This is another collection from recent meetings and trips. It works best if you can find a native English speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.
* We are right up against the holidays. Are we going to meet next week? [The holidays are upon us very soon. Are we going to meet next week?]
* Let me do the prototype first. It's easy for me to get real about it. [Let me do the prototype first. It is easy for me to have a good feel about it.]
* What's important at the end of the day is what XYZ company will do for this problem. [What's important and relevant after all is what XYZ company will do for this problem.]
* Whatever I mutter here would likely be wrong. [Whatever I say here would likely be wrong.]
* Let's see whether we can come up with a straw man's schedule today. [Let's see whether we can come up with a proposal for the schedule today.]
* He is online as I just traded a few emails with him. [He is online as I just exchanged a few emails with him.]
* I don't want to get stuck, I just want to get oriented. [I don't want to get stuck, I just want to get my directions correct.]
* Let me back up the truck, and up-level a bit. [Let me back up and clarify things a bit.]
* Let us not call out that explicitly. I don't want to hang ourselves early. [Let us not call out that explicitly. I don't want to see us get stuck early.]
* How we dice that piece is not my concern. [How we divide up that piece is not my concern.]
* We have to shove up that piece before we can submit the proposal. [We have to have a plan for that piece before we can submit the proposal.]
* As we come in for a hard landing, we need to give heads-up to the stakeholders. [As we are going to disclose this bad news, we need to give warnings to the stakeholders.]
* We are 35 minutes into the meeting. Pat, what else do you want to cover before we jump into the demo. [We are 35 minutes into the meeting already. Pat, what else do you want to address before we jump into the demo.]
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Yu, Yu Hu, Hu Yu, or Hu - Chinese Names 101
What's in a Chinese name? Chinese people have a last name or family name, and a first name. Most of the last names are a single Chinese character that corresponds to an ideogram. The first name are either one or two Chinese characters. It is commonplace to see one-character first name in modern-day China. Each ideogram is phonetically a short syllable, and the four-tone intonation is not encoded in the Chinese Pin-Yin system. You find many similar names that need to be disambiguated.
Let's use an example. An engineer friend is generally referred to as HY. HY's last name is Hu and his first name is Yu. Chinese refer to people as "Last name, First name," and thus refer to my friend as "Hu Yu". This is natural for the those who speak Chinese. Note that this direct reference is not particularly polite in general. It is used only when certain clarity is needed. The same is true in the U.S. cultural.
Since Western conventions and cultures use the "First Name.Last Name" format in email address and other places, it is common to see "yu.hu@company.com" as an email address. It is the U.S. culture to refer to people by their first name when we are reasonably acquainted with them, and therefore we are expected to use "Yu" to refer to this friend . If you insist on calling him "Yu Hu," that would be odd but excusable if you are not a Chinese native ;-) Another colleague once asked me why "Hu Yu" was used by another Chinese engineer, and that confused the hell out of her. Which is which?
In conclusion,
1) Yu - First name, American way, when you are reasonably acquainted
2) Yu Hu - First name followed by last name, American way, not too polite, used only for clarity.
3) Hu - Last name, used occasionally in special circumstance to refer to someone remote.
4) Hu Yu - Last name followed by first name, Chinese way, can be used by superiors.
Remember the problem of the short syllable and one-character first names for this generation? It is likely to have someone with Yu as last name, Hu as first name. Now, you would really have to ask for clarification.
Let's use an example. An engineer friend is generally referred to as HY. HY's last name is Hu and his first name is Yu. Chinese refer to people as "Last name, First name," and thus refer to my friend as "Hu Yu". This is natural for the those who speak Chinese. Note that this direct reference is not particularly polite in general. It is used only when certain clarity is needed. The same is true in the U.S. cultural.
Since Western conventions and cultures use the "First Name.Last Name" format in email address and other places, it is common to see "yu.hu@company.com" as an email address. It is the U.S. culture to refer to people by their first name when we are reasonably acquainted with them, and therefore we are expected to use "Yu" to refer to this friend . If you insist on calling him "Yu Hu," that would be odd but excusable if you are not a Chinese native ;-) Another colleague once asked me why "Hu Yu" was used by another Chinese engineer, and that confused the hell out of her. Which is which?
In conclusion,
1) Yu - First name, American way, when you are reasonably acquainted
2) Yu Hu - First name followed by last name, American way, not too polite, used only for clarity.
3) Hu - Last name, used occasionally in special circumstance to refer to someone remote.
4) Hu Yu - Last name followed by first name, Chinese way, can be used by superiors.
Remember the problem of the short syllable and one-character first names for this generation? It is likely to have someone with Yu as last name, Hu as first name. Now, you would really have to ask for clarification.
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