Rose

My new English class started last week. The wonderful thing about my new teacher is that he remembers every body’s name in his first class. It’s amazing. My class mates are Brazilian, German, French, Italian, Austrian, Turkish, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Some of their names are hard to pronounce for others. My Chinese class mate uses an English name because no one can pronounce her name in the correct way. My Turkish class mate’s name is complicated for non-native Turks as well. She said her name meant Rose in Turkey, so to be called Rose in English is OK.

When I was a college student, my major was English. I was thinking that people’s names might be a key thing that Japanese couldn’t say English well. I always pronounce my name in Japanese even when I’m speaking English. It means Japanese words, even when it’s my own name, interrupts English conversation all the time. So, I tried to use English names as a trial. After I graduated from my college, I started to work at a pharmaceutical company in Japan. There were German colleagues. I introduced myself as Rose to them. At first I couldn’t react when I was called Rose because it’s not my name. However, gradually I recognize myself as Rose. Some of Japanese colleagues also called me Rose sometimes for fun. As my trial, it was fun and I succeeded I thought. However, I’m not sure if it helped improve my English or not, actually Eriko is no problem to pronounce for non-native Japanese people. So, I’ve not used Rose for ages, however still now I react when my teacher calls Rose. It’s ridiculous, but I can’t stop it.