Korean Job Discussion Forums

[CentralCali]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[eamo]

English names are mostly a hagwon tradition.....or maybe parents encourage English names for their kids in some kind of effort to promote English.

I teach 280 high schoolers and only 4-5 have asked me to use their English name.

[EricB]

We use English names in the program I teach simply because it helps the students think in English. If they are speaking English and suddenly have to say a Korean name, they tend to switch back to Korean pronunciation. This switching back and forth makes it hard to become fully immersed in the language.


Another big issue is the culture that goes with the language. Many Korean people don't call each other by name but by a title. Big Sister, Big Brother, Manager, Teacher, and so on. Having an English name allows Koreans to communicate even with each other in a way that is not really possible (or at least acceptable) using the Korean language.

[nukeday]

i mostly get annoyed when adults (especially coworkers) introduce themselves with their english names. problem is, none of the other korean coworkers will know his/her english name. end result, i have to learn two names.

and then there are the goofballs who decide to change their english name.

[flakfizer]

I've taught at a uni for the past 8 years, and I always give the students the option of having an English nick name. In some classes, almost all the students will choose to have one. In other classes, most will opt to stick with their Korean name. I've tried to look for patterns to see if there is any connection between opting for English names and some other characteristic like English ability, open-mindedness, shyness, etc. I haven't found any strong links yet. Although, I have noticed that in classes where most of the kids choose a nickname, the class as a whole seems to be more active.

As for making students choose nicknames, my French professor assigned us all French names in uni. No one was upset. Incidentally, the class was quite fun and the prof was wonderful. Having French names added to classroom's French atmosphere. Things may be different these days when everyone seems to be just itching to be offended or upset by anything they can construe as an insult, so I never make anyone take an English name.

[Privateer]

Reasons why:

1. It's impolite to call someone by their bare first name in Korean, if you are not friends. As a teacher, this may not be a problem for you, but it can still be awkward for students fumbling for a way to address each other. Often they will avoid awkwardness by introducing themselves to each other in Korean sotto voce, and only then start talking in English.

2. It's downright rude for a lower classman to address an upper classman by first name. This applies in university where you will sometimes see lower classmen genuflect to upper classmen they know in the corridors.

3. It's easy for a foreigner to mispronounce or mishear a Korean name due to the alien phonology. Some of us are better at this than others but are any of us perfect? Students are annoyed if you mispronounce their name persistently, they don't like correcting you, and the entire class is aware if the teacher makes mistakes and may feel uncomfortable about it.

4. It's an established practice to use an English name in English class. That's the usual reason for everything in Korea: it's what everyone does.

5. Teachers ought to know their students' names and, when you have a large class, English names are easier to memorize. Again, some of us are better than others at remembering Korean names, but do any of us find them equally easy? We inhabit the contours of English phonology, within which Korean names do tend to sound very similar.

[redaxe]

[Captain Corea]

Depending on their initials.

BS
KY
CK

[schwa]

[spicy]

not sure what their reasons are, but i would say as a general observation that they're MUCH easier to remember (brain has an easier time of recalling the familiar than recalling the novel)

if someone came up to you and introduced themselves as kjhdglkjaghr, would you be able to remember it if you randomly ran into them in the supermarket 2 weeks later?

and what about if they had introduced themselves as John?

[Gorf]

At my school all but one girl have an English name, staff included. I'm not sure why, but it's pretty cute being able to come up with silly nicknames for them to get them to giggle. I call one girl "July" because her name is Julie.