Hi everyone! It's Lindie.
Today I want to share a funny story with you.
Its about the reason why I don't use my Korean name.
Lots of foreigners who study Korean adopt a Korean name.
And Korean people sometimes have English names, right?
For example, people whose names start with the Korean letter ㅈ
Like Jaehoon or Jihoon, names like that, if they're guys,
they use names like Jason or James in English.
So when I first started learning Korean about eight years ago,
I had a teacher from Korea
My teacher asked me if I would like to have a Korean name
So I thought, "Yeah, it would be fun to have a Korean name"
My name is Lindie and it means a small waterfall (in Old Irish)
Water. Right?
But the Korean word for waterfall, Pokpo, isn't a name.
It would be weird if I introduced myself as Pokpo
So my teacher asked me what I thought about the name "Shinae"
Shinae (not the meaning of "downtown" in Korean, but the meaning of a small flowing stream/river)
So I thought it sounded good
And I started using the name Shinae in Korean
My surname is Botes
Botes is an Afrikaans word
Its similar to Dutch
Botes means "boat"
So my name has lots of meanings related to water.
So from that day on I called myself Bae Shinae
The first reason why I don't really use that name anymore is...
I heard this joke a lot:
I'm talking to someone I met for the first time and we introduce ourselves
So I say "My name is Lindie but I have a Korean name too"
My name is Shinae
And then the person said "Shinae? I've heard that somewhere..."
Ahh! Shinae bus! (city bus)
Yep, I hear these kinds of jokes a lot!
But I can let those jokes slide
It's funny but I've heard it so many times that I just let it slide
Its funny but kinda..meh
But this is the biggest reason
Why I don't use my Korean name; reason number 2!
I went to an international church in Japan and there were many Korean women there.
My mom's friend was Korean and my mom told me to go and introduce myself to her
So after the service I went and said hello to the Korean woman
I told her my name is Lindie and then she asked if I had a Korean name
I said yes, my name is "Bae Shinae"
And she burst out laughing so hard
She laughed so much and for so long
She was like "ha ha ha" for three minutes
It was so awkward
Why was this lady laughing so much and why was she making me feel so awkward? :(
So I asked her why she was laughing so much
And she said "Bae Shinae" sounds like "Baeshin" (traitor)
Like a traitor
I'm not a traitor nor do I want to be
So I was kinda hurt
So since that day I haven't really used that name
I'm worried that other people will also hear the word traitor in my name
Yep, so that's the reason why I don't usually use my Korean name
For a while I tried to use Shin-Ae and not Shinae
But I didn't like it that much
I liked the meaning of Shinae
Since the meaning was nice, another name didn't do it for me
So now I just ask people to call me Lindie
Shinae is really nice but Bae Shinae sounds too close to another word
So just call me Lindie!
I am interested to hear what you all think about the topic of adopting a Korean name
so please leave a comment about what you think
There are some people who think non-Koreans can't have Korean names at all
And there are also people who think all foreigners who study Korean should definitely get Korean names
While I was editing my video glitched and I had to re-film this ending
What did I want to say?
If you have anything else you're wondering about, please leave a comment
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And also please let me know what kind of videos you'd like to see in the future!
Up to here! Bye!