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 Me