westernizing/russianizing of the names
What are your opinions, friends?
There are many advantages and disadvantages to
westernizing/russianizing your name.
Ultimately, I think that each person should make his/her own choice.
I'm from the US. My name is Alexandra, but in Russia most people call me Sasha.
I like the name Sasha, and even if I introduce myself as Alexandra, people ask
if they can call me Sasha. Also, the advantage to having a Russian name is that
it
declines without a problem, and all those diminutive suffixes can be added
on to it.
I think it is more fun having more than one name, and people have no
pronunciation problems.
I have a Ukrainian friend, Yulya, who lives in the U.S. When she first
came, she told people her name was "Yulya." However, everyone automatically
started calling her "Julia". Eventually, she got tired of it and just
started telling everyone she was "Julia." No more pronunciation or spelling
problems.
I also had a friend, Katya, who at first wanted to be "Kate." But I
convinced her that "Katya" sounded much more beautiful, and that she
shouldn't change her name. She ended up being Katya, although almost
everyone said "Kat-i-ya." I don't know why Americans seem to have such
pronunciation difficulties. It's really not that hard! Some very difficult
names I can understand, but something like "Katya?"
I also knew one Korean girl, whose name was Mi-Joeng. Well, you can
imagine how that went over in high school. She opted to choose a completely
different American name altogether, Vicky.
I continued calling her Mi-Joeng, because I just coulnd't bring myself to
call her by a name that wasn't hers!
But by calling herself "Vicky," she saved herself the agony of constantly
hearing people constantly mutilate her lovely name.
As far as legal name translations go, it used to be that if your Russian
name were "Aleksei," on your American visa it would say "Alexis." That has
changed now, and names are no longer translated, only transcribed.
I think that what you do to your name depends on the situation, and on
you.
One of my American friends, Heather, was called "Khiter" in Russian.
(that's what was written on her visa)She kept saying "Heather, Heather, not
heater"! What can you do in a situation like this? Either you must accept it
or change it. She ended up telling people her name was "Tanya" even though
it had no relation to her real name whatsoever.
I think that people should be called whatever they prefer to be called.
If Eugene prefers to be called Eugene when speaking English, by all
means he should introduce himself as Eugene.
I have a friend who speaks to me in English and in Russian. When she
speaks English to me, she calls me Alexandra, and when Russian, Sasha.
There are a few Americans who call me Sasha, probably because we met in
Russia, but most Americans just cannot fathom what "Sasha" has to do with
"Alexandra"! (although most people find it very interesting)
I have a question to bring up. What do most of you do, for example,
if you are talking about American places or people in Russian? Does Britney
Spears become Brritni Spirs, and Connecticut Konnektikuut? Or, since you
know how to pronounce these names the way they were meant to be pronounced,
do you try to educate your friends in the correct pronunciation?
I find myself doing both. For the most part I will Russianize the names,
but sometimes, I just can't, because it ends up sounding completely
different!
Thank you for taking the time to read my opinion!
Alexandra (Sasha)
-*Информационный канал Subscribe.Ru
Написать в лист: mailto:job.lang.vmeste-list@subscribe.ru
Отписаться: mailto:job.lang.vmeste--unsub@subscribe.ru
http://subscribe.ru/ mailto:ask@subscribe.ru
