Will football commentators ever get foreign names right...

I watched the Spain v England game tonight... shame about the result. (Spain 2 v England 0 - England were well beaten by a very sharp side playing some excellent football... he said through gritted teeth!)

Anyhow... whilst I watched the game on ITV... I listenend to the match build-up and half time round up and assessments on BBC Radio's 5 Live.

Tonight, they had the admirable Roberto Martinez, presently enjoying great success as Swansea City manager, summarising and offering his country's view on the game. All very good... and he was excellent, eloquent and informed in his commentary. So... what's the problem?

The problem is that none of the 5 Live crew could get his name right! Neither the other commentators or presenter managed to pronounce Martinez properly... making listening, at least for me (and I imagine any other hispanic speaker also listening), highly irritating!

These sports commentators are supposed to be professionals, after all! You'd think they would just make a little effort to make sure they know how to pronounce names properly. One might wonder why Roberto Martinez didn't correct them. I expect he's probably too nice... and maybe is so used to it, he can't be bothered any more.

Not that I imagine they'll ever read this... but for the benefit of any other Brit wanting to know... the correct pronunciation for the name 'Martinez', phonetically, is : mar-TEE-ness. This doesn't work too well when it's written... so here is a great site for pronounciations where you can listen to it being pronounced properly: Inogolo - 'English Pronunciation Guide to the Names of People, Places, and Stuff'.

Will British sports commentators ever get hispanic names right? I doubt it! Exasperating!