Funny: It happens...
By Shavkat
@Shavkat (137189)
Philippines
December 1, 2020 6:42am CST
...when you cannot pronounce the Chinese names. For me, I just ignore the names and let them pass by. I don't want to embarrass myself in front of my students. This is the real thing and it happens in teaching online.
How about you, guys?
What would be your course of action?
Kanang walay English name imung Chinese student😂 Subscribe: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FpG5P7Kvtjc
8 people like this
8 responses
@MALUSE (69416)
• Germany
1 Dec 20
I'm going to answer your question although I'm not a guy and don't appreciate being addressed in this way. -- I had pupils from families from other countries in my classes at school. I always called them by name. Everybody has the right to be called by name. I told them that I did my best and apologised in advance if I didn't get the pronunciation completely right.
I see no reason to be embarrassed about this. I can ask a Chinese to pronounce German names correctly and he or she will not be able to do this, either. So there. But it is polite to try it at least.
When I taught the little ones (German pupils start learning English at the age of ten) I came to the class with a lot of names for boys and girls and distributed them among the pupils. They liked this. [Some of them even told me they were, say, Jeremy or Dorothy even years later when I met them by chance in town years later. :-)]
From then on, I always called them by their English names. This was also good because an English sentence sounds more natural when it has only English sounds in it.
If you have only one pupil, you can ask him or her which English name they would like to have. You can explain that the lessons will flow more easily when they have an English name in case someone is wondering.
3 people like this
@Shavkat (137189)
• Philippines
2 Dec 20
@MALUSE If I had met the student for the first time, I am quite cautious. To be on the safe side, I asked if they have English names. It will be great if they are my regular students online. I can mispronounce their given names. For the first-timers, I need to be extra careful.
@much2say (53909)
• Los Angeles, California
1 Dec 20
I am actually good with names! Although reading it correctly for the first time is a different issue. If I hear the name, I can usually say it right and remember it if I keep using the name. I understand, because I have a name that people cannot seem to pronounce correctly 
.
.1 person likes this
. I never go by my English name 
@RebeccasFarm (86514)
• United States
1 Dec 20
Yes I too would bypass if I could not decipher it rather than pronouncing it wrong. I would ask if in doubt.
1 person likes this
@Shavkat (137189)
• Philippines
3 Dec 20
@RebeccasFarm Thank you for the understanding.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (86514)
• United States
3 Dec 20
@Shavkat Yes I understand that Shavvy
1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54413)
• United States
1 Dec 20
i often struggle with names honestly.
1 person likes this
@MALUSE (69416)
• Germany
2 Dec 20
@DocAndersen As far as I know only the Chinese language has the difficulty (for foreigners) that words can have different meaning according to the height or depth of your voice. It's difficult for foreigners to hear the difference and even more difficult to copy this.
2 people like this
@DocAndersen (54413)
• United States
2 Dec 20
@Shavkat there are a lot of parts of the world where you have to be precise in the pronoucation!
1 person likes this
