By Xinlan ‘Annie’ Chen, Dormitory Life Division Head

To access the video tutorial, all you have to do is click on this link and log in with your LCA email address.

Naming, particularly for LCA’s Chinese international students, is an important and complicated issue. As you may have noticed, most Chinese students have chosen English names for themselves because certain sounds in Chinese simply do not exist in English. Therefore, it is really hard for native English speakers to pronounce Chinese names correctly. However, hard does not imply impossible. Learning Chinese pronunciation is definitely not an overnight process, but it is not an unconquerable challenge either. After all, they are the names of your friends and students, and this pronunciation tutorial is created to lead the way for those who are willing to try.

Before introducing you the tutorial, I am going to digress a little and ask if you have seen the 2018 Spring Show, “International Arrivals”. If the answer is negative, we highly recommended you do so. Attached is also a link to a detailed review/report written by our Division Head of Performing Arts, Katrina Shell.

As a show dedicated to celebrating the diverse culture at LCA, the play acknowledged cultural clashes in a theatrical way. While some of these incidences were light and humorous, others meant to be educational and heavy. Naming was one of the serious topics where a group of Chinese students explained people’s common misunderstandings about their real names and offered helpful notes for those attempting to pronounce their friends’ Chinese name (video starting point: 1:49:50).

To further address the diversity of our school, LCA’s North Campus, now under new administration, launched a short video introducing dorm students at the beginning of this school year. In the video, many students pronounced their names in their original ways. Some of you may have tried to watch the video over and over to learn those authentic pronunciations, but, after all, those are foreign languages descended from language roots completely alien from English. There is hardly a way for a native English speaker to mimic those names perfectly just by watching this video again and again. It is kind of fast for a tutorial.

It was Ms. Nies who identified this problem and first proposed this pronunciation project. As you will see below, in the Flipgrid platform set up by Mrs. Johnson, students have posted slow pronunciation tutorials for their own names. Some of them have even challenged you to learn their original name. Before you take up the challenge of correctly pronouncing the names of members of LCA’s international community, here are some notes to keep in mind:

1. For Chinese names, the last name always goes in front of the first name, and they are always pronounced together. You will find student say their last name and first name together in the tutorials. Please don’t be surprised. It is the way these names ought to be. If your friend/student allows you to call him/her by only the first name, you should be happy, because first names alone are usually used among family members to imply intimacy. (aka. he/she loves you!)

2. The italics line is for pronunciation purposes only. As some of you may know, Chinese characters are logograms, meaning that all Chinese names spelled in English letters are not original names. Even though you may have seen them written using the English alphabets hundreds of times, these are only compromises to account for an international language. Those spellings came from a pronouncing system called Pinyin, a system widely used in dictionaries, keyboard typing, as well as rudimentary Chinese lessons. Unfortunately, the pronouncing system does not necessarily apply to English phonics rules, and that is what makes some names seemingly unpronounceable with strange letters like “q” and “s”. In order to solve this frustration, we spelled out students’ names with English pronunciation rules. Therefore, the lines you will see in Italics on the bottom of the back pages are neither right ways to write out nor to pronounce the names, but, as long as they work and we can pronounce these names correctly, we will accept this imperfection before you decide to formally take up Chinese.

3. Currently, only Chinese names are included. Tutorials for other languages are coming soon. Also, if you are a student at LCA who thinks your name is mispronounced frequently, please email Annie Chen at xinlan.chen@lca.edu, and I will help you to add your own tutorial.

Finally, have fun with these tutorials! Please don’t hesitate to practice saying the name with the student in question, so you can get the right intonation AND, most amazingly, make a closer friend!

Good luck and thank you so much for caring and trying!

 

English Name	Chinese Name	Pronunciation
Annie Ai	艾晨洋	Ai Chenyang	ai chung-yahng
Annie Chen	陈馨兰	Chen Xinlan	chehn sheen lanh
Harley Cheng	成润梓	Cheng Runzi	chung ruhn zzi
Victor Fang	方大中	Fang Dazhong	fahng da jhong
Stella Feng	冯辰晓	Feng Chenxiao	fung chehn shee-ow
Eric Fu	富晨睿	Fu Chenrui	fu chehn-ray
Allen Gao	高海涵	Gao Haihan	ghow hai henh
Steven Gao	高熙辰	Gao Xichen	ghow shee chehn
Leo Gong	龚磊	Gong Lei	gong lay
Tony Hou	侯承志	Hou Chengzhi	hoe chung chih
Leo Huang	黄磊	Huang Lei	hwung lay
Christine Huang	黄乔颐	Huang Qiaoyi	hwung cheeow yee
Alena Hui	惠格致	Hui Gezhi	hway ge juh
Charlie Ji	季立超	Ji Lichao	ji li chow
Clark Jin	金佳玄	Jin Jiaxuan	jin jee-a sh-w-en
Sylvia Li	李婧婷	Li Jingting	li jin ting
Eva Lin	林久雅	Lin Jiuya	lyn jeou ya
Cindy Liu	刘嘉玥	Liu Jiayue	leeoh jee-ah yu-eh
Rainnie Liu	刘睿滢	Liu Ruiying	leeoh ray in
David Luo	罗郅成	Luo Zhicheng	lwo juh chung
Andy Luo	罗祖睿	Luo Zurui	lwo zoo-ray
Catherine Mao	毛子艾	Mao Ziai	mow tsih-ai
Terry Meng	孟楚翔	Meng Chuxiang	mung choo shee-ahng
Lynn Pan	潘琳	Pan Lin	pan lyn
Chritina Qiao	乔子洋	Qiao Ziyang	cheehow tsih yahng
Aiden Qu	瞿泽宇	Qu Zeyu	chy tsuh yu
Anqi Wang	汪安祺	Wang Anqi	wahng en chi
Lydia Wu	吴桐	Wu Tong	wu tong
Wendy Xi	席茜雯	Xi Qianwen	shee ch’ien when
Sophia Xie	解舒显	Xie Shuxian	shiuh shoo shee-an
Mazer Xu	徐铭泽	Xu Mingze	hsu min tsuh
Alice Xu	徐苏萌	Xu Sumeng	hsu sue mung
Bella Xu	许悦怡	Xu Yueyi	hsu yueh yee
Tracy Yang	杨婧宜	Yang Jingyi	yahng jin yee
Neil Zhang	张师玮	Zhang Shiwei	jahng shih way
Aimee Zhao	赵耕墨	Zhao Gengmo	jhow guhn mo
Tigger Zhao	赵彰远	Zhao Zhangyuan	jhow jahng yu-en
Gerald Zhao	赵中泽	Zhao Zhongze	jhow ch’ong tsuh
Peter Zheng	郑镕	Zheng Rong	jchung rong
Tim Zhou	周鼎湙	Zhou Dingyi	joe ding yee
Emily Zhou	周淑炎	Zhou Shuyan	joe shoo yen
Tyler Zhou	周天豪	Zhou Tianhao	joe tee-en how
Alex Zhou	周子曦	Zhou Zixi	joe tsih-hsi