Some Korean Companies Have Instituted English Name Policies with Mixed Results
|This predictably did not go over well:
A team led by Andrew, comprising James, Chris and Lisa, engages in lively conversations about work while addressing each other by their first names.
This atmosphere is something that some Korean companies are trying to emulate by mandating all employees to use their preferred English name while at work.
The rationale is that they need to move away from the Korean language’s emphasis on honorifics, position titles and other formalities, to facilitate horizontal communication. The thinking is that, by ditching Korean names and the complex honorifics system attached to them in the Korean language, employees should be able to engage in more open and effective communication, encouraging innovation.
But does it actually work?
Predictable resistance
As one can imagine, not all employees welcome mandatory name-change policies with open arms.
At Kyobo Life Insurance, skepticism hangs over the company’s four-month-old English-name policy.
“It’s ridiculous,” said one employee who requested anonymity.
“Communication hasn’t improved, and some colleagues can’t even pronounce the English names, so we’ve had to post Korean pronunciations next to them on our company’s intranet.”
Korea Herald
You can read about all the examples of how this policy worked out at the link. It appears the younger the workforce is the more likely this policy will have better results.
While I like the use of English, I don’t demand it of Koreans, even in Texas.
I think the article makes the implementation a bit rocky at some companies.
My Korean wife’s slave name is Lucy. Here is a picture of her:
It’s fun having a Korean wife … with the Asian accent and all.
I ask her all the time to say “give me some coke”
Her: What are you laughing at?
Take a piece of paper and write my favorite phrase¹.
Hand it to a pretty Korean girl and ask her to say it. Look at her with your most innocent expression and use your sweetest voice.
“What does it mean?”
“I think it is a pronunciation test of some sort. See if you can say it.
She reads it.
Your friends all snicker loudly.
She says it two or three times with different intonations trying to get some meaning out of it.
Your friends giggle uncontrollably.
She looks up with a puzzled look.
“Why are you all laughing?”
“Your pronunciation sounds so cute in English.”
She smiles proudly.
¹미소호니
CH, I showed it to my wife, she said it, figured it out, and gently punched me…