(no subject)
I saw something strange today that I'd never seen before, while I was clicking through online law school application nonsense. I think I was looking for a deadline or something. Anyway, I can't even remember what school it was for, but on the application's ethnicity question, it offered all the usual choices but under Native American/American Indian, it had something like: Tribe Number _______ Enrollment Number ________. I'd never seen anyone be asked to provide proof of being Native American, let alone of any race/ethnicity. I thought that was super weird.
Also. Another thing I've been pondering by virtue of working at the Registrar... I process a bunch of forms, like drop/add forms, and I've noticed a consistent pattern of Asian foreign students putting Anglo names on their forms when it either isn't the name they're registered under, or is listed as a "preferred" name but not their legal name. Like one's first name is listed with the University as "Xiao," but on her forms she puts "Jane." It made me wonder why some students choose to do that and on what basis they choose a certain "English" name. Some seem to be phonetic approximations ("Hiu-Jin" becomes "Eugene") but not all. Also, no other international student groups do that (from what I've seen). I wondered if it's a cultural pressure that makes some students adopt Anglo-sounding nicknames, to make it easier for Westerners to pronounce (because we shouldn't have to try, of course! that's just awkward!). Or if their parents pick them. It's just an interesting phenomenon that seems exclusive to only the one group of foreign students.
It made me think of studying in Spain last summer and the re-pronunciations of our English names through a Spanish filter. Mine wasn't too hard (I went by Allison, not Ali), and a lot of people had names that had easy equivalents but people whose names started with S's or other letters that can't start a Spanish word had some interesting changes. My friend Stephanie was Estefanie, Janice sounded sort of like Yaneese, and Lizzie came out like Leesee. I can't think of any more good ones.
I have no idea why these thoughts even merited an LJ entry but for the sake of posting something. Doing mechanical things at work makes the mind wander.
Michelle, ma belle, son des mots qui vont trés bien ensemble, trés bien ensemble...
Also. Another thing I've been pondering by virtue of working at the Registrar... I process a bunch of forms, like drop/add forms, and I've noticed a consistent pattern of Asian foreign students putting Anglo names on their forms when it either isn't the name they're registered under, or is listed as a "preferred" name but not their legal name. Like one's first name is listed with the University as "Xiao," but on her forms she puts "Jane." It made me wonder why some students choose to do that and on what basis they choose a certain "English" name. Some seem to be phonetic approximations ("Hiu-Jin" becomes "Eugene") but not all. Also, no other international student groups do that (from what I've seen). I wondered if it's a cultural pressure that makes some students adopt Anglo-sounding nicknames, to make it easier for Westerners to pronounce (because we shouldn't have to try, of course! that's just awkward!). Or if their parents pick them. It's just an interesting phenomenon that seems exclusive to only the one group of foreign students.
It made me think of studying in Spain last summer and the re-pronunciations of our English names through a Spanish filter. Mine wasn't too hard (I went by Allison, not Ali), and a lot of people had names that had easy equivalents but people whose names started with S's or other letters that can't start a Spanish word had some interesting changes. My friend Stephanie was Estefanie, Janice sounded sort of like Yaneese, and Lizzie came out like Leesee. I can't think of any more good ones.
I have no idea why these thoughts even merited an LJ entry but for the sake of posting something. Doing mechanical things at work makes the mind wander.
Michelle, ma belle, son des mots qui vont trés bien ensemble, trés bien ensemble...