Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to another student takeover episode of the
Speaker 1: Sociology Show podcast. This episode has come in from Shenzen
Speaker 1: College of International Education in China and has been sent
Speaker 1: in by Cecilia and Miles or is that really their
Speaker 1: names or will be revealed in a little moment. First
Speaker 1: of all, before we get onto that, just to let
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Speaker 1: So I mentioned this episode then, So the full title
Speaker 1: of this one is the use of English names amongst
Speaker 1: Chinese International school students and this is sent him by
Speaker 1: Cecilia Ramles. Not their real names. They will reveal all
Speaker 1: in this episode in a moment, and they are from
Speaker 1: Shenzhen College of International Education in China. Enjoy.
Speaker 2: Hi everyone, we are students studying in level sociology from
Speaker 2: Hindun College of International Education. My name is Cecilia and
Speaker 2: my Chinese name is shu Junju.
Speaker 3: Hi. Everyone am Miles Lee. Oh, my Chinese name is Jhara.
Speaker 3: It actually sounds quite weird why we introduce ourselves with
Speaker 3: both Chinese names and English names.
Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, Miles, have you ever thought about that? How
Speaker 2: interesting it is that we always college under English names.
Speaker 2: For example, I call you Miles and you call me Cecilia,
Speaker 2: despite that we both are Chinese.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3: And I've noticed that not only we, most of the
Speaker 3: students here like in this international school call each other
Speaker 3: English names. So I remember before we enter this international college,
Speaker 3: the school asked us to put down our English name
Speaker 3: in our profile rather than our Chinese name. So probably
Speaker 3: because the place or the institution that we live in
Speaker 3: requires us to do so. So, therefore, not only our classmates,
Speaker 3: the teachers, and sometimes our parents call us an English name.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's the case. I think to avoid mispronunciation by
Speaker 2: foreign teachers is the main purpose of the school, right,
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that sounds yeah, that sounds quite interesting.
Speaker 3: But when I take a step back, some times I
Speaker 3: find it actually quite weird seeing a group of Chinese
Speaker 3: students and some Chinese teachers calling each other's English name.
Speaker 4: Don't you I always.
Speaker 2: Feel the same. Actually, I've even conducted a research on
Speaker 2: this topic. So early in the year, I did a
Speaker 2: survey amount of international students in my rechhat groups and moments.
Speaker 4: Oh really, what's the survey about?
Speaker 2: Based on pre observation, I used two skills to explore
Speaker 2: students' experiences in such a scenario within Chinese International High School,
Speaker 2: specifically focusing on the aspect of cultural identity by examining
Speaker 2: the correlation between English name usage and the three of
Speaker 2: Chinese cultural identification.
Speaker 4: But that sounds fun. What's the result?
Speaker 2: Well, I'll start with the results of two separate skills.
Speaker 2: There are both five point like skill uses a five
Speaker 2: answer point, including a main point or a neutral point,
Speaker 2: to assess a respondent's opinions. Participants rate the degree of
Speaker 2: how much the statement fits their condition. One is completely
Speaker 2: disagree and five is strongly agreed. One skill is an
Speaker 2: English name usage questionnaire with mainly two dimensions. One is
Speaker 2: daily usage and the other is in deferent condition. Daily
Speaker 2: usage includes some questions like do you how often do
Speaker 2: you use your Chinese like? I mean you always use
Speaker 2: your English name when talking to your friends and you
Speaker 2: introduce yourself with English name. The dimension of indeferent condition
Speaker 2: include questions like do you prefer your English name rather
Speaker 2: than your Chinese name? Do you think there's like a
Speaker 2: strong attachment to.
Speaker 4: Your English name.
Speaker 2: I found that the dimensional daily usage has a higher
Speaker 2: score than in the recognition. This demonstrates the instrumental properties
Speaker 2: of the names rather than a source of identity.
Speaker 3: I think, oh, so, like, what do you think What
Speaker 3: do you mean by instrumental properties of the name.
Speaker 2: I think it means that using an English name is
Speaker 2: more of a daily practice. Yes, And another skill calper
Speaker 2: identity skill. I think there's no significant difference between the
Speaker 2: two dimensions. One is emotional commitment and behavioral exploration. I
Speaker 2: mean there's no difference of the scores the results of
Speaker 2: the three dimensions. So overall, this particular statistic shows it
Speaker 2: commonly identified Chinese cultural identity, both in a way that
Speaker 2: people are attached to Chinese culture and that people are
Speaker 2: willing to further explore and advocate for the culture.
Speaker 3: Oh, I see, And I've noticed that the focus of
Speaker 3: the research is about the correlation between the cultural identity
Speaker 3: of Chinese cultural identification and English name usage. And actually,
Speaker 3: I wonder what's what about the correlation examination?
Speaker 4: What's the result about that?
Speaker 2: The result was quite surprising, I think I found that
Speaker 2: there is a positive correlation between the daily usage of
Speaker 2: English names and the overall Chinese cultural identity, especially participants
Speaker 2: well in to further explore their cultural identity.
Speaker 3: Oh that is quite counterintuitive, I think, because like naturally,
Speaker 3: we might think that if a person has great attachment
Speaker 3: to Chinese identity, he may be more likely to use
Speaker 3: his or her Chinese name rather than his English names.
Speaker 3: But the result seems to be like the opposite. So
Speaker 3: what do you think is the rationale behind him?
Speaker 2: I think this is a very interesting question. So I
Speaker 2: first delve more into the coalitions between specific questions from
Speaker 2: the skills, maybe we can find some potential explanation. For instance,
Speaker 2: there's two questions I want to mention. One is that
Speaker 2: I don't resent my English name being used in any situation,
Speaker 2: and the other statement is I think my English name
Speaker 2: helps me to integrate into the school environment better. I
Speaker 2: found a significant positive relationship correlation between these two questions
Speaker 2: and the cultural identity skill result the total score of it.
Speaker 2: This might indicate a greater cultural inclusiveness and adaptability of
Speaker 2: the students to navigate and an intersection of both English
Speaker 2: and Chinese. Maybe cultural or language usage.
Speaker 3: Oh so you'll emphasize on your emphasis on inclusiveness and adaptability.
Speaker 3: Sounds very inspiring, And I guess the reason behind this
Speaker 3: positive relationship between greater English name usage and strong cultural
Speaker 3: identity to like Chinese identity. Maybe because like, the more
Speaker 3: students aligned with Chinese identity, the more he actually realized
Speaker 3: the gap or the differences between Chinese and Western culture.
Speaker 3: So in this international environment, he or she might want
Speaker 3: to use an English name more often in this English
Speaker 3: environment to better integrate into the English world. So he
Speaker 3: actually realized this separation between like the Chinese world in
Speaker 3: like the Western or English world. So keep using a
Speaker 3: Chinese name, which is actually a strong representation of Chinese
Speaker 3: identity may be a barrier to solve their identity conflict
Speaker 3: in such an international environment. So I think inherently, yeah,
Speaker 3: there may be a sense or need of inclusiveness and
Speaker 3: adaptability for them to better integrate into the environment.
Speaker 2: Now, also, I think your exation is excellent. Like to
Speaker 2: be honest, do you like, are you talking about yourself
Speaker 2: in this sense that like this is your idea?
Speaker 3: Yeah, to some extent, So my own understanding is like
Speaker 3: based on what I've talked about before.
Speaker 2: I see, I've also found another interesting result, like there
Speaker 2: is saleso a negative correlation between the likeness and identification
Speaker 2: of the participant's English name and the degree of emotional
Speaker 2: commitment to Chinese culture. I think this can be explained
Speaker 2: in a similar way as you've said that students may
Speaker 2: perceive English names as more consistent with an internationalized identity,
Speaker 2: whereas Chinese names may be seen as a symbol of
Speaker 2: tradition or confinement to a particular culture. Influenced by globalization
Speaker 2: and international education, they might be more likely to adopt
Speaker 2: foreign cultural elements and weakened their identification with Chinese culture,
Speaker 2: developing the sort of hybrid identity.
Speaker 3: I think, oh, that sounds a very reasonable conclusion. And
Speaker 3: have you met any particular challenge where searching the topic.
Speaker 2: Well, my main concern when researching this topic is that
Speaker 2: the self report questionnaire may cause some bias. For example,
Speaker 2: participants may misunderstand the statement given by the questionnaire or
Speaker 2: influenced by the Hawthorne effect we learned in the topic
Speaker 2: the unit of research method, so halfign effects means that
Speaker 2: participants may modify an aspect of their answers in response
Speaker 2: to their awareness of being observed or being analyzed by
Speaker 2: our researcher, which is me in this case. I think
Speaker 2: this is the major limitation of questionnaire that it's difficult
Speaker 2: to avoid. However, I still consider a questionnaire or a
Speaker 2: quite reliable research method.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 3: So because the survey is conducted in China, so people
Speaker 3: may be subject to the pressure or expectation that they
Speaker 3: need to be like somehow patriotic. So like, they may
Speaker 3: assume that the researcher is somehow patriotic. So this might
Speaker 3: change or like distort their response and probably result in
Speaker 3: an overestimation of the attachment to Chinese identity. And also
Speaker 3: what I find pretty what I'm curious about actually is
Speaker 3: that the concept of identity may be constantly changing, especially
Speaker 3: for students in an adolescent because like students are still
Speaker 3: growing and their mentality is pretty unstable and constantly changing,
Speaker 3: and I think this may be like strongly affect the result,
Speaker 3: like probably, I mean, like doing a launch Tumino study
Speaker 3: for like a long time can track their changes or
Speaker 3: somehow like make the research more valid, like do you
Speaker 3: think so?
Speaker 2: Yes, I think you're definitely right. You remind me of
Speaker 2: another concern that the fact is said that identity is
Speaker 2: fluid and has several aspects. For example, some people may
Speaker 2: resonate a lot with the food in China or a
Speaker 2: particular manner or like Chinese literature, but they don't necessarily
Speaker 2: identify with other aspects of Chinese culture. So maybe this
Speaker 2: makes it quite hard to discuss the whole topic and
Speaker 2: one single study. The method of questionnaire lacks validity in
Speaker 2: this case. Therefore, to check the changes and for a
Speaker 2: more valid approach, I think what you've suggested in a
Speaker 2: longitudinal study and maybe a follow up interview with classmates
Speaker 2: will be really helpful.
Speaker 4: Oh that sounds nice.
Speaker 3: So have you ever thought of some further questions that
Speaker 3: you may ask in future interviews in future studies.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm thinking of like more of a casual conversation.
Speaker 2: For example, I can start with sharing some stories about
Speaker 2: my name. Oh really, yes, Actually, to tell you a secret,
Speaker 2: my first English name is not Cecilia. That sounds quite normal, well,
Speaker 2: at least like you're paring to my first name. My
Speaker 2: first name is Apple because I have this Chinese nickname
Speaker 2: of Wool, which means apple fruit and Chinese I use.
Speaker 2: I kept the name till the age of twelve. Then,
Speaker 2: for the purpose of going into an international summer camp.
Speaker 2: I think, no, this is the time that I should
Speaker 2: change to a serious name. I'll stop using the name
Speaker 2: like so funny as Apple.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you've been loved it, or you've been marked by
Speaker 3: other students.
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. So I chose to him in Sicilia from
Speaker 2: that like literature for children, and the sicilia is with
Speaker 2: an e instead of an eye, because I think it
Speaker 2: makes me a little bit more special. Yes, what about
Speaker 2: what about your name, Miles?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I actually noticed that you're like seeking a
Speaker 3: sense of like uniqueness and the sense of the meaning
Speaker 3: or the purpose of this name. And that's true also
Speaker 3: for me, because so I actually picked Miles. I picked
Speaker 3: this name like three years ago when I first came
Speaker 3: into this international school. So basically the reason why I
Speaker 3: chose this name is because like I google it and
Speaker 3: I find that the meaning of it is like it
Speaker 3: means like quite quite wise and pretty introverted and like
Speaker 3: somehow introspective, like which is I think it's a best
Speaker 3: feit for of my personality, So I just.
Speaker 4: Chose this name.
Speaker 2: I think it's really funny that in most cases our
Speaker 2: names are given by parents, like our Chinese thing and
Speaker 2: most of English names for Westerners or you know, names
Speaker 2: in their own culture. But in this case, we can
Speaker 2: really access or sort of agency or our decision to
Speaker 2: make a choice for ourselves to haven't named that is,
Speaker 2: like truly decided on our own, like our own minds.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think the there's like fundamental difference between
Speaker 3: the origin of like English names of students or people
Speaker 3: from a different color background because they can use their
Speaker 3: agency to like free each rust their name. And also,
Speaker 3: so you mentioned that you have changed your names, yes, once,
Speaker 3: so it actually reflects the fluidity of our like of
Speaker 3: our identity, because like we can constantly change our name, yes,
Speaker 3: as long as we like don't like it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's really hard to change the Chinese right,
Speaker 2: not like legally, but like from the bottom of our heart.
Speaker 2: How we resonate with the name. For some whenever people
Speaker 2: calls me and my Chinese thing, I just respond naturally.
Speaker 2: But sometimes if people call me in my English name,
Speaker 2: I may like hesitate.
Speaker 4: For a moment.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because like there is your path, there are some
Speaker 3: like past experience before you need the books you read,
Speaker 3: and like your sadness and your happiness like inherently embedded
Speaker 3: within your name. So when people call your Chinese name
Speaker 3: more like your original name, then like you might intuitively
Speaker 3: like turn around and then be like, oh, why are
Speaker 3: you calling me?
Speaker 2: Yes, So I think like in this case, maybe you
Speaker 2: don't relate to your English name that lunch, or do
Speaker 2: you prefer your Chinese name or your English name? And
Speaker 2: as do they like mean so different to you? What
Speaker 2: do you think? So?
Speaker 3: I mean personally, I think there are different meanings within
Speaker 3: this two names. So I think in a Chinese environment,
Speaker 3: I might like be more likely to use my Chinese
Speaker 3: name because it's like closely related to my past experience
Speaker 3: with my parents, my friends and all these are all
Speaker 3: within the Chinese environment. But for the English name, then
Speaker 3: there are a lot of memories and different kinds of
Speaker 3: stuff that is related to these English names. So I
Speaker 3: see a clear separation between the usage of these two names.
Speaker 2: So like what about you, whoa, I think it's true
Speaker 2: that names aren't carrying something like really enough.
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Speaker 2: For me, I think mmm, like my experience your mind,
Speaker 2: my attitude towards the usage of names is similar to you,
Speaker 2: because I don't like any of my friends like who
Speaker 2: knows me when when we are in a Chinese context
Speaker 2: to use my English and that sounds weird, that sounds
Speaker 2: they are like teasing me. But in this school where
Speaker 2: I met everybody, like we all use our English in
Speaker 2: this case is quite natural, and I think there's a
Speaker 2: sense of community based on the English game usage. Like
Speaker 2: for example, in daily conversations, we always call each other
Speaker 2: English names, and we are frequently switching between Chinese and English.
Speaker 2: This kind of communication is you know, it can special
Speaker 2: compared to other personal relationships.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, and beauty.
Speaker 2: See, so I think it's time to switch a top
Speaker 2: a little bit to the Chinese identity part. Well, do
Speaker 2: you think, like how would you regate your Chinese identity?
Speaker 2: And probably, like we mentioned some aspects of Chinese identity,
Speaker 2: how would you explain this sort of relation or attachment
Speaker 2: to identity regarding various aspects.
Speaker 4: So I personally feel like.
Speaker 3: An identity is like a very complex topic because it
Speaker 3: involves so many parts. So it actually includes your personal
Speaker 3: attachment to let's say, like a culture including like food, language,
Speaker 3: and like personal relationship. So because I am, we are
Speaker 3: actually born and grow up in a Chinese context. So
Speaker 3: basically you can't deny that you have a close relationship
Speaker 3: with your with your like let's say, your family and
Speaker 3: your friends in this Chinese context. So I mean for
Speaker 3: me personally, I would say I have a strong attachment
Speaker 3: to Chinese culture.
Speaker 2: M h. I see, I think, well it was obviously understandable,
Speaker 2: especially like we both come from you know, public Chinese schools,
Speaker 2: Like before we enter this international school, we always receive
Speaker 2: education in our Chinese context, And I was wondering about,
Speaker 2: how do you feel like when you first transferred to
Speaker 2: this international schools? Do Chinese ning, I mean, do English
Speaker 2: name help human integrate a little bit more?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, definitely definitely, because like when you're entering like
Speaker 3: a completely new environment and then you want to get
Speaker 3: away from the past, then you need a brand new name.
Speaker 3: Then probably an English name is like a new start
Speaker 3: and kind of like refresh your mind and like open
Speaker 3: up a new page for you. So yeah, basically that's
Speaker 3: actually related to what you mentioned above. It's the concept
Speaker 3: of agency, right, So you can use your free agency
Speaker 3: to probably open up a new, completely new space for
Speaker 3: you to explore by adopting the English name.
Speaker 2: I see you're talking about something I just mentioned like
Speaker 2: practical use.
Speaker 3: Right, practical, but also like oh, but also related to
Speaker 3: identity and culture.
Speaker 2: So I've actually come across this concept of cultural assimilation
Speaker 2: while doing so literal you know, literature review, Like it
Speaker 2: means that you're into reading not only like the school environment.
Speaker 4: But also a cultural context.
Speaker 2: Yes, like the whole context within English. Do you think
Speaker 2: the name is like a representation of you, like delve
Speaker 2: more into the environment. For example, Like, let me give
Speaker 2: you an example. Some foreigners who trouble around China, who's
Speaker 2: really interesting with the sort of Inzasian culture, they choose
Speaker 2: a Chinese name for themselves and they use it in
Speaker 2: Chinese context. Do you think it's something similar or is
Speaker 2: a totally different thing when it comes to like we adopting.
Speaker 4: English names, Well, the first thing that comes to mind
Speaker 4: is that.
Speaker 3: Some foreigners, like so called foreigners from our perspective, to
Speaker 3: come to China and then they adopt a Chinese name,
Speaker 3: which is quite funny.
Speaker 4: So I actually the meaning or like.
Speaker 3: The connotations of the worlds or the latter, it's quite
Speaker 3: funny and they didn't realize it doesn't realize they don't
Speaker 3: realize that.
Speaker 2: So like I think it works like all the way
Speaker 2: around times we shoes really strange English things that make
Speaker 2: make you know, native speakers laugh a lot. Yes, For example,
Speaker 2: apple first place.
Speaker 3: Or some very like prestigious or like very comfory class.
Speaker 2: Yes, or maybe some religious names or names from Spain
Speaker 2: or other culture, like Chinese name using a Spanish name.
Speaker 3: That's just that sounds weird, yes, because you don't actually
Speaker 3: have the connection within the culture.
Speaker 2: Yes. Indeed, so do you plan to I mean, do
Speaker 2: you plan to keep your English name after entering the
Speaker 2: university or to plan for the future. You mentioned maybe
Speaker 2: there's like a cultural marriage or sort of cultural appropriation,
Speaker 2: you know what, we are trying to use a name
Speaker 2: in different culture.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good question because like we don't actually
Speaker 3: know what will happen after we enter the university. So
Speaker 3: basically when we are in completely English environment, we might
Speaker 3: want to use our English name or like Chinese names
Speaker 3: or biscuit.
Speaker 4: It depends.
Speaker 2: Yes, Like I think for me during this challenge is
Speaker 2: still pronunciation. Oh, it's quite hard for professors to like
Speaker 2: recognize the name and you know, just react with a
Speaker 2: correct pronunciation.
Speaker 4: But they can just call it, call you your surname.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's right. I think in this paras Olympics, people
Speaker 2: are recording their names the right pronunciation of the names
Speaker 2: and put out put on the audios into the internet,
Speaker 2: and just so that there's no confusion. Do you think
Speaker 2: that may be a good solution.
Speaker 4: To the problem.
Speaker 3: That's that's also pretty hard though, because when you yourself
Speaker 3: pronounced him, it's quite hard.
Speaker 4: Mm hmm, like like like the foreigners. Like let's say.
Speaker 3: Those commentators in Olympics, they know how wonder routine is pronounced,
Speaker 3: but they just can't pronounce very accurately.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, that may happen sometimes well overalls, still quite
Speaker 2: I was a complex topic to say.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think in some college pages, I see they are
Speaker 2: doing this audio things, you know, to show some respects
Speaker 2: for other cultures, to adapt this sort of globalized environment.
Speaker 2: I think it's sometimes US schools and nows we are
Speaker 2: both working towards it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think it's a good thing to attach
Speaker 3: equal importance to like different writings and different pronunciations of names.
Speaker 2: Yes, like for example, where I have to do some
Speaker 2: signatures and online I have to type the opening of
Speaker 2: my names instead of the real characters. I think it's
Speaker 2: a really great conversation for us. Do you have anything
Speaker 2: else to share?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm so elected to here and then have this podcast. Yeah, So.
Speaker 2: It's been it's faring conversation between other I think so
Speaker 2: I hope you guys find this episode useful and thank
Speaker 2: you so much for listening. Goodbye, see you next time.
Speaker 2: Good Bye, bye bye.
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