Saturday, May 22, 2010

English Names

I've told a few people about the English names the Vietnamese students give themselves. It helps the lecturers remember who they are, and it is easier to pronounce. I don't pressure my students to give an English name. I try to learn there real name, and pronounce it correctly. Most of the names I've heard are common; Tommy, Katie, Kevin, Mike, etc.

But occasionally I will get a student who decided to get "artsy" with there name change. For example, I have a girl named "Po". I'm not sure how she came up with this nick name, but she definitely looks like a "Po", with her cute round face and button nose. She got excited when I shared with her my friend's handbag website www.PoCampo.com. Po's ace boon coon is a girl named B.C. Not sure where this came from because her real name starts with an "H". Then there's the best name of all "Princess". Her reasoning for choosing this name is that if her real name is mis-pronounced, it sounds like a negative word in Vietnamese. Okay, good enough reason. So, Ms. Princess is quite prissy, always late, always dressed up, never hands in projects on time and after cutting her hair to a short bob, she recently got some new weave put in (crimped tracks glued in).
No, I'm not on the south side of Chicago, this in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

3 comments:

  1. Did they give you a nick-name? Tee-Dee?

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  2. That's a throwback nick name from when I was little. From what I can understand they just call me Miss. Who knows what they really say in Vietnamese ;-)

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  3. lol this is hilarious. glued in tracks on a vietnamese girl??? this i gotta see in person. maybe she'll have some fresh ones by october!

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