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| "Hefeng - Gentle Breeze" (2021) by Hung Liu |
The narrator claims that “my real name lived and died in the mouth of my mother” (108), as it was a Chinese name that was "stripped away in kindergarten" by an American teacher who told her she had to pick "An American name" (108).
The narrator then remarks on how many people must “scrub [themselves] down to the bone for survival” (108).
Imagine that you moved to a different country as a child and people insisted that you abandon the name your parents had given you and respond to a name that reflected their culture because they didn't want to try to learn how to pronounce or spell your name.
What effect might that have on you? Would that help you feel like a part of the culture? Or would it remind you that your true self (like your true name) could never be fully accepted?
In your experience, how common is it for people to "Americanize" someone's name or the pronunciation of it? If someone agrees to such a change or even requests it, is that sufficient reason to accept the practice without pushing back?
Can mispronouncing someone's name be fairly characterized as a micro-aggression?
That would absolutely have a negative effect on me. I would feel like an outcast and not worthy of being my own unique individual. In my own experience, it's pretty common for people to "Americanize" someone's name/pronunciation. In high school, we would get foreign exchange students 1-2 times per year. Almost every single host would just give these students a nickname rather than taking the time to properly learn and pronounce their names. If someone is purposefully mispronouncing another's name after knowing them for long enough to be able to say it correctly, I think it's fair to be characterized as a microaggression. It can be hurtful and disrespectful, whether that's realized or not.
ReplyDeleteI believe being forced to take a different name would negatively affect my connection to my culture and would make me feel as if I were betraying it. I think people sometimes take the "easy way" when pronouncing unfamiliar names instead of making an effort to learn them. I would characterize the misuse of someone's name as a microaggression because repeatedly having to correct it while the other person makes no effort to change can be hurtful.
ReplyDeleteThat absolutely would have been excruciatingly difficult for me. All that really accomplishes is entrenching the idea that the person in question is an outsider in a new land, an idea that they likely already struggle with. I don't think it would help me feel like a part of the culture; rather, I feel like that is just an exclusionary tactic for people who are either highly judgmental and prejudiced or simply too ignorant to know the havoc they could be wreaking in a young person's life.
ReplyDeleteI do have an American name, so it is a bit hard to speak on this from personal experience, but I do have friends who do have names from other countries, and they are very often Americanized. I don't think this is malicious most of the time; oftentimes, they can be difficult to pronounce properly for non-native speakers, and they are trying their best to not mess it up or embarrass the person with a non-American name. I do think that if someone with a non-American name corrects someone who pronounces their name incorrectly, basic respect and human decency dictate that the right thing to do is to attempt to accommodate that person's wishes.
Mispronouncing someone's name intentionally after being corrected is 100% a microaggression.