I think it's important that non-Chinese speakers realise what amazing names their Chinese friends have, and just haven't been telling them.
This is so very true, and I quite enjoy your translated names for the students and persons you encounter. I find among my expat circle general disinterest in learning the Chinese names of our Chinese friends, the sole exception being boys who ask to learn a Chinese girl's name and what it means as part of flirting.
That said, for every quirky and cool Chinese boys' name we encounter, there are many repetitious girls' names that use feminized characters like 娟 or 妮 or 娜, or unimaginatively invoke words for peace and quiet like 静 or 宁 or 安. It seems like the boys get more thought put into their names.
In fact, that may be because of the meaning of China to us and to other expats. A number of my friends are here to work or just to take an extended vacation in a foreign country, and have little interest in things Chinese aside from casual Western Orientalism.
I totally didn't realise Koreans were so Catholic.
Dude, Koreans are so Catholic, except for the ones that are so Baptist. I knew a bunch of really hardcore religious Koreans; they scared me.
Interesting way of dealing with the names. I tend not to be all that interested in Chinese names ("oh, you're called 'Strengthen the Army,' how original), but every now and then I'll come across one that I particularly like. Can't remember what the last one was, but I've got it written down in a notebook somewhere in Beijing.
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This is so very true, and I quite enjoy your translated names for the students and persons you encounter. I find among my expat circle general disinterest in learning the Chinese names of our Chinese friends, the sole exception being boys who ask to learn a Chinese girl's name and what it means as part of flirting.
That said, for every quirky and cool Chinese boys' name we encounter, there are many repetitious girls' names that use feminized characters like 娟 or 妮 or 娜, or unimaginatively invoke words for peace and quiet like 静 or 宁 or 安. It seems like the boys get more thought put into their names.
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Dude, Koreans are so Catholic, except for the ones that are so Baptist. I knew a bunch of really hardcore religious Koreans; they scared me.
Interesting way of dealing with the names. I tend not to be all that interested in Chinese names ("oh, you're called 'Strengthen the Army,' how original), but every now and then I'll come across one that I particularly like. Can't remember what the last one was, but I've got it written down in a notebook somewhere in Beijing.
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