How to address Chinese people

[889]

If that's what everyone else calls him, yes. Otherwise you'll remind everyone else that he's not too happy with the name they keep using, and you'll make them uncomfortable.

[Demonic_Duck]

So... in your hypothetical situation, everyone else already knows he hates the name and persists in calling him by it?

[fanglu]

would the translator be able to use the first name in translation? I think most translators wouldn't do that, because it would feel like they personally call their boss by his first name.

It's an interesting question (although in this case the interpreter worked for the non-Chinese side, so it wasn't her boss, exactly). I think the interpreter did the right thing by changing the name to make it more culturally appropriate. In my view it's like translating geographic terms (eg North Korea is 朝鲜, not 北韩国 or something like that), it's generally more important to get the target language right than to be faithful to the source language.

 

(On the other hand, there would be times where this kind of translation was not appropriate, particularly in highly political situations - I don't think 'Senkaku islands' should be translated as 钓鱼岛, for example.)

[889]

You're worsening the hypothetical. I said he's not too happy with the name, not that he hates it. I’ve had Western friends and relatives who’ve tried to drop a childhood nickname and found it difficult. Start calling someone you’ve known for eons by a different name and it somehow changes them in your mind.

Indeed, I once thought of changing my Chinese name, but friends told me it would never stick.

Take care when adopting your Chinese name.