A Study On The Chinese Names Of Chinese Learners Of Russia

With continuous improvement of its overall national strength and international status,China’s international influence and discourse power have been on the increase.More and more people begin to learn Chinese and there is a "Chinese fever" around the globe.With China’s unremitting efforts in promoting the "Belt and Road Initiative",China and Russia have become increasingly closer in their economic,cultural and even political ties.As a saying goes that a single spark can start a prairie fire,the boom of learning Chinese has been on the rise from the very beginning.More and more Russians become interested in Chinese and Chinese culture,and have started to take actions.Having a Chinese name is often the first step for them to get close to China and the Chinese language,to feel Chinese characters and to arouse their interest to learn Chinese as well as to have a sense of cultural identity.How to give Chinese learners good Chinese names has become an important issue in teaching Chinese language and promoting Chinese culture to foreigners.These names will be used by them through their entire Chinese learning career,and even their whole life.A good Chinese name not only helps foreign students integrate into the Chinese context as quickly as possible which is significant in Chinese teaching,but also contributes to promote Chinese culture.By investigating a large number of the Chinese names of Russian students,the author analyzes the characteristics of Russian Chinese learners’ names after systematically classifying these names into certain categories.This research utilizes questionnaires targeting Chinese name receivers,mainly Russian Chinese learners,to investigate the sources of their Chinese names,their attitudes toward such names and their tendencies and preferences in choosing Chinese names,and adopts interviews targeting Chinese name givers,mainly Chinese teachers who give Russian Chinese learners their Chinese names,so as to analyze the factors considered in giving Chinese names and their tendencies and preferences.By comparing the similarities and differences between the two sets of tendencies and preferences which are from the Chinese name receivers and Chinese name givers respectively,this paper is going to identify certain problems in giving Chinese names and the reasons behind.Based on the findings,the author also puts forward some suggestions,including a "Reference Table for Russian-Chinese Names",which will be helpful for future Chinese teachers(mainly those who are not proficient in Russian or even have no knowledge about Russian and Russian local teachers who know little about Chinese or Chinese culture)to give Russian students good Chinese names or Russian Chinese learners to choose good Chinese names for themselves.This paper includes five chapters.Introduction part discusses the research purpose and research significance,and introduces the research target and research methods.It reviews the past studies on Chinese name,Chinese learners’ names and Russian people’s names,so as to provide a theoretical framework for the whole study.The second chapter investigates 150 Chinese name receivers—Russian Chinese learners through questionnaires,collecting their Russian names,Chinese names and the sources of their Chinese names and analyzing their attitudes(emphasis and recognition)toward Chinese names.This chapter also puts these Chinese names into several categories after classification,explains the characteristics of each category with examples and analyzes the survey findings in terms of the receivers’ preferences based on the statistics in questionnaires.The third chapter investigates Chinese name givers(mainly Chinese teachers)selected by random sampling in a certain ration.By means of interviews,this chapter explores the factors considered by Chinese name givers and their tendencies and preferences in giving Chinese names,compares the similarities and differences between Chinese name receivers and Chinese name givers in terms of tendencies and preferences in choosing or giving Chinese names,and thus finds out certain problems in giving Chinese names and the reasons behind.After identifying the problems and reasons based on the questionnaires and interviews in the previous chapters,the author puts forward some suggestions in the fourth chapter,exploring the characteristics of good Chinese names for Russian Chinese learners.Combining the features of Russian and Chinese and the factors that should be considered in giving Chinese names including phonetics,phonetic meaning,character pattern and numbers,the author formulates a "Reference Table for Russian-Chinese Names" as well,which can provide references to Chinese teachers in giving Russian Chinese learners appropriate Chinese names or to Russian Chinese learners in choosing good Chinese names for themselves.Chapter five is the conclusion section and the author summarizes the whole research on the Chinese names of Russian Chinese learners and discusses the problems and limitations of the study.