English names

Teaching English winter camp this week has been interesting so far. One of the unexpectedly interesting points were not so much with the teaching or the material, but rather with something quite trivial -- names.

In an article from William Cheung (a researcher at my alma mater, UBC) called "The Economics of Post-Doc Publishing," he states (emphasis added):

In my field and most other disciplines in science, English is the dominant language for publishing (Ammon 2001). Being a Chinese person from Hong Kong, my original name was, of course, fully Chinese. I was also given an ‘official’ English name translated by the government from the Cantonese (the Chinese dialect spoken in Hong Kong) pronunciation of my Chinese name (i.e. Wai Lung Cheung). However, non-Chinese speaking people often have problems pronouncing, spelling or even remembering my Cantonese-translated name.
...
Thus, in recent years, I changed from using my Cantonese-translated first name (Wai Lung) to my English name (William) in scientific publications and academic communications, while keeping the Cantonese name as a middle name. Such changes may be seen as ‘caving in’ to the dominant culture. However, when Hong Kong was under British colonization (until 30 June 1997), most students in Hong Kong were asked to acquire an English name. Hence, the use of an English name is psychologically easy for me to accept. On the other hand, this may be considered a violation of one’s culture to some colleagues.

• From: Cheung, William W.L. "The Economics of Post-Doc Publishing." Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics. 8.41-44 (January 2008). Print.

While most Koreans, like the Chinese in Hong Kong, have Korean-translated first names, I've found that it was next to impossible to remember them. I try to remember, but it's quite the mountainous task, especially when you have hundreds and hundreds of students. (My inability to remember faces easily is also an obstacle here.)

However, I have avoided forcing students to adopt English names for the exact same concern that Cheung mentioned. I don't feel comfortable forcing students to choose English names because it feels too much like cultural colonization to me. I would never ask a Korean for his or her English name, unless he or she volunteers it to me. In other words, I leave it up to the students whether or not they want English names. I won't force them to do it, but I won't stop them if they really want to choose one.

I have also heard of instances where "forcing" the students to choose English names has backfired. Some students decide to choose outrageous names. For example: "My name is Barack Obama!" Sometimes, if a parent decides to choose an English name for the student, it might also backfire. For example, I read about some parent who decided to bestow upon his child the English name "Grand." While the intentions are there, naming your kid Grand is just a little... strange.

For those reasons, I have decided not to bring up the issue. However, during this week's English winter camp, some students asked me if I would like to call them by their English names. I was a little hesitant to answer, but informed them that it was up to them as long as it's not like the "Barack Obama" example. Thankfully, the two students who volunteered their English names had normal-sounding ones: Ron and Michael.

That got me thinking -- why is it that they have normal-sounding names while others that I've heard of have chosen to be "Barack Obama" or "Michael Jackson"? Over the past several days, I realized that this week's class is VERY GOOD, despite the fact that they're my youngest students. They were so good, in fact, that some of them watch TV shows on AFN (the US army television channel), which doesn't offer any Korean subtitles. I was surprised to learn that despite not being fluent in English, they didn't need the subtitles and would prefer not to have them. They were just that good.

They also seem serious and willing to learn English, despite its challenges. I think that might be the determining factor here; the students who are more willing to learn and are serious about learning English seem to realize what's "acceptable" in English and what's not. They know that choosing a name like "Barack Obama" is unacceptable. They seem to want to know how to conduct themselves in an English-speaking atmosphere, which is quite cool. This group gives an honest effort, which is what I've been wanting to see from my students; to me, it doesn't matter if they are wrong every time, as long as they give an honest effort.

So perhaps forcing the students to use English names is the wrong way to go, and thank goodness I didn't do that. When a student is serious about learning English, I think he would be capable of deciding whether or not to choose an English name. Otherwise, it might be best to just leave their names alone for the time being.