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Q: Does people know you by name?
I find that people are VERY poor in names. Usually most would say "Aunt", "Uncle", "Sister", "Boss" and not use names. Then when it comes to name calling (not the impolite kind) people are very bad at names. My wife, MIL, grandMIL and other family members confuse the names of dogs with names of children. Everyone is called by a cutsie baby nickname, NO ONE ever uses real names.
I don't mind having a nickname that is easy for people to use. But that people don't have the respect to at least be able to remember close friends names. The other day we were with a some of my wifes friends. We have our dog with us, another has her kid with her. Another friend continuously mixed up our dogs name with the name of the kid. It's disrespectful to not just care enough to learn peoples names, at least our dog doesn't piss on the floor indoors.
Since I came to China my name has become "Laowai", sometimes "Waiguoren" and more rarely "Meiguoren" although I am not American.
When I tell people my real name they keep calling me by these names, so I call men here "Chinaman" and women "Cutie" or "Sexy".
This drive them mad but hey you get what you spread.
royceH:
Hahaha...that's very good. I'm gunna do it your way.
My habit is the call the males 'mate' and the females 'darlin'.
From tomorrow the men will be 'Chinaman'.
Yes, most people remember my name but more infuriating, a lot of people that I don't know or recognize know my name.
Chinese people can't remember our names very well, like it is hard for us to remember theirs. If you have a Chinese name they will remember it.
Some assholes still prefer to NOT remember it and call you laowai or waiguogren. You can just call them:
jian2 wang4 ren2 (forgetful person)
ma hu de ren2 (careless person)
Chinese are strange people, they often do forget people's names (EVEN other Chinese that are their close friends) and instead use pet names. You can do it too.
I call my wife "xiao huo shan" or little volcano, because of her quick temper.
JulieShen:
Imagine how many people a Chinese need to deal with each day, you'll understand why it is so hard to remember people's name....
Does people now you name? Seriously Scan, I'm hoping you either wrote that drunk, are joking, or do not teach English. But no, generally they don't, my name is teacher to my students, Baba to my son, waiguoren to the locals, meiguoren to strangers, and shut up to my wife.
Oh they know me by name, alright. I've got the misfortune of having a name that sounds like "naughty boy" or "arrogant boy" or "ouch" or "thorn," depending on who's trying to explain it to me as gently as they can. Actually had to start going by my middle name because the students kept laughing. So yeah everyone knows my name, and they LOVE calling me it.
QDasmond:
Imagine this: you've been a teacher in China for about a month, when you're tapped to give a speech to six thousand people (mostly students) at another school during their opening ceremony. You march up to the microphone, and you give your speech entirely in English. You begin by slowly and clearly introducing yourself, "I am from America, and my name is _____." Their polite silence immediately turns into laughter. Hundreds and hundreds of kids, laughing at your name.
Eorthisio:
I don't give speechs in front of 6000 people, I don't do "shows" in front of the entire school because 1) that's not what I signed for and 2) the people asking you to do that would never do it themselves.
I think the problem is a bit more complex. Try to read 'Three kingdoms' - majority of foreigners finds these books totally confusing and chaotic due to the amount of persons involved in the story. Few Chinese people however has any problem with identifying each and every character in the book.
Few foreigners (at least those who did not achieve certain level of fluency in Mandarin) really bother (or can) to remeber their Chinese colleagues and friends Chinese names (real names, by the way as the English once are just nicknames and can be changed anytime freely, depending on the persons will).
For majority of Chinese it's then difficult to remember foreigners names. But so far my really close friends bothered to learn and remember my name. For the rest I use my Chinese name and nobody has a problem to remember it.
Scandinavian:
That is an excellent point. But I also see this happening in the Chinese part of the family. Woman sitting and listing names of several people before getting the name correct.... this is just me being a (albeit very large) fly on the wall.
The people I know all well and truly know my very simple name. But they talk about me as 'laowei'. Even when I'm standing right there amongst them. They do this because they don't know any better.
Some of them probably do....the arrogant, racist, bastard ones.
royceH:
Thanks to Eorthisio (above), from tomorrow I'll be calling the ones I decide to; "Chinaman". Bugger em, why not!
everyone seems to remember the chinese translation of my name well. i share my first name with a certain tank engine made popular by imported british tv. i remember being mocked as a kid in school for my namesake, but here it doesnt seem to be ridiculous at all. probably the best name for a british kid's teacher in china.
