July 27, 2010
Umlaut? What's an umlaut? Just a simple set of dots placed over a letter. In Jack's case, it occurs in his Chinese middle name... Lü.
These two little dots have been the cause of much worry on my part... When the chinese write "Lü" many times its written as "Lv" since that's available on a standard keyboard and the "v" is unused in Chinese pinyin. So some of his official paperwork may come in as Lv and other may be Lü... will this discrepancy cause a problem? Do I use Lü or Lv on official paperwork, passports, airline tickets?
And what about his English name... The plan is to keep his Chinese name as his middle name... but do we keep the umlaut on the u, or do we drop it? Do we use "Lv"?
After much fretting, we've decided that Jack's English name will not contain the umlaut. We figure that will make life so much easier when it comes to all official purposes... drivers licenses, school paperwork, etc. But I can't help but feel a twinge of guilt for making the easy choice, and not sticking with our desire to maintain his Chinese name... even though his name was just assigned by the orphanage, its still a part of his history and identity. When he's older and reading this, hopefully he'll laugh at how much his poor mom worried about this and thank us for making the easy choice.
Friday, September 3, 2010
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We did the same thing...gave a first name of our choosing and kept the Chinese name as his middle name. And I think you made the right decision in dropping the umlaut. That's what I would have done too, though I no doubt would have wrestled with it as much as you have!
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