You are not Chinese therefore you can not use my Chinese name...

[Kenny同志]

I am sorry if my comment is too strong, Skylee. Given the cultural background of Hong Kong, I understand and respect the Chinese + English name system.

I have no problem with my fellows who use a couple of English words in their conversation where it’s hard to find the corresponding Chinese to express the same thing. However, I think we should also pay a little respect to the Chinese language and where we could go without using English words, English words ought to be avoided, as in such a case:

"我在America的时候，进入大学之前我没发现我喜欢music，但是我听了一些albums，后……"

[abcdefg]

When I am in China I use my Chinese name and only my Chinese name. Every now and then an expat or foreign student asks my "English name" and I tell him I don't have one, he needs to use my Chinese name.

Nice job, abcdefg.

It's also a "slippery slope" issue. If I say, "Sure, just call me Bill, Frank, Bob, Joe, Fred" the next thing I know the person will invariably be wanting to talk English, and I have no desire to do that on Chinese soil if I can help it. Arrgh! Got to stay hard core immersed!

[doraemon]

Chinese is faced with the same problem. It’s not uncommon to see young Chinese, especially well educated Chinese, insert English words into Chinese to show off their trendiness. I find this very disgusting.

I mostly agree with this statement. While I wouldn't describe this phenomenon as "disgusting", I still find it quite irritating and quite disrespectful to the Chinese language when young Chinese natives (who are extremely capable in their mother tongue)intermingle random English words disjointedly within Chinese sentences. However, I do feel that Chinese people in areas such as Hong Kong as well as many ABCs who do not have a good command of Chinese should be excused as such a practice is inevitable for them. On the other hand, some Chinese natives who do this are clearly trying to show off and advertise their erudition even though they are pretty much 100% mainlanders. As Kenny stated previously, English words should be avoided at all costs when speaking in Chinese.

Dealing with topic of thread, I think Chinese people are just trying to be nice by making things easier for foreigners. I highly doubt that they're against foreigners addressing them by their Chinese name if the foreigners are capable of doing so.

[xiaocai]

From my personal experience, here in China, almost everyone including my workmates and many friends will call me either by my surname or my full name; only my family and a few of my closest friends (of the same sex) will address me with my given name only (well, in Chinese of course), and I do feel a little bit awkward if anyone else does so.

edelweis's comment was spot on.

"我在America的时候，进入大学之前我没发现我喜欢music，但是我听了一些albums，后……"

I don't really mind if anyone does so. It's just personal preference most of the time. I do find this quite funny though, like having a dish with knife and fork and chopsticks and hands at the same time: there is nothing wrong if you want to eat like that but it does look quite amusing to me.

[knadolny]

Has anyone else come across this attitude?

Now that I live in Japan, I tell my Japanese friends and coworkers that my name is "Kebinn" with a stress on the B and the N. If they try to call me Kevin I get upset and correct them...

Actually, no bad joke. I am actually a bit sad that my name has changed to kebinn nadolunii in Japan. I now introduce myself by this awful sounding name and I cringe inside every time...

Maybe your Chinese friend cringes when he hears others butcher his Chinese name and is therefore more comfortable with a new English name. Maybe I should pick up a Japanese name and just go with that...

[Alcibiades]

I'm late to the party, but back to OP's question.

It is very disrespectful to call someone by their first name in Chinese culture. Only time you could call someone's first name if one of the following conditions apply:

1. You are their grandparents

2. You are their parents

3. You are their aunts, uncle, and etc.

4. You are in very intimate relationship with them

5. You are extremely close friend with them.

If none of the above conditions apply, calling someone you just met by their Chinese first name is recipe to make them uncomfortable because you are addressing down to them. Your wife might be able get away with doing that because she's a woman.

That's why they prefer you to call them by their English name. Of course, as a foreigner they assume you won't understand these subtle cultural "rule" so they make it easier for you by explaining that you are not Chinese therefore you can not use their Chinese name.

[MeiMay]

#14 I agree, it's offputting. There's another reason for English names in certain places: identity crisis and ties with America, anti-PRC放屁. Language can also be a way of dividing China.

[Shelley]

Interesting stuff. i am a keen follower of snooker. Over the last few years there have been quite a few Chinese players entering competitions.

 

Most notably Ding Jun Hui . he is often referred to as Ding. other players such as Ronnie O'sullivan are referred to as O'sullivan or Ronnie or his whole name. The same goes for Ding, I wonder if they are doing this correctly.

 

I have studied Chinese for years but names still give me headaches Anybody know what the correct format of his name is. I wonder if it has been incorrectly reversed and first name has been swapped with last or have they got it right and preserved the correct order and in china his name is Ding (last name) Jun Hui (given name) .

 

I feel its a shame when Chinese people feel the need to westernize their name. I would have hoped they could/would be proud of their heritage but It is understandable why they might not. maybe things will improve as generations from now find the strength and beauty of their national history. There are so many good things to appreciate as with any country there good and not so good times. 

 

I hope in the future they would be proud of their long and fascinating history and be prepared to keep using their Chinese name.

 

From a personal point of view i find it odd when a Chinese person tells me their name is something westernized, I just find it hard to call them by that name, although i respect their wishes and make an effort to use it.

 

Also I have stopped using a Chinese name i was given in one of my classes as I felt silly pretending to have a Chinese name. If i went to china I would just use my name maybe with a slight twist to Chinese pronunciation to help people say it. But under no circumstances would I adopt a chines name that had nothing to do with my actual name.

[Lu]

Wikipedia says Ding Junhui (Chinese: 丁俊晖). If the person is famous enough, this kind of thing is easily googleable. So in this case, the commentators acutally got it right to call him Ding.

[Shelley]

Thanks Lu, never thought to google it. It was this topic that made me ask. I also meant to ask about the fact that they all seem to use their Chinese name and this might be I suppose because of what you say about them being famous enough.

[johnk]

Wow, this is the second co-incidence I have had today involving chinese-forums.

 

I have just had a conversation with a Chinese girl called Rose. I asked her what was her real name and she refused to tell me. I said "OK I will just call you Meigui (玫瑰) then". That didn't go down very well .

 

I think the names is a personal thing. One guy at work calls himself by his Chinese name. Two girls I currently work with use English names. My take on this is that English speakers mangle Chinese names so badly, Chinese people prefer to be called something that is pronounced correctly. Although the familiarity issue may also play a part.

One of the things that puzzles me in China is that in conversations with lao bai xing, I get asked the standard 20 questions, but nobody ever asks my name. I guess English names are just too foreign.

 

About the use of English words in Chinese:

Well once there was a fad among a certain class of English person to use French words in conversation. Anyone familiar with Seasme Street can see this being lampooned with Miss Piggy referring to herself as 'moi'. There was a character in a sitcom here in the UK the name of which I can't remember right, now who was also lampooned for the same thing.

Maybe we are headed for a future like that depicted in the TV series "Firefly" where everyone speaks a mixture of Chinese and English.

[dwq]

Also most Chinese people have no control over their Chinese name; it is chosen by parents at birth and it is rare people will change it. Whereas an English name is just chosen for convinence by the person and can be changed at will (if it is not registered in some form of ID), and used like a pseudonym / handle.

Some peole do not like to reveal their Chinese name, because they didn't like how it sounds or such, because they didn't choose it. Or perhaps it is like if you meet someone on the net, they might ask you to refer to them just by their handle and not reveal their true name. It could be several different reasons, not just a simple "because you're a foreigner".

[Shelley]

"Also most Chinese people have no control over their Chinese name; it is chosen by parents at birth and it is rare people will change it."

 

 

Most, in fact probably all, English, American , French etc. people have no control over their given name ( hence given ) . I only know 2 people out of the hundreds of people I know, who have changed their English name because they didn't like it.

 

Most people just accept it and live with that name.

 

I think that it would be nice if Chinese people gave us more credit for trying to pronounce their name correctly given a few tries at it. It can't be easy for them to pronounce some English names but English people don't take a Chinese name to make it easy for them.

 

My personal opinion and this is only my humble view of this, is that some how it is more modern, more up to date and less condescending. its as if Chinese names are old fashioned and backward. Using a western name makes it seem as they have left the old china behind. Bad pronunciation is probably annoying, I have a customer who always pronounces my name wrong, but hey I let it go, and get on with life. I also think that Chinese people consider their name more personal to be shared with those they choose. Using a western name that is not officially recorded anywhere puts up a barrier between them and the world.

 

Would be interesting to hear from a Chinese person on this topic.

[Shelley]

I have just remembered what my first Chinese teacher told us about Chinese names, he told us that when a child is born they don't name it for 30 days if it survives it is named with a "baby name " often a double character name like pets often get, then aged 5 or 6 they get a "school name" and then at about 15/16 they choose their adult name taking in to account family names, fashion and meaning.

 

This was 30 years ago or so, things may have changed, but it shows that of all the nationalities that I am familiar with, Chinese is one where people do change their name and choose it or at least used to.

[tooironic]

I disagree with Alcibiades. Calling a Chinese person by their first name is not disrespectful, or patronising.

 

I've taught hundreds of Chinese students in Melbourne, and while the majority of them (maybe 70%) prefer to be called by English names, a good proportion of them actually prefer being called by their Chinese name, either because it's not too difficult for English speakers to pronounce, or because for whatever reason they've yet to find an appropriate English name.

 

I've definitely run into the situation, though, where new Chinese acquaintances have refused to give their Chinese name. Usually they will insist that you use their English name (even if they can't pronounce it properly, e.g. Keith as Keish, etc.) or they will give you a nickname. But I don't judge them for that - within reason, I think people should be free to choose how people address them. And it's not as if they are discriminating against foreigners, since they ask their Chinese friends to address them in exactly the same way. That's when you observe the funny situation of Chinese people calling their friends by their English names. But again, that's their choice, and it may just be the case they they'd find calling them by their Chinese name too familiar, like being addressed by their mother or father.

[Meng Lelan]

Maybe we are headed for a future like that depicted in the TV series "Firefly" where everyone speaks a mixture of Chinese and English. 

 

 

I think so too. 

[imron]

Maybe we are headed for a future like that depicted in the TV series "Firefly"

I just hope and pray our future Mandarin isn't as bad as theirs was

[Meng Lelan]

I just hope and pray our future Mandarin isn't as bad as theirs was 

 

 

 

Hope, prayers, and a lot of hard work from us Chinese Forumers.

[Demonic_Duck]

I have just had a conversation with a Chinese girl called Rose. I asked her what was her real name and she refused to tell me. I said "OK I will just call you Meigui (玫瑰) then". That didn't go down very well .

 

I've seen stranger Chinese (nick)names.

“你叫什么名字？”

“Fishball.”

“中文名呢？”

“鱼丸。”

 

Hope, prayers, and a lot of hard work from us Chinese Forumers.

 

Doesn't take too much work to get one's Mandarin better than Firefly-level. Good show, though.

[imron]

Good show, though.

I'm a leaf on the wind...