Situation 5

Situation 4.

Situation 3.

Situation 2.

Situation 1.

My name is Loi Nguen, and I’m from Viet Nam. Some people tell me to anglicize my name. They tell me to call myself Larry or Lance. But I don’t want to. My family gave me my name. I am the same person wherever I go. When I meet someone new, I say my name slowly and clearly. I repeat it several times until people understand. Some of my classmates have made a joke about my name. I study law, so they say I’m going to be a loiyer. I don’t care. Let them laugh.

I’m Jacqueline Matahnbat from Thailand, and I am a student in microbiology. Jacqueline is the name I use here in North America. I always liked that name and enjoy using it. I use my real name, Molvipah, with my family and people from my culture. It is hard for people to say it in English. So I decided to change it. I didn’t like the way people looked at me during introductions. They made faces when they tried to pronounce my name. They never said it right. In English I am Jacqueline.

Hi, I am Jesús Jiménes García from Nicaragua. With my English friends, I am ‘Joe’. I never chose to change my name. It just happened. For my friends it was difficult to say Jesús. They said it was like swearing. In English it sounds disrespectful to say “Jesus”. That is not true in my culture. But now I call myself Joe, and I use only last name, Jiménes, the one from my father. I think it will be easier to get a job with that name.

My name is Malika and I am from India. In the region I come from, we have only one name. We do not need a first and a last name. This caused problems here at first because North Americans think everyone must have a first and last name. So I invented a new name for myself: V. Malika. The “V” stands for Victory, one of my favourite English words. I sign that for official names. With most people here, I say I am Vicki. My real friends and family call me Malika.

I’m Hans Warren, a Swiss professor working in the United States. I work at a university laboratory. This work is interesting, but I have trouble with the casual American ways. The technicians do not treat me with respect. They call me Hans all the time, often in front of the students. Even some students don’t call me Mr. Warren, much less Doctor or Professor! I spoke up one day at a lab meeting. I explained about the importance of respect in the workplace. But nobody got the point. Afterwards, I asked another professor about it. She said: “Oh, we know you like to be formal, but we take that with a grain of salt!”

1.22. Answer the questions using the texts from the previous activity.  

1. How many of the students use their real names in an English-speaking country? How many use a different name?

2. Who chose to change to a different name? Why?

3. What do you think of this decision?

4. Who uses a different name because it “just happened”?

5. Who had only one name before coming to North America? Why?

6. Why is Hans unhappy at work? In your opinion, what should Hans do to improve his communication with Americans? Does the similar problem exist in Russia?

7. How many names do you have?

8. Do you know any North American names that seem difficult or strange to people in your culture? Any Russian names with similar stories? Which ones? Why?

9. Choose the statement you agree with and explain why:

a) We should not change our names. It is best to use the name given to us by our family.

b) We should change our names in a new culture because it will help us to be accepted.

c) There is no right or wrong answer about changing names. It depends on the situation.

1.23. Read the text about some issues with using names. Discuss the text in the form of a dialogue with a partner. Compare the traditions described for other cultures with the tradition of addressing people in Russia:  

Use the following expressions:

In my opinion, From my point of view,

Дата добавления: 2014-12-27