This question was originally asked on Academia.Stackexchange.com. I would normally not cross-post, however, I think this question might be an exception, where both sites may provide complementary perspectives. I think cross-posting is a better option than migration in this particular case.
Most Australian universities have a large number of international students. Common countries of origin include China, Singapore, and Malaysia. When interacting with students, it's much nicer if you can learn their name and pronounce it correctly. To reduce the scope of this question, I thought I'd limit it to Chinese names, but it could be broadened to include other Asian countries.
Several challenges emerge with Chinese names for an Australian (and presumably others from North America, Europe, etc.):
- challenges of pronunciation
- challenges when reading a Chinese name of knowing which of name is the name to address the student by
- challenges in remember the name. In particular, I find it difficult to remember a name that I can't pronounce. Furthermore, the less familiar I am with a name and the fewer associations I have with a name, the harder I find it is to remember.
Questions
- How can I learn how to pronounce names of Chinese students?
- How can I better recall names of Chinese students? e.g., get acquainted with common names, build some semantic knowledge around Chinese names.
I'd be particularly interested in any good online resources for this purpose.