名字翻译不了•Names don’t translate

名字翻译不了

Names don't translate

学生要我称她为Lavender(熏衣草、淡紫色)，但我感觉说不出口，不想不尊敬她，因为通常是肥皂的名字，而不是人的。

我认为，中国没有一个外教不会遇到怪名。我第一年在中国高校教书，一些学生让我叫他们Fish(鱼）、Blue（蓝色）和Echo（回音）。每次说到这些名字，我都感到不舒服。因为想尊重中国文化，我没有批评他们的怪名。毕竟，在我的国家让别人表达自己是最高的尊敬方式之一。

外教有一种文化的敏感，使我们失职，也就是我们对当文化大使的责任失去敏感度。许多老师不教这些名字的确是外号，在专业的英语环境当中并不合适。如果一位求职人员自我介绍为“你好，我叫多汁（Juicy）”，雇主能当真吗？外国老师为何不同？

从学生的角度看，英文名字有两个很好的优点。第一、显然是一种自我表达，也许母语文化当中没有这种空间。对我学生来说，“蓝色”更是感觉而不仅是颜色，“回音”好像诗意、神秘。 第二个优点是，西方人很难记住中文名字。中文的陌生发音通常使我们困惑。

然而，无论正常还是古怪，执意用外国名字的中国人通常不知道名字明显的缺点。因为中国老师不知道英文名，我跟他们说不了学生的事。对于Lavender，我让她传给我别人的联系方式。我怎么做自我介绍？“你好，我是淡紫色的老师…”，这太尴尬了，而且如果外国朋友在北京要一个实习生，我的感觉一样。即使学生有能力，但执意用运动明星名字如科比和梅西等等，我也觉得推荐他们太不好意思，毕竟在这个情况下他们代表的是我。

还有别的缺点。学生认为怪名有诗意和神秘的感觉，但英语为母语的人却听到的是普通意思的名词，留下不好的印象，让我们想这个人挺可笑。中国留学生更是如此。我的美国华裔朋友说，遇到用怪名的中国留学生时，为他们非常尴尬。她说，“这些学生并不知道在背后有人嘲笑他们。”

针对我个人来说，还有最后一个缺点。我不知道多少次用中文讯问别人的名字，回答却是英语。虽然我知道这是尊敬我的说法，但是我还是希望他们认可一下我的汉语。我更能够接受的是，对方用双语回答，譬如“我叫王伟，but you can call me Wayne if you like.” 这样外国人才能挑选语言，双方都保持面子。另外，中文名字如果只有一两个音节，未必那么难记得。举个例子，几年前亲戚来中国看望我，至今还问我的朋友“马”、“宋”和他们的孩子“安道”怎样。

如果外教要记住所有学生的名字，我建议可以用外国名字，但问题是，到底哪些名字适合中国学生？

学生让我取名字时，我总觉得我在扮演父亲的角色。作为北美的白种男人，我不会叫自己的孩子泰隆（Tyrone）、衫妮垮(Shaniqua)等传统非裔名字，美国亚洲社区也不用这些名字。但约翰和萨拉这种的名字是白种人的普遍称号，取这样的名字给中国学生是否加强民族主义的老套，即白种人的英语和文化才最好？说实话不知道，但针对实际生活问题，约翰和萨拉比“Loverboy”(相好男孩)和”Lovergirl”(相好女孩)好得多，这是我的爱尔兰同事曾同意在课堂上利用的“英文名字”。我们外教在国内不会允许对外英语的学生用这样的名字，那为什么那么多外教在中国用不同标准？这不是对不起学生的虚伪吗？

我肯定许多外国人在中国不同意我的观点，对他们来说，怪名好玩，是个人的事。事实上，在中国大城市的很多办公室，不少中国人用不正常的名字。但这就是中国的文化，据我的了解，没别的国家有这种现象。

因为我是英语老师，我要学生在语言和文化方面准备好。目前我的做法是，在课堂上不用英文名字，而且让学生称我Mr. Hathaway而不是短名Tim。我第一年在中国让学生用我的短名，我以为姓名的发音太难了，同时学生以为美国学生都用老师的短名。很多外教这样做，但这并不反应英语国家的文化和中国文化。事实上，美国学生用老师的短名非常不礼貌，那为什么不教我们的中国学生，尤其因为这也是中国文化？我们的责任就是准备学生参与国际工作场所。

如果我今天的学生要用外号，我告诉他们，跟朋友用没问题，但在申请大学时和工作面试中我建议认真考虑。如果求职人员要我称他为“King” (国王)， 我个人有保留的态度。

其实，我对中国人英文怪名的困惑，不在学生笨拙的跨文化创造的妄图，而是鼓励这种现象的中学老师。他们到底为什么认为“蓝色”和“鱼”这类的名字可接受？如果我在中国介绍自己为”鱼”，对方很可能认为我是可笑。一位中年的中国商人介绍自己时我就这么想，因为他让我叫他“Tiger”（老虎）。我很犹豫跟这样的人做生意，因为在美国老虎是小孩儿的外号。我认为对他来说，意思跟淡紫色一样，是一种性格的特点。但这就是中国文化给“老虎”的特点，不是英语文化的特点，因此名字就翻译不了。

不过，也许我过于规范化。“Lavender”在某些地方可接受， 跟Rose（玫瑰）一样是一种花。我肯定，她觉得美丽，花的颜色和香味配合她的性格，但这名字格外罕见，听起来让我想到一块儿肥皂，词根是洗澡。

我得承认，在这个情况下我有些偏见。我不愿意给自己孩子取这种名字，同样不愿意让学生用。说实话，无论用汉语还是英语跟中国人交流，我还是喜欢他们用真名，起码表达自信和相信我们外国人能够记住。这才是我能够真真尊敬的一种自我表达方式。

My student wants me to call her Lavender, but I just can’t. I don’t want to disrespect her because this is a word usually used for soap, not for people.  

I don’t think there’s an English teacher in China who has not encountered odd names before.  In my first year of teaching in tertiary institutions here, I had students ask me to call them Fish, Blue and Echo.  It made me cringe every time I used these names, but I didn’t say anything because I thought I was respecting Chinese culture.   After all, allowing others to express themselves is one of the highest forms of respect in my own country.

In an effort to be culturally sensitive, foreign teachers often lose sensitivity to their responsibility as cultural ambassadors. Many fail to teach that these appellations are indeed nicknames and not acceptable in a professional environment in the English speaking world.  How could an employer ever take a job applicant seriously who introduces herself with, “Hi, I’m Juicy.”  Why should foreign teachers be any different?  

From the students’ point of view, English names have two very valuable advantages.  First, it is clearly a form of self expression, which they may not have in their mother tongue.  For my students, “Blue” was more of a feeling than a color and “Echo” was supposed to be poetic and mysterious. The second advantage is that Chinese names are notoriously difficult for westerners to remember.  We are often at a loss with the foreign sounds of Chinese.  

However, whether the names are normal or not, Chinese who insist on using them are often ignorant of the glaring drawbacks.  As a teacher I need to speak about students with my colleagues who invariably do not know their English names.  In the case of “Lavender” I was asking for contact information.  How can I introduce myself to these people?  “Hi, I’m Lavender’s teacher….” This would be too awkward and I would feel the same way if a foreign friend in Beijing asked me to provide an intern.  Even if the student was capable, I would hesitate recommending him if he insisted on using an athlete’s name such as Kobe or Messi.   It would just be too awkward.  After all, they would be representing me in this circumstance.  

There are other drawbacks.  While the student may hear a poetic or mysterious name, a native speaker simply hears noun.  The poetry doesn’t translate and all you’re left with is the feeling that the person in front of you is an oddball for choosing such a name, which is the case for many Chinese studying abroad.  I have a Chinese-American friend who says she is embarrassed when she meets Chinese students in America who chose ridiculous names for themselves.  She says, “They have no idea that people are laughing at them behind their backs.”  

The final drawback is more personal.  I don’t know how many times I’ve used Chinese to ask someone’s name and the response comes in English.  Even though I believe they do this out of respect, I still want them at least to acknowledge my Chinese.  It would be less frustrating if they used a combination of Chinese and English.  For example, “我叫王伟, but you can call me Wayne if you like.”  This leaves the foreigner with the option of continuing in whichever language he is more comfortable with, which avoids a loss of face for all.  Also, Chinese names are not that difficult to remember if they are only one or two syllables.  Case in point, my family visited a few years ago and they still ask about my friends Ma, Song, and Andao.

I would recommend using English names to any teacher who wants to memorize student names.  But this leads to the question of what kind of English names are appropriate for Chinese students.

I always feel like a father when students ask me to give them an English name.  As a white male from North America, I would not call my own child Tyrone or Shaniqua, traditional African American names. Asian American communities do not use these either.  But by giving my students vanilla names like John and Sarah, am I perpetuating racial stereotypes that suggest white culture is best?  I honestly don’t know.  But as a practical matter, John and Sarah are clearly better than “Loverboy and Lovergirl,” a tandem moniker which an Irish colleague of mine actually agreed to used in class.  We would never allow this of ESL students in our home countries.  Why do so many foreign teachers use a different standard for Chinese students?  Is this not a disservice which amounts to hypocrisy?  

I’m sure many foreigners in China will disagree with me.  Strange names to them are fun and it’s a personal decision.  In fact, there are many offices in large cities throughout China in which locals regularly use nonstandard names.  But it’s the culture here in China.  As far as I know, this does not happen anywhere else.  

Since I am a teacher I want my students to be prepared culturally as well as linguistically.  My policy now is not to use English names in class.  I also require them to call me Mr. Hathaway instead of Tim, which students used in my first year in China.  I used to think my surname was too difficult for them to pronounce; they used to think this is the culture in the United States.  Many foreign teachers do this, but it does not reflect English speaking or Chinese cultures.  In fact, it’s quite disrespectful for students in my country to call teachers by their first names.  Why do we not teach this to our Chinese students, especially since it is the same here?   We’re supposed to be preparing them for the international workplace.  

If my students today want to use nicknames I tell them it is fine among friends, but I suggest they think twice before using them for college applications or job interviews.  I personally would have reservations about hiring someone who wants to be called “King.”

My consternation over Chinese names actually does not lie in my students’ awkward attempts at cross cultural creativity, but in the high school teachers who encourage it.  How do they come to the conclusion that names like Blue and Fish are acceptable?  What if I introduced myself as 蓝色 or 鱼.  It would probably make people think I was strange, which is exactly what I thought of a middle aged Chinese businessman who told me to call him “Tiger.”  I’m not sure I would want to do business with such a person because Tiger is a nickname used for children in my country.  For him it was supposed to suggest a personality trait, just like Lavender. But these traits are from Chinese culture, not English speaking cultures.  This is why names just don’t translate.  

However, maybe I was too prescriptive with my student.  After all, Lavender is a standard name in some areas, similar to Rose which is also a flower.  I’m sure she chose it because it seems beautiful to her and the color and scent somehow fit her personality.  But this is an exceptionally rare name.  All I could think of was a bar of soap.  The root of the word means to bathe.  

I have to admit I am a bit biased in this case.  I would never give this name to a child of mine and by extension I would not give it to my students either. Frankly, whether locals are speaking English or Chinese with me, I would rather they just use their real names, if only to show that they are confident in themselves and that they believe foreigners are capable of remembering.  This is one kind of self expression I can truly respect.