So growing up in Nashville and being named Swati (which is the northern spelling.. in south India people write it as Swathi) was bad enough when it came to explaining my name to people, but add in the southern accents and holy moly…!

The easiest way I've learned to explain it to people is that you should try to double pronounce the sound itself… so instead of a phonetic 'swathi' try the first syllabyl as swath (like a long strip of cloth) with your tongue at the roof of your mouth and then second as thi as your tongue releases… then faster.. swath-thi.. eventually you end up with swathi.. only, its spelled Swati

does that make any sense?

also keep in mind that in India, pronunciation often varies from state to state as does spelling signifying it… I'm from Orissa so my first name is (Swati) are pronounced with a "h" sound that isn't there and my mom had a time with my husbands last name because he is from Rajastan… his last name is Agarwal, pronounced 'Ahg-ar-wall,' and in Orissa, people would see Agarwal and pronounce it 'Ahg-ar-whal-la'… We Oriyas tend to add an extra h and a places so it helps to know what part of India the name you are learning is from so you can rely on the common traits of that part of India!

just my 2 cents

Great points on the syllabic nature of Indian names (CVCVCV) and the reusable components. South Indian names are broadly speaking more modular in this respect, i.e. with more readily recognizable reusable components, than names from other parts of India. There is no shortage of South Indians in IT. The reusable components are very frequently drawn from the following list: Krishna, Rama, Ramana, Gopala, Shiva, Venkata, Raja. Also, a lot of South Indian last names end in -an.

As for the -th or -dh sounds, I'd say in the interest of an 80-20 solution, don't sweat it Just grokking the syllabic nature of names, combined with even stress patterns (i.e. each syllable is emphasized to the same degree) will take you most of the way.

But for A+-level work rather than just A-level work, learn to pronounce p t k etc without the initial aspiration that American English normally adds (if you want to hear the difference, hear yourself contrast the p in parrot vs the p in tapas. The first has a burst of air right after the p). Once you have learned to hear and control this aspiration, if you can try and *add it in* when you see an h in an Indian name, so much the better.

Thanks again!