What's up with Chinese people named "Susie", "Tony", etc?

[rangedunits]

Mines 'Kedai Teh', and i do not sell tea.

 

[Fenzir]

I got a couple of examples of these, but they are usually general close
Jiwan --> John
Kirov --> corky
Zshao --> chow
Xiauatuang --> Javier (Xavier)
Rehderamin --> red

Pretty lame names but only one of them speaks english, but we have translators every 10 feet.

 

[JimBolder]

Edit: I also couldn't help but here Jerry Seinfeld's annoying voice when I read the title of this thread, lol.

Haha, same here.:crackup:

 

[Tech_Junkie]

Mines 'Kedai Teh', and i do not sell tea.

Yeah..right. They call you Wang Hung High. :crackup:

 

[chipdouglas]

Sad they changed there names because WE (Westerners) were to rude to learn there names right. And now there school system is so Smart there poping out more English Educated Students than the US....

there is also a flip side to this krogith... The chinese and japanese have many rituals and beliefs. In the business world americans must learn these and adapt these if they do business with them or the asians and all their money will walk. so it is a 2 way street. not really racist at all. The asians didn't get a phone call one day demanding a name change. The saw an opportunity to make more money using a different name. just like actors do in hollywood.

michael.

 

[v33]

That Slate magazine article was interesting.

I think my overseas business name will be Hung Far Lo.

 

[Benm]

I'm sure that many people here have interacted with "Susie" from O-like, "Tony" from some other laser vendor, etc.

Can anyone here explain the cultural phenomenon of Chinese people presenting themselves with a casual Western first name?

Let me hasten to say, that I know for sure that this is NOT a marketing technique aimed at laser buyers from the West.

I think it IS a marketing technique to some degree, adopted from the idian call center outsourcing industry. The basis for it is twofold: There is the part where customers are given the illusion of speaking to someone familiar with the language, but the other is that customers like to be able to remember and pronounce the name of the person they spoke with.

If you work in a customers relation position and your name happens to be Thinzanduong, it might be useful to change your name to 'Dennis' in business contacts. This is not strictly a chinese/indian practice though - it happens in here in holland to with poeple that have names that are simply unpronounceable to english speakers.

Sometimes it works the other way around too. My name is Ben, and in arab speaking countries this is usually answerd by "ben-who?" since its a prefix that means 'son of' or something of that regard. Since my father is also named Ben, i just give my lastname, which is pronouncable by arabs, but a tongue twister for any english speaker

 

[LaZeRz]

Rofl, "Ching Chang Bing Bong" :crackup:

you almost made me spill my drink!

Yeh, I think its just because us "non asains" would prefer Tony over Ching chang bing bong

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Personal perspective/experience - people do it because it makes their life easier.

I have a somewhat difficult to pronounce name, and as a result use a pseudonym professionally. Strictly as a way to save time (not having to spell or repeat pronunciation) and to make sure that people I deal with remember me better.