A person's name is an important part of their identity. Many of our names come with a story, a meaning, or a connection that is in some way significant to us or our family, heritage, and culture. When your name is mispronounced, omitted, or changed, it can be discouraging, alienating, and dehumanizing. As faculty and staff at the most diverse institution of higher education in the US, we connect with and are charged to support many students whose names we may feel like we "can't pronounce" but we owe it to our students to do better. Committing to using a person's preferred name and pronouncing it as well as you can is a small way to validate your students that can actually end up making a big impact.

This series is meant to be a starting point to connect NYU administrators and faculty with an introduction to NYU students' experiences about their names and identities, provide a crash course in tips and pronunciation, and a serve as a gateway to resources to help you continue to improve in the future.

Name Pronunciation Workshop: Chinese Names

Chinese Name Pronunciation Workshop

This one hour workshop is designed for NYU staff and administrators. In a short amount of time, we aim to explore the importance of pronouncing Chinese students' and colleagues' names, provide a general overview of Mandarin phonology, and create a space to practice and improve those pronunciation skills.

Access the Recording for the Latest Chinese Name Pronunciation Workshop

*To access this recording, you must log into Zoom with your NYU ID and password using the SSO option at nyu.zoom.us. You cannot use an external email.

Resources

Additional Reading