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The "opposite" side of this issue is people who intentionally adopt a pronounceable name of their destination country. I may have observed that, but I'm not re
by enriquto 5y ago
The "opposite" side of this issue is people who intentionally adopt a pronounceable name of their destination country. I may have observed that, but I'm not really sure. Some of my Chinese students, who could barely speak French, were called totally french-sounding names like "Cédric" or "Pauline". I guess they invented them on the spot, to avoid people butchering their real names. But I never thought of a non-awkward way to ask them about that.
- fqye 5y agoChinese has this idiom 入乡随俗, meaning in other people's land you follow other people's custom. It is a culture of us to make the hosts feel comfortable by giving ourselves a name of the hosting country, though of course some Chinese chose not to. A french friend who worked in China for a long time gave himself a very nice Chinese name 欧大壮, literally Europe, Big And Strong. It is a very down to earth Chinese name. He was liked instantly when he introduced his Chinese name.
- tremon 5y agoAt uni I had a Vietnamese classmate in my group called Thanh. This was easy enough to pronounce, or so we thought. One day he introduced us to his brother, called Than. If I remember correctly, the difference between their names was in the melodic intonation, which none of us could master. Ultimately, we ended up naming then Hans and Daan. I don't recall if they were bemused or bewildered by our inability to distinguish their names, but they accepted their new names with grace.