[acad1228]

In Spanish. Giving it the Spanish pronunciation while speaking in English, though, is affectation and we know that Obama has plenty of that.

I see your point, but I think Chileans appreciate it when foreigners make the effort. I know it ticks me off to hear folks in Arabian countries refer to the U.S. as "Ameriqi".

[aruanan]

I see your point, but I think Chileans appreciate it when foreigners make the effort. I know it ticks me off to hear folks in Arabian countries refer to the U.S. as "Ameriqi".

Are they saying this when addressing you in English about the United States? If not, your ticked-offness is misplaced. If I were to hear the president of the Dominican Republic give a speech to Dominicans about the United States, I wouldn't think he was making an effort if he said "los United States" instead of "los Estados Unidos." He would be making a linguistic gaffe. The same is true of a U.S. president referring to Japan as Nippon or China as Zhongguo or Italy as Italia, etc., etc., etc..