Job Discussion Forums

[Taylor]

Dear Teachers,

Just thought I would let a few teachers "vent" and share of few of the more interesting English names chosen by Chinese students.

Some students I had in class before called themselves:

Sky, Toyota, Apple, Bug, Cool Man, Minimum, Giordano, Y2K, Vince Carter, and Nehc (Chen spelled backwards).

Would love to hear your contributions.

Sincerely,

Taylor

[matchstick_man]

So many, personally I consider Fanny and Chuck stupid names due to having been brought up in New Zealand. I quite like Sky. However I thought Apple was stupid. King. Boss. Wolfman. Poty. Hwi (why this girl didn't get an English name native speakers can actually say I'll never know. Hermosa (a cross of her and formosa) formed a quite nice girls name.

[TaoyuanSteve]

Actually, I advocate choosing names that reflect the students personality and/ or taste. With people in the west increasingly moving toward non-traditional names for themselves, it is inappropriately conformist/ conservative of us to force students of English in Taiwan to take traditional English names. This is especially true when you consider that these names are not the students' real names, anyway. I'd rather have a kid named Apple than yet another Jennifer.

[Taylor]

Dear Taoyuan Steve,

I bet you could add lots of interesting names to the list.

Why didn't you submit a few?

By the way, do you have a Chinese name? Would you call yourself "Chrysler" in Chinese?


Taylor

[mjed9]

I once had a student who had decided to call himself Phone (Why? - "Because it is easy to remember")

Now I teach the likes of Wonderful, Tinkle and Kinky (I told the last one what her name meant recently, she was flabbergasted)

Oh and then there was one who called himself J (just the letter)

[mjed9]

And I had a Homo once ( )

[Taylor]

A friend of mine in Kaohsiung had an adult student who called himself "Eye".

[James_T_Kirk]

One of my favorite students in China called himself "Qui Gon", after the Liam Nelson character in "Star Wars: Episode I". I could hardly contain my laughter the first time I met him! Of course, my username here on Dave's is James T. Kirk, so perhaps I am like the pot calling the kettle black .

Cheers,
Kirk

[TaoyuanSteve]

Taylor

As far as Chinese names, my legal name here is a transliteration of my English name --si di fen. On its own, there's no problem. However, as my kids have often pointed out, changing the tones on a couple of words creates a meaning similar to poo-poo on the ground.

[Fortigurn]

On a slightly different subject, I am thinking of adopting a Chinese name to replace my English name (which is next to impossible for Chinese to pronounce). Does anyone have advice on this?

[Taylor]

Dear Fortigurn,

Find an older, educated person whom you respect to help you choose.

It really all depends on whether you want a name that "sounds like a foreigner" or a more authentic Chinese name.

There is virtually no end to the possibilities, so take your time and ask as many people as you can.

All of this goes to show how important it is to have a respectable name in the target language. Thanks!

Taylor

[TaoyuanSteve]

[Fortigurn]

Name chops?

[Taylor]

Dear Taoyuan Steve,

If you noticed, I put "sounds like a foreigner" in quote marks. There was a reason for that. The point is that if you say Monica Lewinsky in Chinese, it will require about 7 syllables. NO Chinese people have names that long--usually 3 characters in Taiwan.

On the other hand, if you want to call yourself "Paul Chen" it would not be so eye-catching.

The difference is that Asians always use their original last name--Chen, Lin, Ito, Kim, etc.

In answer to Fortigurn, signatures are less "official" in Taiwan than "name chops." These are carved objects (about the size of a thumb) that have your Chinese name at the bottom. After stamping the chop in red ink, you stamp it on important papers.

Sincerely,

Taylor

[markholmes]

My Chinese name is 'He Ma Ke', the fist two characters sounding like hippopotamus (He - river, Ma - Horse).

It didn't take my preschoolkids long to pick up on that one.