My new team pronounces certain products/companies names incorrectly. Is it rude for me to stick to correct pronunciations?

Say it the way you like to say it and blame your old company. Don't correct them and don't make an issue of it, so you don't come across as 'superior'. Leave it to them to remark on it, and reply perhaps

Oh sorry, that's the way we said it in my previous company.

or a similar way to convey that it's not your idea.

That said, some words are pronounced differently in different regions. One example is 'inventory' which (in UK) I have always pronounced as 'invuntry' whereas I think in USA they pronounce it 'inventory'. So it may be the word in question is pronounced all over your new region that way, not just in the work premises.

Edit: following the rephrased question:

You could say it the way you naturally say it, and repeat it the way they say it. Perhaps you will even start saying it the way they do, and there may be other words or phrases that you use that are unidiomatic in your new locale. Their use of this word may even be an 'in-joke' in some way.

As a new team member (leader?) there may be far more important changes to their working practices that need to be put in place. The major issue is not to alienate yourself at the outset.

I have few ideas:

1. Talk privately with the native English speakers you have around and ask them what the think about it - which is the better pronunciation. Ask their opinion whether it is better to try to improve the English level with regard to pronouncing those words.
2. Let them pronounce as they do, you pronounce it in your own way. I.e., mind your own business.
3. Find a reliable source of how the word(s) should be pronounced, and use that pronunciation. If the colleagues ask you why you use that pronunciation (different from theirs), just point them to the source. You can end up with a funny situation (see below about the GIf / JIF multi-lemma), but it is better than not caring, and it still has a potential to help improve everyone's English skills.

Sometimes, people talk badly just because they can, or because they like to stir things a little. See the discussion about whether to pronounce GIF or JIF (about the graphics file format). I myself pronounce it as DZhIF (like in "ginger") simply because that is how I got used to it - and because it is more "obvious" in my own native language.

Please be aware that forcing people to do something, even if is it is with good intentions, and for their benefit, it is still rude and should be avoided. If they will want to improve, they will follow your example. If not, then that's life. As long as you understand each other, why bother.

Treat others how you'd want to be treated yourself.

If I was your colleague I'd prefer that you use the correct pronunciation, so I can learn from you. I probably wouldn't bring it up in conversation, but I would notice that you used a different pronunciation and after a couple of occasions I'd look it up online.

I think this can happen a lot in software because it requires a significant amount of self study.

Pronunciation is not always obvious and isn't particularly important so often goes unaddressed. Even when the correct pronunciation is discovered it can be hard to break away from something that you've learned by saying it wrong (in your head) a few hundred times.

The "correct" answer is incredibly subjective.

Given that most are not native English speakers, a lot of latitude can be granted for internal communications.

If your team is customer-facing, there are few things that convey "We don't really know what we're doing" more than consistent mispronunciation of industry terms and leading companies, and every effort should be made to pronounce terms correctly across the team.

All that being said, you should discreetly bring the problem up to your team's manager, and then defer to their decision on whether or not this is something to address.

Suggestion: as with most such disagreements, the best approach is usually to ask a question rather than make an assertion. "Hey, I've been wondering: I've always pronounced it toe-mah-toe but folks around here seem to prefer toe-may-toe. Is that the general pronunciation in this area, or is there an in-joke that I'm missing?"

That raises the question without directly challenging, and while reserving the possibility that either may be correct or incorrect.

Neologisms such as invented product names, in particular, are often pronounced differently in a different communities and are prone to deliberate modification for humorous effect. To take an exaggerated example, I have been known to refer to Microsoft as Macrosquash. Similarly, only doctors and pharmacists are likely to pronounce complicated drug names correctly without looking up the manufacturer's preferred pronunciation.

You appear to be overthinking it.

Simply pronounce it the way you pronounce it. And don't do it in a patronizing way.

Unless someone expresses concern or confusion, there is no reason to mention the difference in pronunciation. People are really used to people pronouncing English words differently; depending on accent, the sound of every vowel shifts, and that is almost half of the sounds in an English sentence.

If this makes you self conscious, use pronouns (or equivalent placeholders) to refer to the product when you are following someone naming the product. Like, "Does Foobar have this feature? No, you need Plus to get it.", or "Yes, it does."

Someone saying S-Q-L vs Squirrel vs Sequel, it doesn't matter as long as both parties know what is being discussed.

The dichotomy between "use their pronunciation" and "implicitly correct them" is false. You are allowed to talk to people to explain what you're doing.

Approaching them directly about the pronunciation is obviously also patronising and petty.

Demanding that it's added to the agenda of the next team meeting would be. Asking one colleague in a private conversation is not. First thing to find out is whether they reject using (what you believe to be) the correct pronunciation, or if they're just unaware of it.

Different pronunciations fall into at least three kinds that I know of:

1. If this is a common disagreement like "gif/djif", or a common variant like "S-Q-L / sequel", then it's foolish to waste your time on it. Assume that they're aware that this is a disputed issue. Then if they care strongly that everyone around them should conform to their pronunciation, then you should almost certainly switch, but otherwise it's not patronising to differ.

Personally I pronounce ".gif" with a hard-G, even though I know that's not how the inventor pronounces it, and I mix S-Q-L and "sequel" somewhat arbitrarily. But I certainly don't care whether or not other people do the same as me. Maybe your colleagues don't care either, in which case you can find out by asking some of them, and then stop worrying about it forever.

2. There are some names in technology, such as "Kubernetes", which might as well have been specially selected to ensure that people won't know how to pronounce it, won't remember if told, and in any case it'll vary massively by accent and native language because the "official" pronunciation is one of several possible anglicised pronunciations of the Greek word it's taken from. For these I think it's fair to throw your hands up, accept there will never be a common pronunciation, and everyone assume that everyone else has done likewise. It's not patronising to pronounce Kubernetes differently from someone else, it's just normal.

3. If you believe their pronunciation is just straight-up wrong, and when asked it turns out they don't seem to realise it's wrong, then look for any evidence that anyone else in the world pronounces is that way. If you find it, maybe it's type (1) or (2) after all, and you just didn't know (so see above).

Once you're sure that you're right and they're all wrong, check whether the team has a strong culture that "junior" people are not permitted to have ideas or suggest corrections to more senior people. These do exist in the world, although personally I've never worked in one and I'm confident I'd do poorly. If you're in one, then obviously you must change your pronunciation. However dumb you think it is, just learn to code-switch, because apparently it's the kind of dumb you earn your living from.

Assuming you're permitted to speak, you can say to people one at a time: "I'm really sure the vendor always pronounces it this way". If they slap you down for pointing it out then you've learned you're too junior to correct them after all (so see above, and switch your pronunciation, and brace yourself for the inevitable situation when they're wrong on something that really matters and you have to push on being wrong with them).

If they don't seem annoyed by your explanation why you say it differently, then you're not being patronising: you're just saying it the way the vendor does, and they know why. Everyone is happy. They can change or not as they please.

The situations where I am a stickler for correctness in names is when it leads to ambiguity or non-recognition of the name. For example, I work in a context where there are two products with the same two-letter abbreviation. Aside from the fact that it's the same division's products, so maybe they shouldn't have been called that in the first place, I find it acutely annoying that people use the abbreviation with no context to indicate which one they're talking about.

I'm also not a huge fan of having multiple different names for the same thing, especially when one is well-known and the other is a semi-secret codename that most people will have no clue what you're on about.

But multiple different pronunciations of the same name, some of them incorrect, is just how people talk. It's extremely discourteous to mispronounce a personal name after being corrected, but the name of a product when the vendor isn't listening? Why should your colleagues care any more than you do that you're pronouncing it differently?

Theodore posted a comment that I am going to expand into an answer.

Find promotional videos of the Company pronouncing the product name correctly, share these among the team

This is the best solution.

Firstly - it comes from an authoritative source - so it is not that you think it is pronounced this way - it is that the company thinks it is should be pronounced that way.

A quick segue here to post this video: The Substitute teacher skit

Secondly - if the video gets sent out by say your manager (rather than you) then it doesnt come across as being pedantic within your team.

Lastly - sending the whole team a video is less confrontational than sending it to someone directly.

Credit to Theodore for the comment

If it's colleagues (rather than customers), don't overthink it, pronounce it the way you feel is right.

One of the following may happen:

• Nobody cares
• Someone notices, and thinks you are incorrect (and they may or may not correct you, either immediately or later, and then you can have a civil debate on who is right — and maybe it won't be you!)
• Someone notices, checks, and realises they have been saying it wrong all that time. They may or may not correct themselves in the future (it can be difficult to break a bad habit).
• They have a good reason to say it that way (cultural, historic, an inside joke, whatever) and they will continue to do so and ignore the fact you are saying it differently.

Note that some words actually have different pronunciations even in English, depending on the country (mostly UK/US, but there may be different splits, even inside a country). Back when I was in networking, there as he obvious "router" (rooter or ra-ooter?) for instance. Nobody cares.

Note that for some people of different cultures, some things are just hard to pronounce (because that sound or sequence of sounds does not exist in their language), so they will say it differently, and probably continue to do so. In those cases, saying the way they do may be seen as you making fun of their pronunciation.

If it's customers then it can be slightly more delicate, depending on the susceptibly of the customer and your relationship with them.

Sometimes you may switch to an alternative.

For instance, in my job we often deal with the concept of "On Premises". People in France tend to say "On Prem-eye-ze" instead of "On Prem-ee-sees". To avoid appearing to correct people, I will often switch to "On-Prem" instead.

Note also that for proper names, the pronunciation is sometimes not obvious. How does one say IKEA? EYE-KEY-AH or EE-KEY-AH?

A funny thing recently in France are ads by car manufacturer Skoda, like this one. The whole ad says "Skoda", but at the end there's a short jingle and they say "Shkoda", which apparently means the "real" pronunciation is "Shkoda" but during the ad they say it like people in France would say it ("Skoda"). Sometimes you have to adapt to the other people to make sure they understand what you are talking about.

I think you already know the answer to your own question. Yes, it's rude. Unless there is some pronunciation that materially gets in the way of getting work done, you need to keep your views on correctness to yourself. As others here have pointed out, "correct" is a highly subjective term when it comes to language.

Pilots use the phonetic alphabet worldwide because ultimately a standard on reading numbers and letters saves lives. Are you piloting airplanes? Are you involved with medical equipment or precision scientific equipment? If there's no risk to life or property by way of varying pronunciations, let it go. You risk alienating your colleagues, which will eventually impact work.

It depends on whether this difference is something that would negatively impact your coworkers. If they are pronouncing the name incorrectly to people outside of the company, then you should approach your boss or somebody who deals with outside people to address the pronunciation problem. It's rude to allow your team to embarrass themselves to clients or partners. If it's not an issue with speaking with 3rd parties, I would just continue to pronounce the names the correct way while allowing the others to pronounce it their way, especially since English is not their first language,as native language naturally will lead to different pronunciations.

Just to be clear - I don't really care how they say the names, nor do I particularly feel the need to correct them / change the way they say them.

In this case, ignore the fact that one or the other of the pronunciations may be correct. If you are uncomfortable because you are pronouncing it differently, take the blame for your discomfort on yourself. Just say something like

Look, I am a little uncomfortable that I'm pronouncing this differently from you, but this is the way I learned it, and I am finding it difficult to change.

This works even if your pronunciation is incorrect, and it makes you look not "like a jerk" because you have acknowledged the difference in pronunciation and explained that you are pronouncing it your way for reasons that have nothing to do with criticizing their pronunciation.

Full disclosure, I recently began collaborating with a new team that uses a product that I had used fairly extensively at my previous company. They were pronouncing the name differently from how we had pronounced it. I did a bit of research and found that they were using the "correct" pronunciation -- pronunciation used by the company that owns the trademark (and the obviously correct pronuncation if you know how the name was chosen). I try to pronounce it that way now, but I usually fail, just out of habit.

Similarly, there is another product that everyone pronounces incorrectly: it its name is a fairly uncommon English word, but they pronounce it as if it were a foreign word. It drives me crazy. I don't correct them, but I take every opportunity to use the word with the correct English pronuncation. Maybe people think I'm a pedantic jerk, but I haven't seen any evidence of it (I'm not the only person using the English pronunciation, so that helps). I rather think that most people don't care -- as with gif, json, SQL, etc.

I think you can approach the situation if you drop right and wrong cause this gives a way to rude or polite. One alternative could be to pronunce it really obviously in a way one makes fun out of it.

A college of mine introduced that style and its some kind of fun - I try it now as well from time to time. His way to do it is to take the name and pronounce it as it would be typical for a different language, e.g French.

Than it gets so obvious your are using it randomly that perhaps smile could appear - unless you start again with "I'll teach you the correct way."