Wondering how to pronunce a certain name?

[shootingstar]

like Moscow, Idaho is not pronounced like Moscow, Russia and many many more.

Just curious. Then how are Americans supposed to pronounce Moscow, Idaho? (I know, I didn't ask how are non-Americans supposed to pronounce it. It's a place in Idaho that many non-Americans wouldn't use in daily language or at all because they didn't know the place with this same name spelling existed in the U.S.)

Until I started working for a German company I wasn't that sensitive that many German names/words starting with "J", are pronounced as: Y (yu.....) not as a hard "J".

ANd it is grating to the ear to hear Americans pronounce Iraq as "EYE-RACK". Prior to the war, I've always understood as 'EER-RACK". Hopefully the Iraquis themselves, have stuck to their own pronounciation when they speak English and used prior to war. I'd rather follow pronounciation of the originating country for the name itself. Americanization of original foreign words isn't necessarily the good thing. Other non-English languages slide a number of vowels and consonants together or have accent/tonal inflections that are miniscule but highly critical that it can alter the meaning of word if enunciated incorrectly.

Therefore Jeanne, is not "Jean", as with a hard "N" for the Anglo version. Jeanne pronounciation for this original French feminine name: GEHNN. Soft sliding "J", as in "gentle", with a short "E" (not long "E"), longer drawn-out "N".

I guess I'm a stickler for pronounciation....after memories of learning English as a second language from kindergarten to Gr. 2. Many phoenetic drills to correct my consonant blends of str, th, sh, sch, ch, r, etc. common problems for people with mother tongue language of Chinese. Even though I was born and raised in Canada.