| scottie said: I think I arrived too late and missed all the fun. Why all the removed posts? Anyway, I find it really strange that in Australia, as well as in America, many Asian people living here have taken a 'white' name. They call themselves things along the lines of 'Charles', or other very British, names. It seems a shame to me - when you go over to another country to experience their culture, I think it's nice if you take some of your culture over them for them to experience. I've always puzzled as to why this is done. Is it because it is expected that we'll mispronounce their names? Is it to try to fit in? If anyone is in the situation of doing this (or the reverse, if you are a Caucasian living in Asia and have adopted an 'Asian name) could you let me know your reason for doing so? |
Offhand I'd say it's so that Western tongues don't butcher Eastern names, but from my own experience, it's not so common (giving oneself a western sounding name).
The only current examples I can think of offhand were an Asian studies professor I had when I lived in South Korea; North Korean, made the decision to stay in South Korea during the Korean War, went by the name Mark Monagan. The only other example I can remember is a former Japanese supervisor I had when I worked for Capcom, Takuya Shiraiwa, who went by the name "Tom" when he lived in the States.
In Mark's case, I think he had his name legally changed (had US citizenship). In Tom's case, it was probably just easier for people in the States to call him Tom instead of Takuya, so it was more of a nickname than anything else.
Maybe it's more common in Australia, but it's rare in California, even with the huge Asian population mix of first gen immigrants and multi generational native US born Asians.
