GoKunming Forums

a English name?

Alien (3819 posts) • 0

If it's any consolation, note that the mispronunciation of names among nonchinese with different mother tongues is very very widespread as well - Arabic speakers have a hard time with B's, English speakers can't do Spanish/Italian R's or French R's, Japanese speakers don't distinguish R's from L's, Indo-European speakers can't do half the vowels or consonants that occur in Semitic languages, etc. Chinese speakers have a particularly hard time because there are so many sound combinations that simply do not occur in Chinese, hence the common practice that nonchinese adopt Chinese names in China. I'm not sure that it all needs to produce resentment - yeah, I'd rather that Chinese speakers would learn to pronounce my (English-language) name correctly, but there you are, a common situation worldwide.

GoK Moderator (5096 posts) • 0

You can choose any name that you like, as it will be your English name. Some names you should avoid, even if you think they are cool, because they might be seen as silly or offensive to some people. Names like Napoleon, Hitler, Adolph, Le Bron James, Ice, Coolio, and names that are made up.
CCTV News website ran an article last year on picking English Names.
If you want to be safe think of a name and ask if it is ok, on here.

Alien (3819 posts) • 0

Suggest you pick a name common in English-language-speaking countries unless you speak another language (eg, Francois, an extremely common French-language masculine name, is okay if you speak French, but would seem odd if you don't).

Serrure (132 posts) • 0

I always ask Chinese about their real names when they introduce themselves to me. IMO how can you start a friendship if you don't want to share your given name? Also many Chinese tend to choose exactly the same English names - I've met more people called James, Jane, Candy, Lily, Eric or Claire since I came to Kunming than anywhere else. It is easier for me to remember that my friend is Xiao Li than thinking about him as James no.15. Do you really need and want to have English name?

Foreigners who study Chinese often (always?) have Chinese names. I think it is as ridiculous as giving Chinese English names. My university forces everyone to have a Chinese name rendering all papers signed with this name useless for me, even let's say, my articles published here or my dissertation are not signed with my real name, because school won't accept it, but if I ever need them after leaving China how will I explain that this Xiao Li is in fact me? English name is just a first name, but Chinese name is a combination of a surname and a name, so we also kind of steal family names without giving it any thought. When I first came to Kunming I couldn't even say "nihao", but I had to immediately upon arrival at school choose a Chinese name without even basic knowledge about signs, traditions etc.
My advice is ignore all the mistakes, be happy that people try to remember and pronounce your real name and don't follow this stupid trend to have English name.

Liumingke1234 (3297 posts) • 0

The solution is simple. It's a personal choice. The fact is that it's easier to remember one name that 3. When you are teaching a class of 15+ kids or adults, I doubt if you are going to remember their names or whether you would want to. Every student would give you 3 names as one. My is Liu ming ke. Imagine all these kids telling you my name is xxx-xxx-xxx. It's too hard to remember. Imagine if you have 3 different classes making it a total of about 30 to 60 students names. No way I'm even going try to remember their Chinese names. Of course some will stick in your mind for a variety of reasons.

Alien (3819 posts) • 0

Liumingke: try remembering just the mingzi - 2 syllables - this is largely what I do (remember mingzi, that is 'first names' (in English), when teaching students from anywhere. Naturally it will be easier to remember names of students whose language you are familiar with, but I feel it's a matter of respect for the individual - but of course many Chinese students don't seem to feel this way and are perfectly willing to use an 'English name'.
My point is just that it's worth it to call people whatever they want to be called.

Daithi (426 posts) • 0

My friend was called Qiao and he used the name "Joe". Its a good name. Short for Joeseph. It has a few variations like Joey, JoeJoe, Josie.

good luck

nnoble (889 posts) • 0

'It's a personal choice.' If that were true then the discussion would end there. I do not yet speak Chinese but I do remember names of students, even going back several years with many of them. I don't always get it right to begin with but a class photograph with names appended is simple to refer to. The statement: 'whether you would want to...' says it all. How many people wake up and think they will change their name. You can rationalise as much as you like, but it's often foisted on people, particularly students and they have no choice. That must be wrong. It's gone on too long and the practice should end.

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