上海英文 中国妹子：我在上海，从事英文工作，但我坚决不起英文名

在英文名成为“标配”的现在，坚持不起英文名，是否是在“作死”呢？

看过的小伙伴或许还记得，主人公罗海燕刚去公司报道没多久，就因为没有英文名，遭遇了大写的尴尬……

有人觉得，起个英文名可以更好地和老外交流，而且很时髦。

也有人认为，中国人不需要英文名。老外觉得难念？那就让他们学着念！

以下是GlobalTimes (Metro Shanghai)今天刊登的一篇评论，部分配有中文翻译。

Why this Chinese is reluctant to give herself an English name

In the popular TV series Women in Shanghai, advertisement company freshman Luo Haiyan was laughed at by her colleagues for having no English name. "What's your English name? You don't have one? Uh-oh," scoffed Luo's coworker Amy, a native Chinese.

在最近流行的电视剧里，广告公司的小菜鸟罗海燕因为没有英文名，被同事们笑话了。“你的英文名是什么啊？你没有英文名？哦……” 罗海燕的同事Amy嘲笑道。而这位Amy，显然是个土生土长的中国人。

In today's China, especially in first-tier cities, it is bizarre for young Chinese not to have an English name. When I'm having dinner at Jing'an Temple Central Business District in downtown Shanghai, I often hear office gossip from the next table - usually young Chinese ladies in exquisite clothes talking about their colleagues Linda, Mary, Eric, etc. These English names, mixed in with their Putonghua or Shanghai dialect, sound quite funny.

在当今的中国，尤其是一线城市，年轻人没有英文名简直是件怪事。当我每天在上海市中心的静安寺商圈吃饭时，我总能听到邻桌的各种职场八卦——通常是几个穿着光鲜的小姐姐聊着他们的同事Linda, Mary, Eric……这些英文名时不时从她们的普通话或上海话中蹦出来，听着挺喜感的。

English names have become a standard feature of China's modern workplace and campuses, and those who don't have one are considered old-fashioned or from the countryside. This is particularly true in foreign enterprises. In Women in Shanghai, Luo finally named herself Harriet after being embarrassed by a foreign client who failed to pronounce her Chinese name.

在中国的现代职场和校园，英文名简直成了标配，谁没有谁就土，要不就是乡下来的。这点在外企尤其明显。里，罗海燕也是因为一个外国客户念不对她的名字“海燕”，场面一度十分尴尬，最后终于洗心革面，喜提英文名Harriet.

Hence it may surprise you that I, a Shanghai-based reporter at an English-language newspaper who often deals with expatriates, do not have an English name. I'm personally reluctant to give myself one, nor do I think it is necessary.

所以，作为一个在上海并且从事英文媒体工作的人，一个时常需要和老外打交道的人，我居然没有英文名，这听着是不是挺惊讶？但我个人就是不想起英文名，也觉得没这必要。

My Chinese name Lanlan is easy enough for foreigners to pronounce. Thanks to my parents, the simple name they gave me has yet to be mispronounced. If someone's Chinese name contains "difficult" characters such as yue, lü, ruan or ce, he or she might consider an English name. But luckily, I've never had this concern.

毕竟，我的中文名“兰岚(lanlan)”实在是太好念了，歪果仁完全木有难度。感谢二老名字起得好，这些年来念错我名字的中国人要比老外多多了……

I've grown bored by the English names that most Chinese give themselves, which are repetitive and uncreative. Unlike the millions of available Chinese names, only several dozen English names are available, of which fewer fit the taste of we Chinese.

何况啊，恕我直言，我觉得很多中国人起的英文名重复率高且毫无新意，真是挺无聊的。咱们的中文名倒是成千上万各有特色，但能用的英文名总共也就那么几十个，其中符合中国人审美的就更少了。

I personally know three Penny, four Chloe, five Julia and six David. Compared with their unique, elaborate Chinese names, their English names are ordinary and boring. Conversely, some young people try too hard to give themselves "creative" English names, but many of these are laughably ridiculous. 

我已经认识3个Penny，4个Chloe，5个Julia和6个David了。相比起这些人精心起的独特中文名，他们的英文名真是既普通又无趣。当然咯，还有一些年轻人尝试起些有“创意”的英文名，结果用力过猛，造成了大量翻车现场……

For example, on Quora there is a post titled "what are some of the 'best' English names Chinese people give themselves but are not generally found outside China," under which netizens from around the world shared lots of weird names such as Satan, Cherry, Rabbit, Vampire, Yale, Harvard, Lolita, Nokia, Easy and Anyway. 

比方说哈，在Quora上就有个帖子名为“你们见过哪些中国人自己取的销魂英文名？不在中国基本看不到的那种！”各国网友们分分留言各种奇葩名字：撒旦、樱桃、兔子、吸血鬼、耶鲁、哈佛、洛丽塔、诺基亚、容易、无论怎样……

"I knew a pair of programmers whose names were Sh*t and F**k," netizen Paul Denlinger wrote. "Among more acceptable names, my favorite was a network admin named Benjamin Franklin."

“我知道俩程序员，他们的名字分别叫‘靠’和‘操’。”有网友写道，“至于那些更能接受的名字嘛……我最喜欢的是一个网管的英文名，叫本杰明•富兰克林。”

In most cases, giving yourself an English name is a personal preference. Having an English name can make one look more "fashionable" or communicative, but that's about it. Native Chinese cannot add their self-made English names onto any official documents including ID cards or passports. In other words, an English name is no more than a cute nickname.

通常来说，起不起英文名，这纯属个人喜好。或许有个英文名能让人看起来更“潮”，或者在老外眼里更好交流，但也就这样了。中国人自己起的这些英文名根本上不了任何官方证件，什么身份证啊护照啊想都别想。换言之，英文名也就是个萌萌哒小名罢了，没有任何法律效应。

Dispensable English names are to some extent seen as a social status in China, implying that locals with English names are superior to those without. I read in the news that a Chinese mother publicly claimed on her social media that she would never send her children to a kindergarten where kids have no English names. In Beijing, a five-year-old local girl named "Lucy" refused to make friends with a little Chinese boy who had no English name, according to Phoenix Weekly in May 2017.

英文名本是可有可无的。然而某种程度上，它在中国居然成了社会地位的象征，仿佛有英文名的人就要高人一等似的。我曾看过一篇报道，里面一个中国麻麻表示，绝不让自家娃和没英文名的孩子读一个幼儿园！

Chinese actresses Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, Fan Bingbing and many others do not have English names, and nobody would ever say that they failed to succeed in the foreign marketplace. After all, a name is just a name. But it cannot outshine one's true personality and character. Having an English name could be helpful in a globalized workplace or campus, but it should never be one's weapon to look down on others.

巩俐章子怡范冰冰，还有很多国际知名的演员也没有英文名，但谁能说他们在国外市场就是失败的呢？毕竟啊，名字只是个名字而已，没法成为你真实特征品性的美化滤镜。在国际化的职场或校园里，英文名或许确有帮助，但有个英文名就很了不起了？就能瞧不起他人了？那也够无知的了！