Well, that can be a problem. I lived in Syria, and Arabic names are sometimes transcribed with different vowels, in particular, because Arabic vowels fall somewhere in between English vowels and vice versa. So yes, in that sense, that could be an issue. If you simply don't identify someone because their names have been spelled differently in two different situations, that's an issue of another kind, not so much cultural sensitivity as a security risk. That can be a challenge when you're dealing with a language that uses a different alphabet, or Chinese, which uses symbols.
On February 28th, 2012. See this statement in context.