About my name
Zhiqi Li | 2024 | Discussion
In ENGL111, we read a passage about the troubles about names causing by cultural differences and listened to a podcast about name. When it comes to my name, what is something interesting about it?
Discussion Post:
"My name is Zhiqi Li, and you can call me Vicky." That's what my greeting with foreign friends usually starts with. Alike the author in the chapter, I have some friends call me Zhiqi Li (actually Li Zhiqi) and some friends call me Vicky. I am not that serious about how my foreign friends pronounce my Chinese name. Everyone commonly speaks English here and I totally understand that the pronounce for "Z" is different in Chinese and English. To avoid their embarrassment of pronouncing my name, I will tell them to call me Vicky, Beside that, removing their hesitation is a skill to can higher up the frequency they mentioned my name, and thus it will be easier to set up friendships with them.
Another story is that I pronounce my "Qi" with the rising tone. But in the dictionary, the character itself is actually the entering tone. As mentioned in the podcast, how others pronounce their own names is also worth noticing. So all of my friends call me by the rising tone, even though they know this is not the exact pronouncement for that character. In some cases, I will hear my name pronounced with a weird tone by an AI. There is a lot more fun in that.