Job Discussion Forums

[Justin Trullinger]

Wherever you are, are people obsessed with academic titles?

Here, they can't seem to take anybody even vaguely seriously without putting a title on them. Everybody seems to be licenciado/a, ingeniero/a, magister, doctor, or something. And as I have a (tee hee) respectable position, everybody seems to want to assign one of those titles to me. (Basically at random.) It makes me a little uncomfortable, as I don't wish to get into the academic snobbery, but at the same time, I know that denying any title sort of makes me sound unqualified.

So do you use titles where you are?

Justin

[MO39]

When I taught English at a Mexican university, I enjoyed being called "maestra" or "profesora", since it referred to what I did along with my university degree (an MA). What sort of title do your colleagues in Ecuador want to assign to you? This need to address everyone with a profession by an academic title is very common in all of Latin America, I believe: "Arquitecto", "Licenciado", "Contador", and so on. And those without a degree who have a special skill (barber, electrician, cobbler) are usually addressed with "maestro".

[naturegirl321]

I'm called Miss or Teacher with a very nasally spanish accent.

[Justin Trullinger]

Yays, Mees.

[denise]

I don�t want to get into academic snobbery either, but if they must use titles, I�d rather they do it in Spanish! "Profesora" sounds so much more, uh, professional than "teacher."

This has come up as a topic in my classes a few times--the comparative use of vocatives in English and Spanish. I try to get them just to call me Denise, but very few of them do...

d

[ls650]

We had a teacher here recently who insisted that his students call him "Profesor", not "teacher", "Maestro", or anything else. When he found out that the rest of the teachers are happy to be called by their first names he was absolutely scandalized!

[Ben Round de Bloc]

At the university where I work, I'm addressed as maestro, profe, teacher, Tim, Don Tim, or Maestro Tim . . . and on occasion refer to myself as Token Gringo . Last names are hardly ever used when addressing teachers or referring to them except to avoid confusion when two teachers have the same first name (Maestro Carlos Campos vs. Maestro Carlos Quintana.) Away from school (supermarket, barber shop, restaurants I frequent, etc.,) people who know I'm a teacher usually address me as maestro. As for writing titles before or after my name: Lic. Tim Last-Name sounds sort of gross, and MA Tim Last-Name might have people calling me Mar�a. I usually opt for Tim Last-Name, MA.

Two things I wish I'd started doing when I first moved here: 1) design and use a fancy, artistic signature that in no way resembles most of the letters of my name, and 2) use first name and two last names instead of first, middle, and last name.

[naturegirl321]

[MELEE]

I also perfer that students call me by my first name, but I'm okay with them calling me something else if they are uncomfortable with that. Profe is comon. I with Denise that it shouldn't be teacher, as that's not normal in English speaking countries. Here at the university we have a loads of engineers, accountants, doctors and the like, usually its title plus first name. El contador Cesar, El ingeniero David, El doctor Daniel, except in certain high ranking official who are THE people. El Doctor without a first name is the rector, El Ingeniero, is one vice rector, El contador, is the other vice rector.

As for changing signatures, I'm afraid that for Ben is WAY too late, that would cause endless nightmares in Mexico, I wish I would have started using a shorter signature upon arrival in Mexico, I can barely fit mine into most of the places provided. And If anyone out there thinks they might work in Mexico one day, never change your name to anything that's not excatly what's on your university degree. I've seen way too many nightmares. When I got married, I didn't dare change my name.

[naturegirl321]

I'm hoping that my name won't be a problem owing to the fact that I will just tack my husband's last name on the end of my name. I will keep my maiden name, not drop it.. Besides it might make things easier as here you usually need to last names to fill in a form.

[Justin Trullinger]

When they call me "teacher," I call them "student." I understand that some students aren't comfortable with my first name, and will accept "profesor," but my job is to teach them reasonably standard English, and "teacher" ain't it!

It's gotten worse recently, as much of my work now is administrative, program planning, new programs, etc, and this puts me in fairly frequent contact with people higher up in companies, as well as government and embassy types, who tend towards formality. And as many of them are Doctoros and other lofty sounding things, it puts me at a disadvantage. Licenciado is roughly accurate, but I prefer to be called Justin. I've learned, though, that by refusing the title, it may sound like I'm saying that I don't have the academic or professional level. (I don't wish to be called "Licenciado," but neither does it serve my professional credibility to go around telling people that I'm not.) So I'm learning to live with it, and applying to grad schools to see if I can get one that sounds better.


Justin

[MO39]

Justin, that's what I do when addressed as "teacher" by my students. Then I explain that "teacher" is my job, not my name. If I persist, they usually get the idea and end up calling me "maestra" or "profesora". If I were in your situation, where you're not mainly a teacher, then I wouldn't mind being called "licenciada", if for no other reason than it would put me on the same level as others with the same education and responsibilities. I think it helps to keep in mind that having a college degree is much more common in the United States than it is in Latin America, hence the respect shown to those who have one by using titles like "licenciado". Of course, it would be really cool to have a doctorate and be called "doctora"! Too bad that, in my case, two MAs don't equal a PhD, except in Portugal, where I've heard that anyone with a university degree is called "doctor"/

[MO39]

[naturegirl321]

Except for the fact that hopefully I wont' take the "de" though I've heard that sometimes town hall just puts it and doesn't ask your opinion.

[RyanS]

What does it take to get a job title of Master of the Universe?