Naming... shi4 vs xing4-jiao4?

[Ferno]

Pimsleur says that the way to say a name in Chinese (in this case, your own) is "wo3 xing4 (last name), jiao4 (first name)."...i looked it up and the xing4 is 姓 (something like family name?) and the jiao4 is 叫 (called)

but on the radio I hear people introducting themselves like "Wo3 shi4 Jennifer" or "wo3 shi4 " - so if the shi is a fourth tone and is 是 like I suspect, it would be just like English "I'm ".

is the Pimsleur version more formal/not used much?

[skylee]

James Bond can introduce himself like this - "My name is Bond, James Bond."

Or like this - "I am James Bond."

There are different ways to say the same thing.

To say a name in Chinese, I think one can say -

我姓 (wo3 xing4) xx, 叫 (jiao4) yy。

我叫 (wo3 jiao4) xxyy。

我名叫 (wo3 ming2 jiao4) xxyy。

我的名字是 (wo3 de ming2 zi shi4) xxyy。

我是 (wo3 shi4) xxyy。

[Ferno]

oh. In english we usually say either "my name is X" or "I'm X"

i didnt know that 我的名字是... existed, cool how its exactly like English! I assume it's not common though.

[wai ming]

I don't think 我的名字是。。。 is uncommon, in fact I have a memory of my mum teaching me to say "My name is..." that way when I was small... although I think 我叫。。。 is probably the most common way?

[necroflux]

I first learned 我的名字是 from a native speaker, so it's definitely not uncommon.

[Lu]

I think you can even use 我xxyy。(My former boss picked up the phone with 喂你好我xxyy.)

我的名字是xxyy is common enough.

[roddy]

I think 我的名字是 . . . is possible, but not all that common - I'd expect it to hear it if you are introducing yourself in a formal context, with 我是 . . . or 我叫 being more common. Similar to English perhaps, how often would you actually say 'My name is John . . .', outside of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting?

Something else worth mentioning is that if you are in a work context, it's common to put the company first - 我是某某公司的 . .. as opposed to the 'Hi, I'm ... from Moumou Ltd.

Roddy

[HashiriKata]

我名叫 (wo3 ming2 jiao4) xxyy。

我的名字是 (wo3 de ming2 zi shi4) xxyy。

There seems still another, a blend of the above: 我的名字叫 xxyy。