> ... you probably haven’t heard of Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kosciuszko. Nor can you spell it or pronounce it; join the club, but we’re working on it.
The largest mountain in Australia is named after him.
So most Australians know, and can pronounce, his surname at the very least.
Yeah, the wikipedia article addresses this somewhat;
The name of the mountain was previously spelt "Mount Kosciusko", an Anglicisation, but the spelling "Mount Kosciuszko" was officially adopted in 1997 by the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. The traditional English pronunciation of Kosciuszko is /kɒziːˈʌskoʊ/, but the pronunciation /kɒˈʃʊʃkoʊ/ is now sometimes used, which is substantially closer to the Polish pronunciation [kɔɕˈt͡ɕuʂkɔ]
You're not wrong unfortunately. It hurts me on a few levels when I hear the pronunciation butchered by pretty much all Australians. I understand why / don't hold it against them, but it's still totally wrong pronounciation.
Created an account to just to say that Australians have no idea how to pronounce this name. As an Australian I worked with a polish guy, the only thing he knew about Australia was the name of its tallest mountain. I had forgotten at the time and when he said "mount coz chiz ko" I knew something was wrong. We call it "mount cozzie osko"
The largest mountain in Australia is named after him.
So most Australians know, and can pronounce, his surname at the very least.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kosciuszko