You know, what's your name?

我問他叫什麼名字

And they say: "Oh, my name is John."

然後他說：「喔我的名字是 John。」

And I say: "Ok, that's a little weird."

我就說：「好喔，這有點怪。」

You know, you don't look like a John, but I mean, that's ok.

「因為你看起來就不是個 John，但沒關係！」

[Our perspectives about Taiwanese people having English names]

[我們對台灣人取洋名的看法。]

(In Mandarin) Why do I have an English name?

(中文) 為什麼要英文名字？

(In Mandarin) Oh, because my cousin is a foreigner.

(中文) 喔因為我表弟是外國人啊！

(In Mandarin) They all have English names when they were kids, so I figured that I should have one, too

(中文) 我從小聽他們講英文名字，我也覺得我要有英文名字。

I find that to be pretty helpful, and I think a lot of foreigners do, because often it's hard for us to pronounce or remember their Chinese name.

我覺得這滿有幫助的，因為老外比較不會唸大家的中文名字，中文名字也比較難記。

It seems like people put a lot of time and effort into learning English here.

不少台灣人花很多時間在學習英文。

I think it just kinda shows a more international perspective, English is the global language.

這也是一種國際化的現象，畢竟英文是全球通用語言。

But usually I also ask their maiden name, their born name.

但我通常會問他們的本名。

Because that's interesting, I think people should be proud of that and telling people that as well.

因為你應該對自己的本名感到驕傲，我想老外也會想知道。

When I met people that were from Asia, I think a couple of them tried using their real names.

我之前碰到一些亞洲人，他們嘗試告訴我們他們的本名。

Americans tried to say them, they messed them up so badly that they just gave up

我們試著要講他們的中文名字，但發音非常不標準。

It was harder for people to remember.

而且中文名不太好記。

And, um, in the school that I worked at Korea, I never even learned their Korean names—ever.

我在韓國一間學校教英文，我都不知道他們的韓文名字。

I taught the same kids for an entire year.

我交了同一批小孩快一年。

They called each other by their English names.

他們都稱呼彼此的英文名字。

My name is Keith.

我的名字叫 Keith。

Okay? Keith.

Keith。

Try to say that by yourself.

試著自己說說看。

(In Mandarin) Are you done?

(中文) 說完了沒有？

(In Mandarin) You have pronounced it wrong. Okay?

(中文) 你已經說錯了，okay?

Because 99 percent of people in Taiwan, are going to say my name the wrong way.

因為大部份的台灣人都沒有辦法標準的說出我的名字。

They're gonna say 'Kai-ce', 'Kay-ce', 'Kai-ce', 'Kay-the'.

他們會說凱斯、K 斯、開市、K 夫。

The point is, that you tried, and that's the important thing.

重點是你有去嘗試過就好了。

Look how Indians do it.

看看印度人怎麼辦。

They have really long names like Rajaranum.

比如說有人叫 Rajaranum。

Those are way longer than any Chinese name that I have ever heard.

那些比我聽過任何一個中文名字都還要長。

Do you know what the Indians do?

你知道印度人怎麼做嗎？

The Indians instruct the foreigner how to say their name.

印度人教導外國人怎麼說他們的名字。

There are even websites that say how to pronounce an Indian person's name.

甚至還有印度網站教你如何標準發音。

Why did they do this?

他們為什麼要這樣做？

So that IT departments can have better relationships with each other.

這樣同一個單位裡的人可以真正認識彼此。

Because if you can say the real person's (person's real) name, it just, gives a good feeling to someone.

如果你能講出對方的真名，會給對方一種好感。

Your mother gave you your name!

你媽媽幫取了你的名字。

You should be proud of that.

你應該要為它感到驕傲。

You should be proud that you are a Chen Wei-ling or a Liu Ao-bo, or whatever your names happens to be.

你應該要很高興你是個陳葦綾或劉奧伯，或著不管你叫什麼名字。

It's your name, and you should embrace it.

你應該要好好愛惜你的名字。

Once that you get to know the person, once you feel comfortable with them, I think you should say, hey, this is what my name is.

當你跟我們這些外國人變熟了以後，你應該告訴我們你的本名。

(In Mandarin) Thanks for watching.

(中文) 謝謝大家在關注這個影片。

(In Mandarin) If you like this video, please check out my other stuff at www.squawkonomics.com.

(中文) 如果你們有興趣在看我別的作品，請上 www.squawkonomics.com