be an interesting job :P

Yes, people like you are annoying. "I have this overwhelming urge to correct them." That is so condescending. Who died and made you the world's teacher? Save it for your academic classes where it matters. We're talking about people here. It takes more intelligence to figure out the heart of what someone is trying to communicate than trying to correct every damn spelling error or pronunciation. So a person says "irregardless" or "Vietcongs" or spells "their" instead of "there"... aren't you smart enough to figure out what they're actually trying to communicate? When you criticize every little thing, you just end up like old Mrs. Anderson the 6th grade spinstery teacher... a sad, sad person. What you can do is to first establish a rapport with someone, and then, when you've earned the right to be more forward, then bring it up. Or do it when it's actually helpful, like when you're asked to proofread someone's resume or when someone asks you for help or for your opinion. Otherwise, you're annoying and most people will not tell you that to your face (unless they're the direct type) and they probably can't wait to leave the conversation. You're the person who walks into the room and everyone thinks, "Oh no, it's the self appointed "red pen" ... how can I avoid him?" See past the mistakes. You may just find more than things you need to correct; you may actually learn a thing or two yourself.

You should not correct people's pronunciation unless you are in a situation where you are teaching them and they want you to. The only time you should correct someone is if they are actually transposing letters in the pronunciation. If it is just vowel sounds or something, that is often a result of accent. Yes, it is insulting to have someone tell you you are pronouncing things wrong because of an accent.

I think it is okay to correct spelling, unless you are doing it as a means of arguing. That is just stupid.

I'm feeling kind of depressed that my idea of the British being so kind and proper has been absolutely destroyed by you English folks. And just how I stereotyped all British to be proper is how you just stereotyped all Americans to be greedy. And about the world wars a few comments up, I guess the British and American textbooks differ in facts..

Yeah people like you are annoying. I know your type, the type who thinks he/she is the most "sophisticated" "educated" individual. I wouldn't try to correct anyone it's rude, especially if you're not a teacher. I wouldn't be surprised if you start looking for grammar errors on this post.

I prefer to know how to pronounce something so I don't sound like a jacka$$ when I'm talking to someone who knows how a word is supposed to be pronounced. It's also helpful to know how to pronounce a word because it could really screw someone over.

For example: I almost failed Chemistry in High School because the teacher pronounced the word, "equivalent" as (ee-quih-vale-ent) instead of (ee-quiv-lint). It took me half the year to figure out what the heck he was talking about!

Yes, basically it is rude, and your "intentions" aren't going to change that. What is better, I think, is to make another sentence in a short time and use the word ( or pronounce the word) correctly. It is a little more subtle.

If the person is going to make a speech or something, and you are helping them, or they ask for your help, then that is a different story, but unsolicited advice is usually NOT welcome. Stop it, it is annoying.