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Chinese who use English names lack confidence
By Su Xiaochen |
July 22, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
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EDITOR'S note:
Does use of an English given name by a Chinese person signify a loss of one's confidence in his or her own culture? Your opinions are welcome.
HAVING worked for a Shanghai-based foreign marketing firm recently, I have been a witness to the increasing use of English names by Chinese white-collar workers in the city.
The trend has gripped both foreign and domestic firms, to the point that even Chinese employees who cannot process any written or spoken English beyond some basics have become not only eager but also socially coerced to introduce themselves by their English names.
Such a trend is quite puzzling.
When we are simply using English as the irreplaceable global tool of business communication, we keep it simple, straightforward, and completely devoid of the cultural factors that may just serve to confuse the non-native speaker.
But by using English names for everyday work, the Chinese workers in question are attempting to use English as a cultural communication tool as well as a business one.
To be specific, they are attempting to create secondary identities for themselves, identities that are more "global," more open to foreign interactions, and less constricted to a seemingly isolated cultural locality that is China.
Yet, I wonder why such perceived characters are necessary for Chinese workers who have never learned to speak English and probably will never step out of China proper except for a few short vacations.
In a world where Western influence dominates modern culture, both in China and beyond, the use of English names would certainly be considered "cool" by many.
But by using English when English is not at all required, aren't we glorifying English to a point that it is no longer just a convenient tool for global communication?
Isn't replacing your given birth name, so full of cultural meanings, with generic English names in a non-English environment just an obvious sign of lack of confidence in your own culture?
In many ways, a personal name is a highlighting representation of a language from which it originates.
With its underlying definitions and historical roots, it showcases the cultural experiences of the language through the eyes of its native speakers.
However, when taken out of the cultural context, the names become nothing more than a label for a particular person, a simple designation of a person that is completely devoid of the names' associated cultural richness.
In this particular case, we should all be clear that English names definitely lead to misrepresentations of Chinese cultural concepts, so its exclusive use in a purely Chinese setting can only lead to really obvious cultural awkwardness with all the wrong cultural nuances, even if the English names have become honored as a completely inseparable part of the working environment.
(The author is an undergraduate student majoring in economics and electrical engineering from Yale University.)
Does use of an English given name by a Chinese person signify a loss of one's confidence in his or her own culture? Your opinions are welcome.
HAVING worked for a Shanghai-based foreign marketing firm recently, I have been a witness to the increasing use of English names by Chinese white-collar workers in the city.
The trend has gripped both foreign and domestic firms, to the point that even Chinese employees who cannot process any written or spoken English beyond some basics have become not only eager but also socially coerced to introduce themselves by their English names.
Such a trend is quite puzzling.
When we are simply using English as the irreplaceable global tool of business communication, we keep it simple, straightforward, and completely devoid of the cultural factors that may just serve to confuse the non-native speaker.
But by using English names for everyday work, the Chinese workers in question are attempting to use English as a cultural communication tool as well as a business one.
To be specific, they are attempting to create secondary identities for themselves, identities that are more "global," more open to foreign interactions, and less constricted to a seemingly isolated cultural locality that is China.
Yet, I wonder why such perceived characters are necessary for Chinese workers who have never learned to speak English and probably will never step out of China proper except for a few short vacations.
In a world where Western influence dominates modern culture, both in China and beyond, the use of English names would certainly be considered "cool" by many.
But by using English when English is not at all required, aren't we glorifying English to a point that it is no longer just a convenient tool for global communication?
Isn't replacing your given birth name, so full of cultural meanings, with generic English names in a non-English environment just an obvious sign of lack of confidence in your own culture?
In many ways, a personal name is a highlighting representation of a language from which it originates.
With its underlying definitions and historical roots, it showcases the cultural experiences of the language through the eyes of its native speakers.
However, when taken out of the cultural context, the names become nothing more than a label for a particular person, a simple designation of a person that is completely devoid of the names' associated cultural richness.
In this particular case, we should all be clear that English names definitely lead to misrepresentations of Chinese cultural concepts, so its exclusive use in a purely Chinese setting can only lead to really obvious cultural awkwardness with all the wrong cultural nuances, even if the English names have become honored as a completely inseparable part of the working environment.
(The author is an undergraduate student majoring in economics and electrical engineering from Yale University.)
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