Question for Chinese/Indian community?

mikemac

I'm pretty sure I started a thread on this in 2008 but can't find it.

Ok, in work I call and email people in many, many countries. It isn't sales, more like query resolution.

Dealt with some lady today, she had a Chinese name so her email was her name and (Bonnie)
I've dealt with other Asian people who have their own names but call themselves Rose.
Actually Rose is a very popular one. Julie too, dealt with a Julie today.

Ever call Dell in India and end up speaking to John?
I realy doubt that is the guys name but there any people calling themselves English names in these companies.

Why?
Supposing my name was Mike.
If I go to China I ain't changing my name!
And I am willing to learn to pronounce any persons name, I don't expect anyone to change their name to suit Europeans. I'll learn it, I don't mind
Your name is yours, don't change it to suit others!

Anyone else come across this?

brummytom

Hi, yeah I'm not Chinese or Indian so apologies for butting in.

My uncle works for BT, he had to travel out to India last year for a month to train call centre staff. The staff are trained, basically, to 'act' English (or Irish in your case I suppose). That is, they're taught what's going on in the news, the tv shows in England; local sights etc. to try and reassure the customers they are talking to someone who 'knows what they're on about' (people are racist, it's a shame but it's true).

Using names like John are just to further instill this idea that these call centres are situated within the country.

Personally, I don't see the point.. but that's it.

/butting in

bronte

My Chinese friend has an english name too.
He said it's just easier for people to say/understand.
I call him by his chinese name as do his close mates.

mikemac

brummytom wrote: »

Hi, yeah I'm not Chinese or Indian so apologies for butting in.

Anyone can reply

I believe you, I've seen programs where call centre staff are told what happened in Eastenders or Coronation Street and the football scores.

Doesn't realy apply to my job, there is no chatting, just business. Tis finance.

Was just wondering why the name changes.
From google, I might not immediately know how to pronounce Chittaranjan or Wu Bangguo but I'll learn

I ain't changing my name to suit you and don't expect you to do it for me!

brummytom

I worked with a fella the other day from a chinese bloke called Kang.. what an amazing name.

He started off the day with me by shouting "A NINJA!" when we drove past a woman in a hijab.. I knew it'd be a good day.


Anyway I digress :P
Some people might feel slightly embarrased having a name that's hard to pronounce (I know I hate my surname for this reason)

My name is URL

I know a couple of Chinese people that changed their names while in Ireland

they ran a take-away called Chan's but yet their first names were Michelle and Darren!

I think its a respect thing, you're expected to make sacrafices in order to fit in and make it easier for people to allow you to.

StopTheDrugWar!

Yeah, always thought it was weird that chinese people change their names coming over here.

Although not all of them do it. Maybe it's only for work or something.

It's funny when they have "cool" names such as "Ace" for a guy, or "Candy" for a girl.

Your parents obviously didn't name you that .

shenanigans1982

I always noticed this in fast food places....thought they just got given badges from locals that had quit.

cashback

I think many young Chinese people choose an English name these days, not just those coming to Europe or the US. One girl I met was called Kelly, even though her Chinese name couldn't have been easier to pronounce.

I was flicking through a book in a shop the other day concerning this very subject. Just a different Chinese person on each page explaining how they chose their english name. It was pretty funny as some just chose completely off the wall names to be different.
I think for many it's to make life easy when speaking to foreigners and for others it's just a bit of fun.

SEPT 23 1989

i once knew a guy called Paddy O' Karate

he was a wonderful singer

GAAman

I worked with a chinese girl called "Won tin cok" which could be skewed at least two different ways for amusement, strangely enough she liked to be called mary and always kept her id (worn around neck on a lanyard) turned in towards herself

Tar.Aldarion

My asian friends all tend to have two names, and use one for family and one for friends/school.
Last boards beers I was at with two of them, I sat down and the two of them sat around me.

*clicked fingers*

Hi everybody, I brought my asians.

Punch in the arm was worth it.
:pac:

Terodil

Most educated Chinese people have an English first name, many pick them in secondary school when they learn English.

(Edit: I think the reason for picking a name initially is probably to be cool more than anything else; the reason for using it later, especially abroad, is probably cultural -- there is a concept called the 'Overseas Chinese', who will always remain part of the Chinese people first and foremost, but also adapt as much as possible to the local conditions, to both further the Chinese influence abroad and to enrich the Chinese culture with the better elements of foreign cultures.)

I have a (proper) Chinese name too (not one of those poor make-shift transcriptions). Picked it out of respect and for easier use -- trying to get Chinese people to spell a western name is like trying to fell a tree with a toothbrush (though probably not quite as hard as for us to write a Chinese name xD).

What Terodil said. Most of them use these English names all through school, it's not like they just pick them when they arrive here. I went to school with loads of Chinese people and they said we butchered their Chinese names when we tried to say them, and they just preferred us to use their English names. English/Irish people do change their names sometimes, just to stop the locals butchering them. When I lived in Spain, I had a friend called Joe who was known as Pepe, and Michael became Miguel. I always pronounced my own name in Spanish because people didn't understand it otherwise. I didn't think it was a big deal really!

Orla K

This is only from reading books from chinese authors but they are at ease with changing their names without a second thought but for us we see it as something that's precious.

sadista

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

My asian friends all tend to have two names, and use one for family and one for friends/school.

:pac:

Similar with my family. Im half indian and all my dads side of the family have an englishy sounding name as well their regular indian names. For example my dads name is davinder but he has always insisted to irish/non indians that they call him dave.

positron

I don't know any of my Indian friends to have changed their names here - John, Stephen, Sunny, Paul, Edward - all Indians in my facebook contact list, and all real names too. I also know loads of Indians who have names that are not so easy to pronounce, but other than the usual Christopher to Chris type of changes, I haven't seen any of them changing their name massively.

Chinese names however are a different story. Most English speakers with their (relatively) limited phonetics, will not be able to pronounce majority of the Chinese names without slaughtering it. Hence the Chinese having to come up with aliases.

Call centers are a different story - they try to make it easy for their clients. You wouldn't want to call Dell and remind them you were talking to a "Apu Nahasapeemapetilon" the day before, do you?

pablomakaveli

I went to college with a couple of Chinese people and they had English names which we used to call them. They told me they picked these names when they came to Ireland because people had trouble pronouncing their actual chinese names.

Whiskey Devil

Some of them have brilliant names. 'Hank' and 'Bill' are two I know.

The Chinese, a great bunch of lads.

simply simple

brummytom wrote: »

Some people might feel slightly embarrased having a name that's hard to pronounce (I know I hate my surname for this reason)

i would never change my name just because someone cant pronounce that properly I will just help myself learn to accustom my ears with that pronunciation as well! i guess they do it just to get along with the culture they are working with( if they have european cutomers,european names will be a hit)

simply simple

I just realised that I replied to a very old thread,probably idle for quite a long time,but any ways i had my say

RainbowRose81

My name is URL wrote: »

I know a couple of Chinese people that changed their names while in Ireland

they ran a take-away called Chan's but yet their first names were Michelle and Darren!

I think its a respect thing, you're expected to make sacrafices in order to fit in and make it easier for people to allow you to.

That is very sad that those chinese people changed their name because they want to fit in. They are not being true to themselves, they are just given in to people here who do not accept and respect the cultural differences.

I have an Irish name and I wouldn't never ever change my name if I moved to an non english speaking country. My name is who I am, It's part of my identity, if people in an non english speaking country don't have the time to accept then that is their problem.

admiralofthefleet

i heard chinese women have slanty fannies

brummytom

Wow, I used to write like a posh little fucker

face1990

I think taking an English name, if they choose to do so, is about assimilating into another culture. You have to assimilate to a certain extent, and change some of your behaviours or dress sense to fit in with the social mores of your new home.

Changing your name might seem a bit extreme, though that's a matter of personal opinion.

RainbowRose81

Terodil wrote: »

Most educated Chinese people have an English first name, many pick them in secondary school when they learn English.

(Edit: I think the reason for picking a name initially is probably to be cool more than anything else; the reason for using it later, especially abroad, is probably cultural -- there is a concept called the 'Overseas Chinese', who will always remain part of the Chinese people first and foremost, but also adapt as much as possible to the local conditions, to both further the Chinese influence abroad and to enrich the Chinese culture with the better elements of foreign cultures.)

I have a (proper) Chinese name too (not one of those poor make-shift transcriptions). Picked it out of respect and for easier use -- trying to get Chinese people to spell a western name is like trying to fell a tree with a toothbrush (though probably not quite as hard as for us to write a Chinese name xD).

That is very sad changing your name, stooping down to the people who don't take the time and have the patience to pronounce your name and respect your culture.

How many Irish people with Irish names go to an non english speaking country and change their name to 'fit in'? When I was in canada I was called up to 6 different incorrect names but I always educated them on how to pronouce my name correctly and they did get it after a few weeks.

Satts

I used to work with an Indian guy who loved Christy Moore.

"Don't forget your shovel if you want to go to vurk"

Toby Take a Bow

RainbowRose81 wrote: »

That is very sad that those chinese people changed their name because they want to fit in. They are not being true to themselves, they are just given in to people here who do not accept and respect the cultural differences.

I have an Irish name and I wouldn't never ever change my name if I moved to an non english speaking country. My name is who I am, It's part of my identity, if people in an non english speaking country don't have the time to accept then that is their problem.

It's not necessarily sad. Maybe they'd rather you didn't mangle their names and so chose to compromise. I've worked with many Chinese over the years, and the only ones that changed their names to more English sounding ones were ones that were incredibly difficult to pronounce correctly. You'd be given a 5 minute lesson (you know, if it was REALLY quiet and you were REALLY bored) but you still wouldn't get it right, even though it sounded right in your head.

Those whose surnames were 'Lee' just went with that as their first name. There was someone whose name was Dong. Unsurprising it was changed.

the_syco

A chinese man starts working in a pub. Barman asks him his name, and the response is "Kufellamonsooon". Barman tells him name is now Sean. This is fairly common the chinese lads said, as if you pronounce some of their names wrongly, you could be calling them some insane chinese swear word.

mikemac1

How did this get bumped?

Man this thread is so old I even got a new account since then