Love this! And I'm jealous/fascinated by your Mandarin name. That is such a special honour and keepsake.
Your post comes at a time when a colleague and I have been talking a lot about the Vietnamese and English names of our students and all the related nuances. I think the presence of English classroom names is so outdated, but yet I understand its purpose. It raises the question we've both considered of how comfortable a person is with the mispronunciation of their name. It's hardly a topic for young children when they begin English lessons, but I wish it could be.
Also! I have never experienced any of the shepherding you mention here, such as finding an English speaker in a business or drawing attention on a bus. Beyond the service workers who will default to English (and now I just view it as their opportunity to practice), I feel almost ignored or a nuisance to some. One thing I feel a lot but don't know how to articulate (or prove...) is how different foreign men are treated here than foreign women. In many different situations. There's so much to unpack, so I tend to just say what I've said and then feel too ignorant to continue. Ha.
Yeah, there's a lot going on with English names here as well. I had initially thought about writing about that, but I didn't think I could do the topic justice. I used to think about that a lot when I was teaching, though.
And interesting! I'm sure gender is playing a role in this. I also think language might play a role too. WIth the service workers finding the best English speaker, I only know it's happening because when I walk in the shop there's suddenly a discussion among the workers trying to figure out who is going to interact with me.
Love this! And I'm jealous/fascinated by your Mandarin name. That is such a special honour and keepsake.
Your post comes at a time when a colleague and I have been talking a lot about the Vietnamese and English names of our students and all the related nuances. I think the presence of English classroom names is so outdated, but yet I understand its purpose. It raises the question we've both considered of how comfortable a person is with the mispronunciation of their name. It's hardly a topic for young children when they begin English lessons, but I wish it could be.
Also! I have never experienced any of the shepherding you mention here, such as finding an English speaker in a business or drawing attention on a bus. Beyond the service workers who will default to English (and now I just view it as their opportunity to practice), I feel almost ignored or a nuisance to some. One thing I feel a lot but don't know how to articulate (or prove...) is how different foreign men are treated here than foreign women. In many different situations. There's so much to unpack, so I tend to just say what I've said and then feel too ignorant to continue. Ha.
Thanks for reading as always!
Yeah, there's a lot going on with English names here as well. I had initially thought about writing about that, but I didn't think I could do the topic justice. I used to think about that a lot when I was teaching, though.
And interesting! I'm sure gender is playing a role in this. I also think language might play a role too. WIth the service workers finding the best English speaker, I only know it's happening because when I walk in the shop there's suddenly a discussion among the workers trying to figure out who is going to interact with me.
I wasn't even thinking about your ability to understand their discussion! You must be the best eavesdropper. :-)